Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss is touring Australia with the latest show Can’t

Scotsman Daniel Sloss has long had a comedy obsession. He worked like a man possessed and toured more than 50 countries with 11 different festival shows. He produced five filmed specials of devilishly clever, gnarly, and darkly funny stand-ups. He appeared up conan 10 times.

Then he had his first child.

“When my son was born, I said, ‘I’m never going to tour like that again; At least not until he’s in high school and I’m bored,'” says Sloss.

He credits his success to that relentless schedule and his own reluctance to ever be satisfied with his work: “We (in the UK and Australia) have that thing that you need a new show every year; That’s why I’m a good comedian, not because I’m more talented than everyone else. That brought me sales and an audience. I’m really grateful for this process, but I’m done with it too.”

In conversation, the 32-year-old is an intriguing mix of boastfulness and self-loathing. Speaking via Zoom from a studio in his hometown of Edinburgh, he says he can’t believe how “soft” he’s gotten since becoming a father and how the pursuit of comedic perfection has dropped onto his priority list.

However, longtime admirers will be happy to know that Sloss’ penchant for malicious provocation remains undiminished. His latest show tipping, is named in part for its phonetic resemblance to a word you definitely can’t print on a billboard. The title also reflects his frustration at what he sees as mealy gripes from comics arguing that they can no longer say certain things in comedy.

“If you ever interview one of them [people] that says, ‘oh, you can’t say that, and you can’t say that in comedy’, ask her who’s the sexual predator that everyone in the UK knows about – who’s famous, on TV, in films.

“That’s what you really can’t say in comedy. Comedians don’t talk about it – they just want to be able to say racial slurs and homophobic things; that’s all they miss.”