Inside The Talking C*ck

Brave New Comedy is staging a surprising new show at the Fringe Festival this summer. We created this little off-shoot of Brave New Productions in order to explore daring new frontiers of stand-up comedy. We wanted to see where we could get creative with a format that is established and routine. A year of live shows, podcasts and web series has brought us to “Talking Cock”.

Written by Richard Herring, a hugely popular UK comedian, Talking Cock originated at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Its popularity spawned remounts across Europe and Australia, and prompted Richard to publish a book of the show. It’s been described as “Man’s answer to The Vagina Monologues” – but of course, The Vagina Monologues was never a question that needed an answer. It’s a show about female empowerment, praise and celebration. Talking Cock takes that base seed of a theme and develops it from the ground up in a male-centric way, exploring the history (and mystery) of the human penis, then moving on to real-life research and candid stories provided by over 5,000 respondents. Yes, it’s a show riddled with dick jokes – but it has a surprising amount of heart.

It’s for that reason that we decided to work with Richard Herring to bring the show to Montreal. The text has been adapted from a one-man show to rotate around four very different male perspectives. The show uses real-life feedback collected from our website and has the ability to change nightly (some of the responses will absolutely leave you shocked and/or rolling on the floor laughing).

Casting four of the most talented men I know (two actors and two comedians), anyone who is worried that the show will be nothing more than a showcase of machismo should find solace in the fact that the directors are a woman and a gay guy. Tracy Allan and myself know the show will be offensive to some – anyone who comes to a show called Talking Cock should expect a certain amount of shocking content – but we’ve taken care to make the show a layered experience. It truly has something for everyone. Tracy has been an absolute gift, offering perspective and insight I would never have otherwise been able to provide.

On-stage you will find the absolute best talent in the city. Local comedian Jason Yearow is hilarious and Santi Espinosa has returned from his new home in New York just for the run. Two of Brave New Productions’ company members (Sean Curley and Nir Guzinski) are braving the stand-up experience and going behind the mic for the very first time. It’s all very exciting and we’ve been working for months to create a show that we hope both surprises and entertains.

TALKING COCK plays at The Wiggle Room (3874 Boul St-Laurent)
June 12-22 @ 9PM (Dark Monday)
Tickets: 10$ BUY HERE