Leo Reich on playing ‘definitively gay in a recognisable way’ character in Too Much: ‘He uses language I recognise’

Twenty-six-year-old comedian Leo Reich is about to make his acting debut in Lena Dunham’s upcoming Netflix sitcom Too Much — before starring in his own show about twentysomething London lives, It Gets Worse. But for this young star, it’s only getting better… 

Comedian Leo was 13 years old when he first discovered Girls. After secretly bingeing all five series, he introduced Lena’s definitive millennial drama to his parents. 

“We watched the first episode, and my mum said to me, ‘I think you should watch it in a few years when you’ll understand it more.’ I said, ‘Yeah, so I watched it already.’ They said, ‘Fuck it, let’s watch it then.’’’ 

It became a pivotal moment for Reich, one that would in the not-too-distant future change his life — and then some. 

After being awakened by Dunham’s uniquely self-aware brand of writing, Reich pursued a career in comedy and, after his first standalone show at Edinburgh Fringe in 2022, became one of the most innovative voices in stand-up. 

Just over a decade after finding comfort in the delusion of Hannah Horvath, Reich was on the way back from Australia when he got a call out of the blue from his agent, saying that Dunham wanted to write a character specifically for him in her new Netflix series Too Much, the first comedy or drama that deserves to even be uttered in the same breath as Girls. 

“It was so surreal. I was so jet-lagged, and I was on a layover in Malaysia at the top of a skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur in this spooky hotel. I hadn’t known that Lena had known who I was, or had seen my stand-up,” he tells Attitude. 

“I talk about Girls at least five times a day, so I thought my agent was joking as a sick prank because it was so on the nose it didn’t seem real. I thought I was having a dissociative episode.” 

Thankfully, it was all real. Too Much, this summer’s most-anticipated drama, will be released on Netflix on 10 July, and it has the potential to be a game-changing moment for Reich. 

Its premise is a simple love story of boy meets girl. Jessica (Meg Stalter) is reeling from the end of a relationship in New York and takes a job opportunity in London with all the whimsical fantasy of a Jane Austen fan. On her first night in London, she meets Felix (Will Sharpe) in a murky Dalston pub. Their connection is immediate, uncomplicated and completely engrossing. 

Reich plays Jessica’s cutting Gen Z colleague, Boss, almost a carbon copy of the persona that bowled over critics who watched his 2022 one-man show Literally Who Cares?! — so good it became an HBO special and, subsequently, here we are. 

“[Lena Dunham] saw my stand-up and thought this irritating gay guy could be in the office,” he says. “Being self-involved and loud wasn’t a stretch for me; I didn’t pretend to be anything I wasn’t,” says Reich. 

Dunham writes the queer experience with such a fine tune it’s as though she’s lived it herself. In Girls, the gay character Elijah is so refreshingly real. “He was annoying but likeable,” says Reich. 

Boss has been crafted with similar acute observation and authenticity. 

“So much gay male content is about people in the closet, or being repressed or grief. Boss uses the language that I recognise when I talk to my gay friends — it’s more ironic, cutting in tone and some [of it has] a real femininity,” says Reich. 

“Most of gay media focuses on the journey and the struggle, but what’s great about Elijah and Boss is they’re so definitively gay in a recognisable way that’s an uncomplicated part of their personality.” 

The role is Reich’s acting debut. He’s been thrown straight in at the deep end opposite Meg Stalter, one of the most exciting new stars in recent memory thanks to the unwavering success of Hacks, as well as Richard E. Grant and several surprise cameos we can’t reveal. 

“They told me, ‘You’re going to be performing with Richard E. Grant.’ That’s the most terrifying set-up I’ve ever heard in my life,” says Reich. 

The reality sounds more relaxed. Off-camera, Grant would share his pearls of wisdom with Reich, mainly examining his dating life. Did he have any tips worth sharing? 

“He basically said, ‘Go for it.’ I was talking about this guy, and he said, ‘Call him on the phone, for the love of God. Life’s too short.’ So I did, and it went really badly. Thanks, Richard.” 

Dunham moved to London in 2021 after marrying her British boyfriend Luis Felber. Too Much is her brilliantly observed and honest love letter to the city she now calls home. It’s grimy and beautiful, romantic but realistic. 

“It’s nice to see London through the eyes of someone who loves it,” says Reich. “Anyone who lives in London, the conversation you have is ‘Fuck this so fucking much.’” 

Too Much is not the only TV series to feature Reich. The comedian is currently writing and starring in his own sitcom about the perilous renting experience in London. Produced by A24 for Channel 4, It Gets Worse will follow twenty-somethings trying to keep the magic of their friendship alive after being separated and forced to live miles apart in the increasingly fractured city. 

“It’s set in a very different version of London to the one in Too Much,” he admits. 

Yet it sounds like a more relatable London to the people who live there and have watched its community and spirit decline, particularly within the queer community. Soho is completely unrecognisable from the Soho of even a decade ago, its queer identity crushed by landlordism and soaring property prices. 

“The big picture is so depressing,” Reich admits. “When live entertainment and nightlife start struggling, queer venues are the first to be eliminated because they cater to a smaller market. 

“Having thrown up on the streets of Soho after being in a gay club, Soho feels deserted and strange, but I also think that feeling that it’s dying inspires people to create new spaces. I’ve been to a lot of gay nights that wouldn’t have existed 10 years ago because they didn’t need to.” 

For Reich and the Gen Z generation, if the pandemic didn’t deprive their adulthood of the same vibrancy and community the rest of us enjoyed in our twenties, it’s miserable locals trying to shut down festivals like Mighty Hoopla at London’s Brockwell Park, despite partying in the same spaces themselves decades ago. 

“Part of the show that I’m writing at the moment asks what do you do in London if you’re 24? We all have this romantic dream of being in your twenties in London, falling around the floor, drunk, high and hooking up with people — but you can’t because a drink costs £300 and there’s no gay bar to drink it in. 

“Even with Brockwell Park, the festivals did happen in the end, but you go, ‘This city, the biggest, busiest and noisiest city in the country, is going to bend over backwards to cater to five rich families who don’t want their garden party interrupted by distant music?’ I hate them. You can put that in print.” 

Your wish is our command. 

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Too Much is available to stream on Netflix from 10 July

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