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What's on in London: Dodger by Larry Dean

Extra shows added to UK tour.

Means Happy

22 Dec 2024 — 4 min read

Larry Dean is currently touring his show, Dodger, with extra dates added.

The show is about Larry's grandmother and her battle with dementia. It's also about Elvis. As a child, Larry performed as an Elvis impersonator.

"It's funny touring..." explains Larry. "You go from being with 500 people and you meet some of them afterwards. Then you leave a completely empty theatre and walk home by yourself."

"The perception of touring is you’re going to have a rock and roll lifestyle and loads of partying but you put in so much energy to make the show as good as possible that the rest of the time it’s like you’re on mute. You're completely exhausted. And then for that one or two hours a day when you're on stage, all your energy gets let out."

"Dementia’s got so many negatives but it can be funny..." says Larry. "But I also talk about how I was a big Elvis fan as a kid and still am. And there’s stuff about my partner Mikey. We've always been friends and then we ended up getting into a relationship. I also tell how I went for an autism assessment last year and got diagnosed. Loads of people have traits of level 1 autism or OCD or ADHD and sometimes the traits are there because of stuff that's happened in your life so I kind of veer off from there.

"When I first started doing stand-up all you needed to do was write, perform and travel..." reflects Larry. "Now you have to write, perform, travel, film, edit and get your sound sorted. There’s also podcasts. Also you need to hire social media people to help. It's like a completely full-time job in itself."