Titi Lee is a non-binary, first-generation Taiwanese American comedian and filmmaker based in Los Angeles and is currently showcasing their one-person show, “Good Girl Gone Baddie,” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Sadly, no one from team Edinburgh Reviews, even with our extra helpers for the Fringe, was able to defeat the schedule goblins and make the Cabaret Voltaire-hosted show. However, we managed to coordinate an email interview.
An interview with Titi Lee
How do you like Edinburgh so far? Have you been before and will you come again?
This is my first time at the Fringe and in Edinburgh in general. It’s such a beautiful city, I am really in awe of it all. Plus it is quite haunted… but so far the ghosts have been very nice. The living people have been exceptional as well.
What can audiences expect from “Good Girl Gone Baddie”?
It’s a comedy show, and my background is in standup, but the show itself is like standup special on steroids. I grew up doing musical theater and used to be a gogo dancer in my twenties, so I’ve infused cabaret elements into the show to make a really fun high-energy hour. I start the show off doing an emo dance and then end the show in drag. I think audiences can expect to laugh, but also there are more heartfelt emotional moments as the story takes a turn towards the end.
What’s a ‘baddie’ these days, and are you really that?
To me a baddie means being unapologetic, taking up space, being sexy, comfortable, and confident in your own skin. It’s hot girl culture but without the gender bias. I am a baddie, as is everyone in my audience, and anyone who owns who they are despite what others might expect of them.
Is there anywhere in Edinburgh you’d recommend to LGBTQ+ visitors?
Paradise Palms has been a real cool space I’ve enjoyed going to regularly after shows. I performed on a few drag cabarets there and they were all such amazing energy. The drag circuit in Edinburgh has been really welcoming, and I’ve met local kings like Jay Gnormous and Butch Cashidy that are doing some really cool things here for the queer and sapphic community on the regular. One show I did at Paradise Palms, Hannah Gadsby actually came by to watch and that was definitely a festival highlight for me.
Congratulations on “I Think She Likes You.” Tribeca has praised the movie, and I believe you’ve signed an international distribution deal. Can you tell readers about the film?
Thanks! Yes, the short was inspired by true events… my co-star and I met at a comedy festival in Atlanta and bonded over shared experiences being bisexual women back in 2018, and found we hadn’t seen a lot of comedy representation of bisexual women in relationship on screen outside of the occasional joke or gag. We wanted to put this relationship of two women who were in love but emotionally stunted – messy and real – front and center. Essentially, its a threesome gone wrong – the man they bring home thinks he’s getting a hot night but what he gets instead is the raw underbelly of this relationship rife with emotions.
Why is it so often a friend who needs to say, “I Think She Likes You”, rather than the attraction being appropriately clear to the people involved?
I’m not sure how to answer that! I think it’s fun and sexy to play telephone sometimes. The film starts with the two women picking up the man in the bar, and I think that’s the fun of dating people together as a couple. Everyone loves being desired, and you add the extra element of the school girl crush, like someone telling you that you’re being crushed on, that’s like catnip for a lot of usb
How does making a movie compare to surviving the Edinburgh festival season as a creator?
Making films in some ways helped prepare me for the unpredictability of fringe, but there’s really nothing like doing the fringe. With film you have a team, you have a schedule, you have a plan. With fringe, the beauty of it is in that anything can happen. You lean into to unknown of it all. I think doing fringe has been more difficult in many ways than filmmaking for me – because you have to do it over and over for 25 days straight, the audience is always changing, and you are constantly rewriting and reflecting on the material in ways that aren’t true as being on set. It’s like having to write, produce, direct, act, be your own glam team, crafty, publicist, and marketing team all in 24 hours every day for a month.
What’s your favourite love triangle book, TV or video series?
You know, I think of love triangles as a bit misleading, because they imply a push and pull between the individuals, whereas when you’re a couple dating someone together, there’s more harmony. Of course in the short we wrote, the vision goes awry, but what I love about couples dating together is that the new attraction is built on the existing foundation of the couple. I don’t see as much of that happening in TV/Film without it being exploitive sexually, but of course there’s the classic French film Jules and Jim. We almost named the short Justine and Julia actually.
Would people who like that also like “Good Girl Gone Baddie”?
If you like messy, raw, honest, funny and complex characters you’ll love Good Girl Gone Baddie. Much like ITSLY it leads with comedy, but at its heart is pulling from emotional trauma and a place of vulnerability.
Lastly, thank you. Is there anything you want Edinburgh to remember you for this year?
I talk about losing my little brother to suicide in my show, and after one show, an audience member came up to me and told me she saw his face before the show. She was a medium I think, and said that she saw him laughing at times, serious at times, and with me for the whole show. It made me cry to hear that. I’d like Edinburgh to remember my little brother was here.
Links
There’s still time to see Titi Lee in Edinburgh this year.
Looking for travel tips from locals? We've a things to do in Leith guide.
Leave a Reply