Review: Ian Harvie, “May the Best Cock Win,” on Seeso

Transgender became a much more buzzed-about identity over the past couple of years, from Olympic champion and Wheaties cereal box hero Bruce Jenner transitioning to Caitlyn Jenner to keep up with the Kardashians, to North Carolina’s oppressively obnoxious bathroom legislation, to the award-winning Amazon TV series, Transparent.

Ian Harvie made his acting debut in Transparent, but he also has toured for years as the opening act for Margaret Cho, performed his stand-up at Just For Laughs and Melbourne, and now has become the biggest transgender comedian to unveil his own hour-long stand-up special, May the Best Cock Win, on Seeso.

Harvie already had to come out twice to his parents; first as a lesbian, then as a trans man. He may look and sound more like a gay man upon first impression, but make no mistake about it: Harvie not only conveys how self-confident he is, but also how much humor he can find in his personal transformation without having to make it sound like a political public service announcement.

As the title suggests, Harvie definitely and defiantly tackles dick jokes from his own fresh perspective, and finds more fodder amid the consequences of his multiple surgeries. Such as going bald from taking testosterone. Or having to fend off gay men at the bar.

In a year that found Americans more publicly divided than we’d been in generations, Harvie’s humor helps brings us back together. Ian Harvie: May The Best Cock Win is one of the top stand-up comedy specials of 2016, and it’s available exclusively on Seeso.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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