Giada Biaggi

How did you discover your passion for comedy?

I decided to become a comedian when I watched this Netflix special on Katherine Ryan, who was this amazing blonde comedian whom I somewhat resemble aesthetically. I watched this Netflix special called Glitter Room, and from there, I decided to imitate her.

What are the biggest challenges you face working in the comedy world in Italy?

Surely, it's a very misogynistic and mostly male-dominated world. The biggest challenge is the fact that male comedians ignore your presence in the world, both as a sexual being and as a purely cognitive being. They simply don't acknowledge you, they don't even follow you on Instagram. So, this is a bit heavy, in the sense that I see a lot of gender disparity in this field. There are very few women doing stand-up comedy, so it's very difficult.

Can you tell us a bit about your creative process when writing a comedy show or screenplay? Are you someone who thrives in chaos or do you need order?

To create, I need order, even though I'm quite a party girl, a socialite; I like to go out to events. But when I write books or monologues, I isolate myself from society: I stay at home for a week, smoke slim cigarettes, drink Japanese whiskey in the evening, and remain quite isolated in my own world – and my dog becomes my main interlocutor.

What are the topics you find most stimulating to explore in your comedic and literary work?

The most stimulating topics are definitely gender relations, in the sense that it's very interesting how things have changed in the last twenty years and how the relational paradigm between men and women has been subverted, moving into a binary universe. This is very interesting to me, not to be approached didactically, but rather in the small things: the nuances in which this reversal of gender relations unfolds are fascinating to explore.

Tell us about your latest book: "Comunismo a Times Square." What inspired you to write it and how would you describe it in three words?

My latest book, "Comunismo a Times Square," is set from 2000 to 2011, mainly in New York, and I started with this imagery because I wanted to write a book without the word Instagram in it, which also had a political aspect. These years were very important to me because they were the last years in which the West gave itself an image of its own future. They began with the Millennium Bug, the Twin Towers, the 2008 economic crisis, Barack Obama, and ended with the Occupy Wall Street tent encampment. The future had taken on a very iconic dimension, also through indie rock music that was topping the charts. At this historical moment, I think it made a lot of sense to write a book that delineated an image of the future that we have forgotten, because we still move in a recent past. The book also investigates the collapse of traditional media; it was just before the Me Too movement, so these were very strong years that I felt the need to put into writing.

Describe it in three words? Visionary, romantic, and harsh.

You are an example that a woman can be both beautiful and cool but also funny. What is the role of fashion in your life and work? And how does style influence your presence on stage?

I'm a bit against fashion philosophies, even the idea that clothes are essential to your person: I like clothes because I'm a child of late capitalism, so I'm a bit of a hoarder. But I don't see a spiritual dimension in the accumulation of objects; I like clothes as objects. So yes, I appreciate their materiality. Then, in the case of stand-up comedy, I like to introduce fashion because I think going to do a stand-up comedy monologue dressed like a showgirl creates an incision of languages. A collapse of languages that I find very interesting, innovative, so I like this subversion of the paradigm. I like fashion because it purely moves in an aesthetic and capitalist dimension for me.

What evolution would you like to see in your career? Do you have any projects in the pipeline?

I would love to work in cinema; I see myself in a very Woody Allen-esque role. So that would be my dream. Right now, I'm working on a podcast.

If you could imagine yourself having breakfast or an aperitif with three characters, living or dead, real or imaginary, who would you choose?

If I had to have breakfast with three characters, I would do it with Umberto Galimberti, Dolly Parton, and Louis Garrel.