COMIC DANIEL SLOSS ON LOCKDOWN PROPOSAL
The world’s current top-selling stand-up found things going a little awry when he popped the question
DANIEL Sloss has ended more than 120,000 relationships and been the catalyst for at least 300 divorces. But Covid helped him get engaged.
The 30-year-old, whose Netflix special Jigsaw made fans reassess their own relationships, proposed to his girlfriend Kara in February after they spent lockdown together.
Having spent the past decade gigging around the world and becoming one of the very few British comics to break America, the Edinburgh stand-up found it difficult to adjust to lockdown in the pandemic but was straightened out by Kara.
She threw him a 30th birthday in September last year, creating a music festival in their garden and inviting the then-allowed 16 pals.
Daniel said: “If you were in a relationship in lockdown and survived it you’ve got to propose.
“The first 18 months going out with her I was away doing the X tour while losing my mind because I wasn’t handling the amount of gigs I was doing and drinking too much.
“The tour finished and we got two months together and then Covid hit.
“There’s no bigger test for your relationship than spending every hour of every day in each other’s company.”
Daniel got down on one knee in February with hilarious results.
He said: “We went for a walk every day during lockdown. It was raining but I thought if I waited for a non-rainy day in Scotland I’d never get to propose.
“She had no idea it was going to happen. I got down on one knee in a puddle. She then walked off.
“I think she thought I was tying my shoelace. My first words to my fiancee weren’t, ‘Will you marry me?’ they were ‘Kara will you f ****** turn around, please.’
“She didn’t say yes but she took the ring out of my hand.”
Daniel plays his final Edinburgh performance of his latest stand-up show Hubris at the Festival Theatre tonight after another sold-out Fringe success at the Corn Exchange all month.
He will also play two shows at the Glasgow SEC Armadillo tomorrow, which
will be filmed. Then he’s off to Lisbon for 10 shows and next month gets back to the US – the first time since 2018 – and is back to filling up the year with gigs. The wedding won’t be until 2023 because he wants as many of his international pals to come to Scotland. He said: “I want them to experience a traditional Scottish wedding with kilts and a ceilidh. I don’t want restrictions. So hopefully by then everyone will be jagged and international travel will be fine.” It won’t be in a castle. Daniel wanted it but Kara is keeping him in check. He said: “She tells me to stop inviting the postman and his cat.” Daniel, whose debut book about relationships – Everyone You Hate is Going to Die – will be published in October, is happy to admit lockdown has changed him.
He has been doing stand-up since he was 16 and has become known for his edgy shows which dealt with toxic relationships, paedophilia and death.
Dark and Jigsaw were streamed on Netflix while X, which saw him selling out 300 dates in 40 countries, was shown in cinemas in the UK and HBO in the US.
Doing so many shows with X nearly broke him and he went into therapy at the start of lockdown.
He said: “I didn’t have a good time for a while but my fiancee and the rest of my family was very supportive.
“You know in relationships there’s usually a normal one and the other is a bit mental? Well, I’m usually the normal one but in this relationship I’ve realised I’m an absolute psychopath.
“But Kara calmed me down. We didn’t even argue and I wasn’t having the best of times at the start.
“After getting used to being together 24/7 and learning to slow down it’s been amazing.
“I spent 10 years being Daniel Sloss: Comedian constantly touring and writing new jokes. Suddenly I’m just Daniel. I discovered he’s a person who loves to be home and plays Fifa for 12 hours a day.”
After getting his first vaccine dose, Daniel caught Covid.
He said: “It was s **** . I wouldn’t recommend it.
“I had two days of the worst muscle pain I’ve ever had in my life. After I got the positive test I was exhausted for two weeks.
“It wasn’t pleasant but thanks to having the first jag it wasn’t hell on earth.”
For a comedian who prides himself on pushing the boundaries he is adamant his future shows won’t have material about the engagement or getting married.
He said: “I’m terrified my comedy is going to change. You know if a comedian has stopped being challenging or close to the bone when they start talking about cats, self service machines, babies or marriage.
“The jokes can still be funny, just the subjects have been well broached.
“I’m not done yet, though. I appreciate the time off but it’s not dampened my desire.”
Thanks to selling 40,000 tickets for his Hubris tour of Australia and New Zealand at the start of the year, Daniel is now the world’s top-selling comedian.
He’ll be back in the UK next month with dates in Dundee, Ayr and Inverness and will tour Europe in the autumn before heading to the US in October and November for the first time in three years.
He said: “I have a fear I’ve been forgotten, then I remember the world also stopped and spent the last 18 months watching streams so it’ll be OK.”
Daniel plays Edinburgh Festival Theatre as part of the Fringe tonight. He then plays Glasgow Armadillo at 5pm and 8.30pm tomorrow.
His book Everyone You Hate is Going to Die is out on October 12. danielsloss.com