Stand-up Andrew White is Young, Gay &... A Third Thing on his debut tour

“The title is a direct quote from somebody that was trying to describe me and said that I was young and gay and... couldn't think of a third thing. But I know what I would like that third thing to be. I want it to be young, gay and funny!

“I've been doing comedy for about ten years, seven years properly on the circuit trying to make a living from it. I started when I was 15. It was really just my youthful arrogance! I think I've now adapted that into something more useful and less annoying! But I was very precocious. I was out there before that teenage period of self-doubt and all that stuff came in. I was very confident and very secure of myself when I first started but then you get the doubts, just like anyone else does but by then enough was happening for me to want to stay with it.

“What is on my mind turns out to be what my show is really. When I start writing then it's really just what I'm thinking about and I don't think there is a particular theme, just the things that are happening in my life and that I find funny but then when I pull it all together then I do start to realise what it is about. And I think the particular theme in this show is authenticity and identity. I think we are in an age of very heightened identity. I think we are all much more hyper aware and identity conscious. And a lot of people rail against identity politics and how people want to see themselves. I'm very much more leaning towards a more liberal interpretation of identity politics but I do feel this generation in this world is thinking much more about that, about where they sit and what their experiences are.

“And comedy has moved in that direction too. I think comedy has become much more self-reflective. The predominant culture of who I am and what is happening in my life is what comedians talk about now. And it's a bit meta here because I'm talking about the pressures that comedy puts on you to talk about those kinds of things and how you are represented. And really that fits into the title – young, gay and a third thing that they couldn't think of!

“This is my first proper tour really. My Edinburgh Fringe shows had previews but I have never before organised a run of dates. So this is technically my first proper tour. I did a short run at the Edinburgh Fringe this year and I really liked my show. I just wanted this to have a run outside Edinburgh. I looked at my social media and I looked at my tour support dates for other people and I just thought that it was viable to get a few dates together and do this around the other work that I'm doing and so I am doing two days a week until December.

“I do come alive on stage. It's Dr Footlights and just the theatre adrenaline going through you but I do enjoy doing it. I actively want to be funny and make people laugh with my jokes. There's an intellectual pursuit in writing the jokes but then there is also wanting to make the audience laugh with them. It really is something that satisfies me.”

As for the success of the debut tour: “I think I will judge that on my follow-up tour if people return to see me next time. I might get places where there might only be 12 people there but if I can give them a really good show then they might bring back their friends and families the next time and just to see how it builds.”