Cameryn Moore @ Sweet Grassmarket. Fringe 2018

Terrible Sex Tips
 at the 2018 Fringe. It runs at 21:10 every night of the Fringe (except the 14th), also at Sweet Venues in Grassmarket.

World premiere at 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe

From unexpected undies to staying out late in Cowgate, professional smut-monger Cameryn Moore has a weird, wonderful sex story for every occasion. Slut-shaming. Capitalism. Substandard dildos… it’s all on the table in Cameryn’s new sex-ed storytelling show, "Terrible Sex Tips: Live & Uncut," making its world premiere this August at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

In "Terrible Sex Tips," the American phone sex operator-turned-playwright sets her comedic talent loose on cultural norms and awful advice columns, drilling down to their crappy core to illuminate why we need to set those expectations on fire and start from scratch. "Terrible Sex Tips" is brazen yet biting sex ed for any adult who wonders what’s beyond scratchy lingerie and “Tickle His Pickle” (yes, that’s a real book title).

“As often as I might say ‘cock’ or ‘cunt’ in my work, none of these stories are meant to shock,” says Cameryn. “I just want to get people to talk about what they really, really want, and for that I need to talk about the hard and/or wet stuff. Real, rowdy, and a little ridiculous is the best way to go.” 


Would you identify your show as 'gay' or 'queer'? What makes you define the show with this label?

Terrible Sex Tips is queer, because I'm queer and some of the stories included are about my same-sex experience. So there's some hot girl-on-girl action in it (jk, it's not very hot, terrible sex tips, remember?), but there's also a lot of shenanigans with cisgender dudes as well. 

The amount of time that different kinds of sex and kink get play in this show is pretty representative of how much play they have or have had in my life. Which is definitely queer.

What differences do you see between the labels 'gay' and 'queer'?

Gay is pretty much for men only, in my book, unless I'm being ironic and talking in a deliberately simplistic way. Queer is more accessible to people of all genders, and it is inclusive of different experiences of bisexuality and pansexuality. 

It's also got a bit of a political edge, which I like. I came out in the U.S. right around the time that Queer Nation emerged; that was a very formative time for me.

Why do you think I am asking this question, particularly of your show?

Looking at the show write-up and the way that I deliberately reference women's magazines and their terrible sex advice, it would be easy to assume that I am straight. Looking at my picture, people often assume that I'm a lesbian. 

I talk about my past and present relationships with men quite openly, but I also frequently reference the 11 years I lived with a woman. Bisexual invisibility and erasure is a real thing; people frequently jump to conclusions and they are frequently wrong.

Cameryn tells her smut around the world at comedy shows and her own world-infamous Smut Slams (dirty storytelling open mics), which have sold out comedy clubs and performance palaces from Vancouver to Berlin to Wellington, NZ. She is also the creator of five critically acclaimed solo shows and one-woman plays, including the award-winning Phone Whore, slut (r)evolution, and nerdfucker.