‘It was the first time I wasn’t obsessed with food’: Comedians use Ozempic trend for laughs at Edinburgh Fringe

Solo artists on the outskirts of Edinburgh are joining forces to tackle one of the world’s most personally debilitating afflictions: body dysmorphia. Next weekend, a range of female comedians – from self-confessed slimming pill users to obsessive dieters and repeat cosmetic surgery clients – will battle the damage caused by the pressure to look thin. In a series of shows They will first turn the mirror on themselves and then on society as a whole.

“Like a lot of people, I thought life would start when I was the right weight. Then you lose weight and think, How come I still don’t feel good?” said Michelle Shaughnessy, 40, an acclaimed Canadian comedian who has written an uncompromising new show, Too late, honeyin which she revealed her dependence on semaglutide, the controversial weight-loss drug. “I never wanted to talk about it at my age. I thought people would think it was a problem for younger women and that I should have bigger things on my mind. But I still can’t get a grip on it.”

Shaughnessy admits to having funny and ridiculous insecurities, but blames much of it on commercial advertising. She’ll be joined at the festival by a female comedian who once saw her own body as dangerous to others, and another who was recently diagnosed with body dysmorphia.

“I just assumed that everyone felt that way,” said Hannah Platt, 31. “I always felt like my appearance didn’t reflect who I was. I almost found my appearance offensive to other people, an insult even. Then I was diagnosed with body dysmorphia. So in my debut show in Edinburgh, Defense mechanismI really enjoy taking down my usual guards and making the audience laugh.”

The battle with body image can start early. Platt, who grew up in Liverpool, remembers boys in her class telling her she was ugly and she absorbed the message. “When I look at the things I saw on TV as a kid, shows like America’s Next Top Modelwhere they criticized these beautiful women, I can see that the 90s were a bad time to grow up.”

“I was bullied at school,” admits Shaughnessy, who has been praised for her comedic skills but never learned to appreciate herself. “Back then, it was acceptable to make fun of people for being fat. But when I looked back at pictures of myself before this show, I wasn’t nearly as big as I remembered. In my mind, I was huge.”

The result was a string of cosmetic procedures in adulthood, from Botox and liposuction to surgery: “I’d been yo-yo dieting my whole life, and I got tired of it. You reach your goal and then you just go back to eating normally. So I jumped on Ozempic straight away. It was the first time I wasn’t obsessed with food. A year ago, I wouldn’t have regretted it, although I might not have if I’d been honest about my size. At first, you lose weight gradually and feel great, but when I hit my goal weight, I thought maybe I could go smaller.”

Platt and Shaughnessy will perform at the fringe in the Pleasance Courtyard and Underbelly Bristo Square respectively, alongside Olivia Levine from Brooklyn, New York, who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Her show Detachedat Just The Tonic’s The Mash Houseexplores the physical self-hatred Levine felt in her adolescence, when she saw her body as tainted and potentially harmful to others.

Another production from Brooklyn, the theater show 3Hamsin the same location, deals with similar issues. It tells the story of two friends who bond over their struggles with eating disorders and work together to break the unhealthy dynamic.

If these mental health issues are caused by cruel comments heard in childhood, working in the entertainment industry later in life doesn’t help. Platt enjoys dressing up, both in real life and on stage, but her enjoyment of clothes has been criticised. “Some comedy guys have suggested that I shouldn’t dress like that when I talk about depression. They say I won’t be believed. But while I can never accept compliments about my appearance, my clothes are something I have control over and they say who I am.”

Platt argues that male comedians are not judged in the same way. “You can be an ugly, smart, funny guy. They can even be disgusting,” she said. “Sometimes there’s a reluctance in my audience when I talk about feeling unattractive. They don’t want to accept it because it seems so hard for me, as a woman.”

The condition is now manageable for Platt, while Shaughnessy said she plans to keep a supply of healthy foods on hand during the festival. “If I eat processed foods, I get depressed,” she said. “I have a control issue, but it’s one that seems relatable to people of all ages. So I thought I’d just make an honest show about it.”