Iain Stirling, the comedian cracking jokes as contestants on “Love Island” battle it out for love and cash, is wrapping up the latest season of the reality TV megahit and hitting the road on a stand-up tour that’s slated for shows in New York and Los Angeles this fall—and yes, his set will include “Love Island” material.
Stirling has been the narrator of the reality TV dating competition for over a decade, and even he couldn’t believe how many people are gathering at local bars across the United States for Love Island watch parties. “I genuinely thought people were photoshopping them and sending them to me,” Stirling shared during a recent video call from his home studio in London.
@carolyn.burt Love Island USA fans react to shocking twist ending for season 7 episode 20 at Roosterfish in West Hollywood. @reality bar #loveislandusa #loveisland #loveislandseason7
Love Island has been popular in the UK for quite some time, with many fans in agreement that series 5 was when it really hit is stride with contestants who are now household names such as Molly-Mae Hague, Tommy Fury and Maura Higgins, the last of which now hosts Love Island After Sun in the US.
For Stirling, it’s interesting to witness the rise in popularity of “Love Island” USA over the past year, and how it parallels the achievement of the UK version. He’s been narrating the series since the show first aired on ITV2 in 2015, and joined the US version of the show in 2022 when it made the move from CBS to NBC’s streaming service Peacock. The success of the franchise has catapulted him to iconic UK theatres, such as the Apollo Theatre in London, and now he’s bringing his stand-up to the States.
Stirling will bring “Iain Stirling Live” to the Hollywood Improv in Los Angeles on October 22. The 7:30 p.m. performance has already sold out, so a second 9:30 p.m. show has been added to the lineup.
In an interview edited for length and clarity, Stirling chats about “Love Island,” the early stages of his stand-up career in Edinburgh, and other career highlights that have come, in part, thanks to his wildly popular narration of the hit reality TV show.
Q. You’ve been the narrator of “Love Island” for 10 years. What’s been the biggest change you’ve noticed with the series?
The biggest change is how well the Islanders prime and prep themselves. In earlier series, it was more like a “Survivor” vibe. Everyone just got a bit disheveled, but now obviously they’re very primed.
Q. Are there any major differences you’ve noticed between narrating the UK version of the show compared to the US version?
You know what the biggest one is? I don’t know if it’s just a “Love Island” thing or if it’s an American thing, but in the UK, we joke about people’s jobs all the time. In the UK, it’ll be like “my name’s this and I do this for a living.” Whereas in America, it’s like “my name’s this and I’m from here.” Like what state or area in America you are is a bigger blueprint for what you’re like as a person.
We’ve got loads of jokes [on “Love Island” UK] about jobs. In the UK, we’re very straight when we say what we do for a living. I feel like in America, they have all this fancy language to make their jobs seem a bit fancier than what they actually are.
In the UK, we’ve got like dog walkers and farmers and stuff like that, whereas apart from “pool boy Austin,” there wasn’t really anyone who had a job that we could joke about.
Q. What is the recording process like for both “Love Island” USA and UK?
It’s a lot more fluid in the American one. But, fundamentally, it’s the exact same process. The UK one, I write with Mark Busk-Cowley, who actually came up with the format of “Love Island” way back in the day.
In America, there are three of us: Me, Steve Bugeja, and an amazing New York comic, Caroline Hanes. It feels more writer-roomy. We all chuck ideas around like a Saturday Night Live writer-room. Whereas me and Mark have been working together for so long, it’s like joke, next one, joke, next one.
Q. I don’t know if you’ve seen, but “Love Island” USA watch parties have taken over across the country.
I genuinely thought people were photoshopping them and sending them to me. And then I’m lucky because Caroline’s from New York and she’s of the right age and demographic that her friends watch it.
And I’m online a little bit, but I’m also like a dad with two jobs, so I’m not really an online person. I’ve only now realized that it’s not a joke. I genuinely thought someone was watching the Super Bowl and they’d green screen that, but it’s legit.
Q. I’ve been writing about “Love Island” USA, and my editors were like, “Can we send you to a watch party and have you cover it?”
Did you go?
Q. I did. It was crazy. I went to one in West Hollywood. I got there two hours early, and 10 minutes later, all the seats were taken. Thirty minutes later, everyone is packed like sardines and it’s standing room only. I think it was the best episode I could have seen live because it was one with the plot twist at the end that Nic and Olandria were safe.
That’s honestly so cool. I can’t remember the year, but when “Love Island” UK really took off, and obviously it’s still massive here, but when it was the same [height of popularity as what is in the US now], it was when the World Cup was on, and England had a really deep run in the World Cup. So, there were loads of images of all the sports bars’ screens, all showing England in the World Cup semi-finals, but then there was another section of the bar that was “Love Island.” And obviously, for a sports bar to not show the national team in the semi-finals of a World Cup and show something else is nuts.
Q. This season of Love Island USA has been a roller coaster for a lot of things, but there have also been quite a few iconic moments aside from the drama. What’s been the most memorable moment for you in the US this season?
There’s obviously Nic and Huda’s “Mommy, Mamacita?” That’s gone so viral, but even my voice over into it, I did a joke about Nic not knowing what a mother is. I think those little fun moments are incredible.
Also, there’s a really lovely, vindicating moment when everyone clocked how popular Amaya was, and she had about four guys fighting for her. It felt really full circle because to be yourself unapologetically, when you keep getting it thrown back in your face, must be so, so difficult. Especially when she’s not got her phone to have that positive feedback from the American public. I found that really beautiful and empowering for her, and also hilarious that all these guys were shamefully being like, “You know what? I just realized I think you’re great.”
And she got to go, “Piss off.”
Q. People who know you best from hearing your playful, cheeky comments as the narrator of “Love Island,” what can they expect from your stand-up show?
We do the Edinburgh Fringe Festival every year, where you have to come up with these narrative shows. There’s a story at the heart of the show, and a theme and narrative. The closest thing I can compare it to is a Mike Birbiglia, if anyone’s familiar with his stuff.
I’ve never done stand-up about “Love Island,” but I’m only doing a handful of dates, a couple of New York, and a couple of LA, so I feel like with the way “Love Island” is going, I want to do some stuff on “Love Island.” There’s a really funny comparison: There’s a male contestant in “Love Island” UK who’s got a 4-year-old kid, just like Huda, and I find it really interesting how underplayed the male being on “Love Island” is compared to the mother being on “Love Island,” I think that’s really interesting, and just sort of bad, but also a funny area as a father to talk about.
Q. You studied law at the University of Edinburgh. What led to the career pivot to comedy?
I’m from Edinburgh and I went to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the reason I went to Edinburgh University is that they’ve got a group called the Edinburgh Improverts. It didn’t quite work out there; improv wasn’t my thing, so I started doing stand-up, and once I did stand-up, I fell in love.
Q. Since your 2022 special “Failing Upwards,” you and your wife have welcomed your first child together. Has fatherhood had a role in your comedy style?
I like to keep my private life as private as I can. I’ve made an unwritten rule that I talk about being a father, but I don’t talk about my daughter. I feel like that’s her story to tell when she’s old enough to tell it.
The main change on stand-up is two things, and they sound like they counteract each other, but they totally don’t. One, I’ve got a much bigger appreciation for people who spend money and take time to come and see my show.
Now that I’m a parent, I’m the one that’s got to book child care and find parking and do all that when I go to an event. So I really appreciate people that come to see me. And second, I think I’m a better stand-up because I’m a lot more relaxed. Before marriage and children, my whole self-worth was how good my stand-up was and how well it was received.
Q. My final question: What’s been your biggest career highlight?
Probably putting on these American [tour] dates and them selling so well. It feels like such a massive achievement to do a voice-over in a reality television program. When you’re doing voice over for two minutes in an hour-long show, and for anyone to leave that show going “that voice over was good,” feels like such a massive achievement.
When I first started doing it 10 years ago, I wasn’t hired to write. My friend Mark [Busk-Cowley] was going to write it, but I went in the room every day and wrote it with him because, like, I’m in Spain. What else am I going to do? And then between us, we came up with this really fun way of doing it that no one else had done.
And then when I did these big theaters in the UK, the Hammersmith, Apollo in London, and all these mad theaters, because I do voice over on a reality television program, it’s sort of wild.