INTERVIEW: Louise Young

Image: Louise Young by Jiksaw

Louise Young is embarking on the next step of her comedy career which is already littered with increasing highs, from supporting Alan Carr and Tom Allen on their tours to gaining rave reviews for her Best Newcomer nominee show at the Edinburgh Fringe, Young is making her mark on the comedy scene. No stranger to the circuit, it is now time for the comic to unleash her debut hour to the world, and thus begins Feral, the tell-all introduction to the crazy life of the Geordie comic.

As soon as we start chatting it becomes very apparent that Louise Young isn’t one to mince words or beat around the bush. It takes a moment before a question is asked, as the comedian is busy reminiscing about bygone haunts across Newcastle, and we share a pang of nostalgia thinking back to Gotham and swapping stories of the Ouseburn.

There is an instant familiarity to our conversation; a safe space to rant, rave and put the world to rights, as Young carries with her that quintessentially Northern sense of comradeship. For a moment you have to remind yourself that these kind of ramblings are the profession of a seasoned comic, that instant likeability and surplus of relatable and articulate observations are the trade of someone who’s comfortable in changing situations.

Louise admits that the relatability is ever changing: “It completely changes, place to place. Even just a woman swearing can turn a few heads in the posher areas, and you have to really readjust a routine in the moment. I sometimes feel myself adapting to wildly different audiences; you go from a stag do to some Southern audience that see me as an affable Geordie cartoon character, waiting for me to shout about Alan Shearer, it’s constantly juggling and tweaking from room to room.”

I think I’ll shoot myself in the head if I have to walk on another Southern stage and make a joke about Greggs.

Ahead of her fast-selling set at Newcastle’s Tyne Theatre & Opera House on Friday 14^th March, Young (who now lives in Liverpool) talks with glee about returning for a hometown show. “I moved back to Newcastle from London and I was nervous for the smaller comedy scene, but it can be so saturated in London, you end up playing to one old man in a pub for no money. Newcastle has a more lively scene, we know everyone and there’s people wanting to come see good comedy, every week. It’s a much better atmosphere to play.” There is also a palpable sense of relief about the return, as she continues: “Everyone gets it. They know, they understand. You can be so much more colloquial, the nuances come out. We’re all in it together at home, I don’t have to ramp up any aspect of myself. I think I’ll shoot myself in the head if I have to walk on another Southern stage and make a joke about Greggs.”

Feral, which sold out throughout the 2023 Fringe, is Young’s bombastic entrance to the headline slot. It’s an hour of honesty that is filled with anecdotes about anarchy, classism and an unconventional, untethered lifestyle. “I realised doing the Fringe that there were a lot of people manufacturing stories or putting themselves in situations just so they could get an Edinburgh show out of it. I was watching it and thought, I’ve got actual experiences weirder than this. My actual past is more feral than some of these artificial ones, I’ve got too many stories, so they’re in the show.”

From growing up in Newcastle, to coming out and living life to the max, Feral is jam packed with a smattering of formative and ridiculous stories that have led Young to the place she is now.

Alongside garnering five star reviews, Young has recently been acting as tour support for Alan Carr and Tom Allen on their most recent tours. After years playing bigger rooms than the circuit would allow, Young quips: “It’s mental, and think I’d be having heart attacks every morning now I’m playing bigger rooms if I hadn’t had that confidence pushed into me doing those support sections, you are watching two masters every night just nail it in front of their audience, it’s a completely different muscle to those nights trying to heat up a cold room.”

What is instantly endearing about Young is her endless desire to better herself; there is a constant drive to become the best possible comic. While she touches on the gruelling nature of life on the circuit, there is always a bubbling enthusiasm underneath as she discusses the lessons she has learnt from delivering jokes across a vast array of venues, sizes and audiences. When she talks about the fear she feels when opening for comics like Russell Kane, there is always wisdom with it; an excitement that comes from lapping up each experience and how every moment has helped hone her craft. Her drive is palpable, and she has a monumental ambition to deliver and best her own performances. With every gripe about driving for hours to a gig that pays less than the petrol, the relentless social media and admin, there is still a luscious passion for the craft.

Louise Young wants to be more than the token Geordie on the circuit, she feels a responsibility to address the struggles and constantly make the road into the arts easier for the next wave of comics. “It’s classism I feel the most driven to talk about,” confesses Young, as she opens up about the mounting difficulties less experienced comics have to face. “You’ll always be a working class comic in this game, like even if you’re over the line, you’re still in it. You don’t have the same opportunities or liberties, it’s always an uphill struggle. Even the simple things, like I’m expected to just do 10 minutes on steak bakes and Cheryl! You’d never expect a comic from Milton Keynes to only do comedy about whatever happens there – it’s bizarre.”

Louise Young performs at Tyne Theatre & Opera House, Newcastle on Friday 14^th March.