Gay cruising changed my life. Which kind of cruising? The fun kind! So, both, to be honest. But I’ve only been paid for one of them. My new stand-up show Miss World spares no sordid details as to why it was a life-altering experience.
If you don’t know me, I’m Joe Sutherland. I’m a comedian, actor, DJ (I have a Spotify Premium account). My first headline tour kicks off in London on September 18th at Underbelly Boulevard, as part of Fringe Fix, a curated selection of shows from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
As well as the joys of homosexual ocean liners, the show addresses the perils of twink death, making babies with lesbian friends, performative allyship and I courageously talk about going to the gym in your thirties to feel hot. Truly groundbreaking stuff, actually.
But it was back in 2022 that I first stepped onto a cruise ship for a week-long LGBTQ cruise as a guest performer.
After a decade working as a stand-up comedian across the UK and beyond, despite having a couple of appearances on TV to my name (remember television? RIP) I found myself regularly hitting career dead-ends. Scripts would get bought and then sit on a shelf, I’d develop radio formats just to be dropped as host and replaced by someone famous, and countless producers told me that my ideas wouldn’t work because they “already had an LGBTQ+ project”. That’s right, they already had ONE. But of course, they had multiple projects about a straight man in a flatshare. It’s what the people want!
It often felt like I was knocking at the door of the UK Entertainment Establishment and they were ducking behind an armchair, hiding from me like I was the TV Licence inspector. Ironic, as most of them went to private school and wouldn’t know what it’s like to pretend you’re not home to avoid paying a bill. They just fly to the Caymans.
Anyway, one morning in 2022 I wake up to an email asking if I’d be free in a couple of months’ time to jump on a gay cruise and do comedy. It turns out the booker had seen me perform at the Edinburgh Fringe pre-covid and had been waiting for a chance to book me.
In my post-pandemic fugue I decided to say yes to as many new things as possible. So I got on a boat with approximately 2,000 gay men, a handful of women and some non-binary babes. I could go on for ages about the psychological adjustments required to accept that you’re living on a technologically advanced floating city and riding the waves of late stage capitalism, but that’s not the fun bit.
I knew there’d be a circuit party vibe every night, I knew there’d be sex, I knew there’d be camp entertainment. What I hadn’t accounted for was how emotional the experience would be; meeting elder queers who had fought hard to become who they are today, meeting people who live in places where they feel the need to hide parts of themselves to ensure their safety. Meeting other entertainers who supported me and quickly became best Judies. And the audiences. At first a tough nut to crack, but once I understood how to play the shows, the love that poured from the crowds was like nothing I’d felt before. Don’t get me wrong, gays, sometimes we have terrible taste. But when we collectively decide that someone has talent and passion, we gather around them and give them everything.
Performing for those crowds rebuilt my confidence and showed me that I don’t need a TV exec’s permission to do what I do, and do it well. It reminded me who I perform for, in the words of HRH Lady Gaga, “God and the Gays”. So this show is for them.
And if you’re disappointed I didn’t share any of the more sordid details here, you’ll just have to come to the show.
Joe Sutherland: MISS WORLD is on Thursday 18 September, 7pm, at Underbelly Boulevard Soho, 6 Walker’s Court, Soho, London W1F 0BT, United Kingdom. And then on tour in the UK through until December.
London tickets: https://underbellyboulevard.com/tickets/joe-sutherland-miss-world/
UK tour tickets: https://gagreflex.co.uk/shows/miss-world/
