It’s been a hell of a past few years for George Rigden, first he got cancelled, then he got sober, then he discovered he was autistic. What to do when life hit’s you all at once? Put it all in a comedy show of course! George might have been down but he’s definitely not out and he’s back with brand new show SELF INFLICTED at the Limerick Arms and The Motley Wherehaus Vault 4 for Melbourne Comedy Festival.
You were well entrenched as a comedian in the UK and abroad and then you got cancelled. Tell us how that happened. Well, it was instigated largely by an ex in comedy whom I treated poorly and thoughtlessly, calling me out publicly for being a selfish, philandering and angry bastard at the peak of the covid lockdown – which opened a whole can of worms with an extensive list of people I’d wronged. I was still very much in the throes of addiction at that time, but that’s obviously no excuse for how I treated them or people in general. I tried to own it by putting out a statement at the behest of my then-agent, which backfired fairly spectacularly. It was a harsh but necessary reality check – because it wasn’t just down to my being a shitty boyfriend, it was being a shitty friend and colleague to dozens of others. I burned a lot of bridges with good people because I didn’t and wouldn’t get my shit together.
And your show is about this, what can audiences expect? Raw honesty, reflection – a unique insight into how people like me are made and not born, and how my comedy persona ultimately engulfed my actual personality and character because that’s what I thought people liked most about me. Turns out I was wrong. But also, an illustration of the power of true amends, recovery and redemption. Despite the subject matter, It’s still very funny, musical and interactive.
Not just a comedian, you’re also an actor, musicians and appear regularly on TV in the UK. How did getting cancelled impact you as a comedian and performer?
Anytime a booker would book me in for a gig, they’d receive a deluge of emails from people miffed at them booking an admitted abuser and I’d be removed from the line up. For a long time, that hurt like hell and felt disproportionate to anything I’d actually done, which definitely enabled me to stay in a rut of bitterness and boozing rather than working on myself or trying to make things right. I definitely doubled down for a while there, especially after I was able to relocate to the states and keep working as a comic. I was pretty indignant about it all, and the self-sabotage continued even when I had a fresh start overseas – but since sobering up and getting the right type of therapy, things have slowly begun to turn around for me personally and professionally. People are a lot more understanding than social media would have us believe.
What has been the biggest change you’ve made since the cancellation? Getting sober, that’s the biggest one – and probably the hardest. That, and being brutally honest with myself in a way I never had been before. It’s incredible the crap you can justify to yourself when you’re carrying a lot of trauma and pain of your own. Like ‘why can’t people just take me as I am? Don’t they know how horrible my dad was and that my best friend drowned?!’, Rather than striving and working to be better. Plus, beginning to make direct amends with the people I’d hurt, something which felt impossible when I was still using. That’s an ongoing process.
You’re sober now and also received an autism diagnoses, do you connect drinking with your diagnoses? Definitely. I spent about 90% of my existence feeling like a freak weirdo who just didn’t fit in with the human race, no matter how hard I tried – and drink and other substances more than alleviated that feeling, but enabled my self-destructive tendencies no end. I could never just drink socially, I drank for oblivion. I know for a fact I’m far from alone in that. Since receiving an autism diagnoses though, I understand myself a lot more – and while it took several months from the point of diagnoses to sobering up, I’m not sure if I’d ever have been able to address my addictions or even desired to without knowing I was autistic. Like – I just felt terminally doomed until I had that assessment. It was genuinely transformative.
If you had one piece of advice for up and coming young comedians what would it be. There’s a great phr.
Tell us something funny that’s happened to you since arriving in Australia. I went on an extensive road trip with my sister in January. It was incredible, even if the phone signal was non-existent. Barbaric. But on our first night, we pitched up on an empty rural campsite a few clicks south of Sydney. We were sat around the fire, having a laugh, when suddenly from the bushes behind us we heard two animals who sounded like they were screaming in pain. I was terrified, I thought we were about to be attacked by some gigantic wild predator – until my sister explained it was just two possums shagging. That was hilarious, if traumatic.
Why should people come and see your show? Because there’s probably nothing else quite like it at this years festival. There’s a lot of good comedy in this country, probably even more per capita than back home – but nothing as intensely personal as what I’m doing, while still being properly funny and entertaining. Plus, music! There’s at least two solid brand new bangers in my show.
And finally, for comedy festival, what’s one show you recommend other than your own! Luke McQueen. Brilliant comic by any metric, but the fact he’s doing a show about one of the most disingenuous people in our industry is properly gutsy and so so funny. I know he’s had to deal with this particular person’s lawyers at some point, which only stands to make the whole thing even more hilarious. Go see it.
You can catch George for Melbourne Comedy Festival at The Motley Wherehaus Vault 4 and The Limerick Arms right through comedy festival kicking off 25th March. Tix on sale now from here! You can also follow George on Instagram and TikTok to see his latest work!
@rigdenfunny
