Lou Sanders doesn’t shy away from the big topics in her comedy. In her last show Shame Pig, which won her the accolade of comedians’ comedian at last year’s Fringe, nothing was off-limits.

As well as bringing last year’s show to Glasgow Comedy Festival, Lou has a new show which takes a different approach:

“In my new show I want to talk about context and tone and nuance because I feel like we’re lost all of those things” says Lou.

“Everyone is just rushing forward their opinion without even reading up on it.

“I don’t think I’ve got very good communication skills, so I have to really think about what I say before I say it.

“My way of doing comedy, I’ve got to almost dilute it down.

“It’s really hard to articulate what I mean, but I’m really passionate about it – it’s a terrible combination because I just end up screaming and walk away.”

“I’m having a lot of fun writing the new show. For the last one I felt like I’d talked about all the shady experiences I could remember, but then I was like ‘oh no I’ve got loads more’ – you just forget

“This one is more about attention, counter-culture and everyone going mad

“The new show is called The Face Who Launched a Thousand ****s,

“The show does look at myself as well as people clamouring for attention at the risk of ****ing other people over and not thinking about their situation.

“Have a day off!

“I used to have this joke which was a way of getting out of trouble if anybody had a go at you for anything. You just put your hand on their shoulder, tilt your head to one side and say ‘I don’t think this is about me is it? What’s getting you at home?’

“And with this stuff, it’s the same, if you can trigger this easily things aren’t alright.

“It’s just a way of wanting to be heard by the world and getting your nose into things that don’t concern you.

“But yeah, I want to talk about that in the new show but in a really fun way – don’t know exactly how that’ll work.

“The new show is going to have all the things which will be hard to talk about – that’s the challenge I’ve set myself. With that, I don’t really want to talk about ‘woke’ stuff, I’m more wanting to talk about people who are being too woke.

“But I don’t want to get cancelled.”

Not that many comedians can make nuance a punchline, but for Lou, the point of her show is making sure people can talk about any subject – as long as it’s done right:

“It’s all to do with tone and context, but that’s not really a thing when people are shouting at each other in 140 characters” says Lou.

“I had a very good rape joke in my show. I wanted to talk about that experience that I’ve had with that, and not make it a label of ‘here’s the headline’.

“I wanted it to be a very natural thing to say, not to dismiss it, but to say that most of my friends have had experiences like this.

“Because if you say ‘most of my friends have been raped’, that’s your headline, and it seems like you’re only saying it to get attention.

“But I’m not, I’ve healed it and I’m talking about it like when I make a very dark joke. I’m OK, you don’t need to worry about me, but this has happened to a lot of people I know.

“We shouldn’t be ashamed or embarrassed to talk about it, it shouldn’t be ‘the thing’ in the room, it’s a part of life in the same way that I’ve been for a bungee jump – it won’t define me.

“The problem about it is nobody can talk about it in that way because we live in a headline culture where nuance and context are gone. Even now I’d be scared to say it because it would be a pull-quote.

“It’s about making jokes about it like it’s any other thing in your life. It’s the tapestry of life –you’re going to have horrible or brilliant experiences all interwoven and none of them should define you.

Every aspect of her life is a potential part of a comedy set, and for Lou this is a good thing – it’s an outlet that a lot of people don’t have:

“In terms of writing about relationships etc, it all goes in and I think we’re very lucky because for us it’s very cathartic, god knows what it’s like for the audience” says Lou.

“If it’s funny and real that’s my favourite thing to watch really. I can’t really not put stuff in because it just comes out really like an exorcism which is great ‘cos then I don’t have to pay for therapy.

“I used to get annoyed about feminism when I was a student and I was just unbearable This really good friend I’ve had since I was about 16 and her mum and dad are quite traditional.

“I used to go round to her mum and dad’s house and comment on their lives with that feminist lens. Oh right, so she has to do everything does she?”

“Some uppity 16-year-old judging her friend’s parents lives which worked well for them. They both needed each other in different ways and their relationship works, they’ve been together for 50 years or whatever.

“But I come in thinking: ‘well, I think I know how to make this better, tell them about feminism that I’ve learned at college’

“He did used to call her in the cut the cake and that kind of thing and that would make my blood boil because I’m like ‘she’s not your slave’

“But actually he needed her and she needed him and they had a romantic loving relationship – so what that they had traditional gender roles? It’s not for someone half their age to come in start shouting at them.”

l Lou Sanders will perform Shame Pig on Friday, March 15, and The Face That Launched A Thousand ****s on Saturday, March 16 at The Hug and Pint as part of Whyte & Mackay Glasgow International Comedy Festival.