Magneto inducts Jordan Gray into X-Men & Simon Pegg joins her sitcom
Jordan Gray has been savouring acclaim for the Edinburgh Fringe run of her show Is It A Bird?, ahead of performing it at the London Palladium later this month.
In August, British Comedy Guide reported on the trans comedian making Transaction, an upcoming ITV sitcom in which she stars as a transgender supermarket worker, co-starring Nick Frost as her boss.
Gray has now revealed that Simon Pegg, producing the series with Frost for their production company Stolen Picture, has also joined the cast, playing Frost's boss in turn.
The comic made the disclosure in an interview with rapper-turned-actor Scroobius Pip on his Distraction Pieces podcast, in which she also revealed "the coolest moment of my life" took place in Edinburgh.
Enthusing that Karen Gillan, who plays Nebula in the Guardians Of The Galaxy films, had already come to see her, the superhero nerd then recalled the moment she involved Ian McKellen in her show.
The celebrated actor, who plays Magneto, co-founder of the X-Men in the movie adaptations of the Marvel comics, had been performing Hamlet at the festival. Having come to Gray's modest Portakabin venue, he appeared to be enjoying Gray doing a bit of comic business alluding to Magneto's metal manipulating powers.
"I couldn't handle it!" Gray told Pip. "Why on Earth would he be sitting there, two metres away from me in a tiny box?
"He was the best audience member. I got him with the dog story, he loved that so, so much.
"There's a bit in the show where I go 'I'm technically an X-Man'," she explained. "And I had to stop because I was like, 'it's fucking Magneto!'"
So she said "'Sir Ian, thank you so much for coming. I know it's a bit of a ballache but ... would you consider right now making me an honorary X-Man?'"
"He looked sort of angered, in a jokey way, and he stood up" Gray recalled. "I wasn't sure what he was going to do, knight me with his sword? But he put his arms out like Magneto, properly committed, shaking his arms at me like he was doing the metal bending thing.
"I pretended I was floating in the air like he was manipulating the iron in my blood, he was so committed to it. 'Honorary X-Man'. Then he sat back down.
"Afterwards, bless him, he's such a charming, charming man. He was like: 'My dear, that was a triumph, that was so wonderful to be so close to you!'
"Then he came in and saw my dressing room and was like, 'you should be ashamed of yourself'."