Temi Wilkey is an award-winning writer and comedian. She won Best Writer at the Stage Debut Awards in 2020 and has written TV episodes for Disney Plus and Netflix. Her work on Netflix’s Sex Education earned her an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series.
She took her debut hour Main Character Energy (★★★★ Guardian “The perfect send up of the one woman show.”) to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2024 before a three week transfer to Soho Theatre and national tour. Her sophomore solo show Lover Girl had a critically acclaimed run at Edinburgh Fringe this year and is heading to Soho in November.
Tell us about your comedy style.
It’s flamboyant! I’m very playful and physical onstage and there’s a lot of theatricality to how I perform. It gives high femme, high camp absurdity. Like if Moira Rose was somehow also Beyoncè.
How did you get into comedy/writing/producing etc?
I was an out of work actor that wrote a play. When it was staged, I realised it was… funny! And the feeling of my writing making an audience laugh felt so electric. Writing ended up taking off and I wrote episodes for TV comedy dramas like Netflix’s Sex Education. But I started to really miss performing so then threw myself into open mics and any gigs that would have me. It wasn’t enough to make an audience laugh in my writing, I needed to feel the rush of it onstage.
What’s your show about and where can we see it?
My new show Lover Girl is about looking for love as a Black, bisexual woman with an Infinity Pussy. Yes, I said Infinity Pussy. She’s the living embodiment of my sexual prowess and takes over the show to help me and the audience figure out where I’ve gone so wrong in dating and why we’re in a cost of loving crisis. It’s sexy, surreal and very self-indulgent. You can see it at Soho Theatre from Monday 2nd to Saturday 21st of November.
What advice would you give for those starting out/working on their first project etc?
Explore lots of different kinds of comedy. I’ve tried stand up, clowning and am in an improv team at the FA. I think exploring lots of different ways to be funny helped me to figure out a way of being funny that is true and unique to me. It’s so fun and surprising for an audience when you’re more than one thing and I think playing with form can be so exciting. A key comedy ingredient is the element of surprise… so keep ‘em guessing!
Who are your favourite funny women?
Growing up I was obsessed with Jocelyn Jee Essien and Gina Yashere. Hilarious Black women who lit up my screen with such unique and embodied sketches and stand up. More recently, Kate Berlant and Jacqueline Novak have really inspired me. Kate Berlant’s show Kate inspired my debut one woman show deeply and I find Jacqueline Novak’s surrealist and poetic approach to comedy so delightful!
What do you love about comedy/writing/producing etc?
I love how pleasurable it is. It feels so good to make people laugh and so good to laugh. I love how much craft there is involved in trying to delight people. I also think it can be so powerful. It fosters connection, empathy and lays the foundation to share expansive ideas. They say laughter’s the best medicine but I also think it’s the spoonful of sugar that helps the real medicine go down.
Tickets and more information can be found here!
Head over to Instagram where you can keep up with Temi and Lover Girl.
