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May the Best Cock Win

Ian Harvie

Seeso · 2016 · 58 min

A candid, self-deprecating hour about transition and testosterone.

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Ian Harvie walks onto the stage in Portland with the distinct confidence of a comic who has spent years warming up crowds for Margaret Cho, but this time he is the main event. He frames his transition as both a deeply personal journey and a goldmine of logistical absurdities. He doesn’t treat the details of his trans identity as a lecture topic; instead, he dives into the messy reality of it, like the minor panic of leaving a sex toy in his in-laws’ guest room or the slow, distressing realization that taking testosterone means he is going to go bald.\n\nFilmed at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon, the 2016 special premiered on NBC’s short-lived streaming platform Seeso before finding a broader life on digital audio and video services. At this point in his career, Harvie was gaining mainstream traction, largely thanks to a recurring acting role on Amazon’s acclaimed series Transparent. On stage, under the direction of Ryan Polito, Harvie leans heavily into his perspective on sex, masculinity, and the absurdities of anatomical plumbing. He riffs on the weirdness of prosthetic cock shopping and gay hunters, while openly admitting that the single thing he misses most about living as a woman is the relative comfort of the ladies’ room. The performance represents the first televised stand-up special by an openly transgender man.

The set list

7 bits

  1. Gay hunters

    Harvie opens the special with a joke addressing gay hunters.

  2. Cock shopping

    Detailing the humorous experience of shopping for prosthetic penises.

  3. Missing the ladies' room

    Confessing that the women's restroom is the single thing he misses about living as a woman.

  4. Coming out to audiences onstage

    Noting how the audience's eyes immediately drop downward toward his crotch as soon as he mentions he is trans.

  5. Physical changes from hormone therapy

    Joking about the side effects of taking testosterone, such as going bald.

  6. Navigating gay and lesbian bars

    Finding humor in social dynamics such as fending off gay men at bars as a trans man.

  7. Grandmother with dementia

    Finding humor in his grandmother with dementia literally not remembering that he is her grandson.

How it plays

Tone
Provocative, personal, vulnerable, and humorous without being preachy or policing.
On stage
Self-confident, open, vulnerable, and approachable, presenting as a burly bearded dude offering a fresh perspective on manhood.
About
Transgender identity and transitioning, Sex and sexuality, Redefining masculinity and being a dude, Dick jokes, Hormone therapy and gender affirmation surgeries

What the critics said

Praised as personal, provocative, and genuinely funny, delivering educational Trans 101 insight and dick jokes from a novel perspective without sounding like a political public service announcement.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: comedydynamics.com, thetvdb.com, ianharvie.com, thecomicscomic.com, flavorwire.com, en.wikipedia.org, screencrush.com, imdb.com.

Backstory

Historic milestone as the first standup special by an out trans man comedian, debuting amidst heightened public dialogue around transgender visibility and civil rights in 2016.

Details

Released
Runtime
58 min
Where
Seeso
Director
Ryan Polito
Honors
Named one of the top stand-up comedy specials of 2016 by The Comic's ComicScreenCrush Staff Pick for streaming recommendations
Topics

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