Transgender stand-up comedian Ian Harvie, takes a sex positive look at his own transition through hilarious comedy.
In this debut stand-up comedy concert film, Ian Harvie Superhero, it’s the culmination of a very personal and public journey of having been born a girl and later becoming a self-made man. It’s Ian’s facile sense of ease, not just his gender-bending presence that makes his humor groundbreaking; and has lead him to make history on more than one occasion. It’s these very qualities that attracted the notorious Margaret Cho to publicly rave about Ian’s work and have him as her opening act for years. Ian is “quite possibly the most unique comic in the country” says Frontiers Magazine (Los Angeles, CA) and yet his jokes strike the core of all shared human experiences.
No matter who you are, who you love or where you come from, Ian Harvie will make you feel as though you are family. Everyone will be able to relate to his observations about life, relationships, and the routine challenges we all face from day-to-day. His wickedly funny stories are couched in an amiable personality that could put any audience at ease, while his folksy, ingenuous delivery almost – but not quite – tempers his zinger punch lines, making them not just hilarious but seriously twisted. Even if he wasn’t so witty, without even trying, Ian could set an audience on their ear, opening up new realms of irony. He could be your brother, your best friend’s boyfriend or a merely a clean-cut preppy trying his hand at stand-up, but he’s not. Ian’s not “just” a queer comedian – he’s the world’s first FTM transgender comic… which, when put into context; will make his anecdotes about his own phobia of public restrooms all the more side-splitting!
But because Ian is so comfortable in his own skin, and has such an appealing “boy next door” stage presence, not to mention a keen eye for observation and is an adept mimic verbally as well as with body language, his humor spans all boundaries, from gender to politics, cutting directly to the core of the human condition, in all its infinite strangeness.
It’s this facile sense of ease and not just his gender-bending presence that makes Ian’s humor groundbreaking, and has lead him to make history on more than one occasion. It’s the very quality that attracted the notorious Margaret Cho to not just publicly rave about Ian’s work, but to feature him in her smash show “The Sensuous Woman” and tour with him nationally and internationally constantly; it’s what landed him spots on One Night Stand Up and OutLaugh Comedy Festival on the LOGO Network, Comics Unleashed on ABC, and The Trisha Show on CW.
“He’s the comedian Margaret Cho can’t stop raving about.”
– CURVE MAGAZINE
Ian shares: “I was born female; there is no question that I understand this. I believe that ‘female’ is a biological sex and legal term; while my gender is something else entirely, that is something I get to create myself and modify as I see fit. I do not consider myself or identify as ‘male’, however I do identify as a ‘man’ of sorts, these two words are not necessarily connected for me. I don’t feel like I was robbed of the correct biological sex; I believe I was born in the right body, and that I just may want to change it a little bit.”
Born in Portland, Maine raised on the shores of (no, this isn’t a joke) Beaver Pond, Ian is one of a mere handful of polysyllabic New Englanders. Raised on a steady diet of television sitcoms and variety shows, Ian made his comedic debut at the age of eight, standing in front of fitted sheet hanging from a clothesline. Obsessed with “The Carol Burnett Show” and Impressionist Rich Little, Ian channeled Rich’s impression of Richard Nixon, and, as they say in the biz, he “killed”.
Audiences of every possible cross-section of society are quick to relate to, and laugh along with, Ian’s eccentric views on love, families, adolescence, substance abuse, and gender identification, as well as his acute dissection on the circus act that is the stunt double for today’s popular culture.
In this live, standup comedy performance Ian returns to his beloved hometown of Portland after 6 years in Los Angeles to perform his first live concert film, IAN HARVIE SUPERHERO, in front of a wild and welcoming audience.
