Having amassed over 270,000 followers on social media for her hilarious on-the-street interview series, Eleanor Conway returns to the Edinburgh Fringe to discuss the ‘Pleasure Gap’.
Her hilarious and cheeky show holds up a lens to the inequality of straight women’s pleasure compared to men, full of amazing tales of terrible boyfriends.
Her return to Edinburgh comes after previous sell-out Fringe runs Walk Of Shame which went on to have a sell-out 100 date tour, and Vaxxed and Waxxed which had a New York debut.
How are you feeling ahead of the Fringe?
I’m really pumped. I’m excited about doing TALK DIRTY TO ME every day during Fringe, naturally.
In the past few years I’ve bought up very autobiographical shows about getting sober and all the trauma-based stuff that lead to sobriety. But this year I was nine years clean and sober. There’s no more trauma left to draw on for a Fringe show, and frankly, I didn’t fancy a relapse. So I’ve written a show about the crisis of straight relationships and how they don’t work for women now we have bank accounts.
What is your show about, and what inspired it?
I realised during lockdown and seeing all of the work that working mothers had to do when it came to housework, parenting and the emotional upkeep of domestic life that I’d dodged a bullet staying single and childfree. Society tells women over 40 that they’ll be sad and die alone with their cats. But honestly that sounds peaceful.
I also looked at the pleasure in my sex life and really started reading about the inequality in pleasure distribution that existed there. I workshopped this show at the Fringe last year and the more previews I did, the more I read, the more I realised the idea that although women were getting more equality in public life, misogyny and patriarchal ownership is still very much alive in straight women’s intimate relationships with men.
I wanted to put a show together that summed up straight women’s position now, 50 years after getting the pill and bank accounts. I wanted to share how I’d gamed the system when it came to getting my needs met in the bedroom.
The personal is political and nowhere more personal that what happens in our kitchens and bedrooms. It’s an explicit, controversial show and I’m excited to see how it lands for Fringe audiences before taking it on tour in Oct.
Did you enjoy your festival experience last year?
Last year was a bit muted I think for acts. I came up in 2021, where restrictions got lifted during the first week of Fringe and people went mental, it was amazing, full rooms, the vibe was epic, no tourists lol… It was great… But last year’s was a bit difficult, the audiences felt lower, the bin strike at the end shortened things. It felt like a bit of a slog.
But I love Fringe, it’s a real love affair. Not every year is full of energy, but I think the Fringe and the city as a whole is resilient and will hopefully bounce back. I think there’s defo a more upbeat vibe coming into Fringe 2023 and I’m here for it.
How has becoming big on TikTok influenced your career?
I’ve always been a self produced comic and toured off my own back, no fancy agent or anything. Social media is great because I think it really brings home the fact that the only thing we really need is the support of your audience and the connection with them.
They’re the ones that will spread the word, buy tickets and support you so anything that helps me find my people is worth its weight in gold.
How pleased have you been to take previous shows on tour around the world, and how was that experience playing to different audiences?
Yeah it was good. It’s hard to create income from an international audience if I’m honest. I love touring, but I do love Scottish and English audiences. I know I keep bigging up the Scots but I do love them. There’s a brutal honesty there, an ability to laugh, and a resilience in people up here that I do truly love.
I’m touring Scotland in Oct and I literally cannot wait, in addition to Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh dates, I made a Shetland show happen purely because it’s gorgeous, I wanted to see a whale and look at some Viking stuff. The fact I can make that happen is really amazing.
© David TitlowWhat are your favourite memories from the festival?
The year the restrictions got lifted, oh my god, it was electric. There were no posters, no flyers, no big crowds. Nobody on the streets and then at showtime locals would turn up and fill the rooms.
People were generous with bucket donations which was well needed after that long absence from the stage. Laughs were louder. And there was this real pleasure and sense of gratefulness from audiences to performers for being there. But also from us, the acts.
We were so happy to be performing again, to be earning money, any industry that was not work-from-home really suffered and we really needed the cash injection right then. That year saved us in more than one way and made us want to get back on the creative horse.
If you were put in charge of the Fringe, what changes would you make?
Make accommodation affordable again. I don’t want to spend £2.5k renting a stranger’s box room in Leith for a month. If the costs keep rising in the way that they have been, acts will not be able to come unless they are wealthy.
The Fringe is great because of the variety of shows you can see. It shouldn’t just be a festival for the privileged.
How would you describe how you feel when your walk on music hits and you take a step out onto the stage?
I know what’s coming in the show so I’m excited to see the audience’s reaction, I always create shows that feel like you’re privy to the ladies toilets and the honesty that happens amongst women, so my spaces are pretty much always tailored to the female gaze and I think that’s unusual in comedy still.
My early shows were all about spilling stuff, secrets… I don’t do that to the same extent these days as I’ve run out of trauma, but that tone of honesty, regardless of how that makes me look, is always there now. And I think honesty is shocking sometimes. And I like that reaction.
Who else are you looking forward to seeing at the Fringe?
The friends that are up are on at the same time as me, so outside of them, I don’t actually know who is up, I haven’t looked at the brochure yet. I know that sounds mental but I know the best thing for my show is that I just focus on that.
I am susceptible to getting sucked into what others are doing if I’m not careful. And I think it’s good to be honest about that. I’m not a well woman, guys.
What’s your favourite one-liner?
I can’t repeat it here mate.
Who’d be your dream…
Karaoke duetter
Beyoncé. I want Beyoncé to look at me the way she looked at Alexandra Burke during the X Factor final. I go back and watch that clip a lot and pretend it’s me.
Wrestling tag team partner
A puppy. I’d end up kissing it to death.
Comedian to split an hour with
Dave Chapelle. But it wouldn’t be an hour, I saw him when I was in New York last year and that man can hold a room!
Podcast co-host / guest
Elton John. No doubt. Firstly he’s long time sober, and I love talking to those that were crazy and got sober, the stories are immaculately chaotic and when a long time sober person tells them, there’s an element of coming back from the gutter and you’re able to laugh about it because there was a happy ending.
Also, the stories, I bet he’d tell some crackers. Yes, Elton John. I need a podcast now.
Eleanor Conway: Talk Dirty To Me, Laughing Horse at The Three Sisters, August 3-6, 8-13, 15-20 and 22-27, 7pm. Tickets here.
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