Episode 249: Shenuque Tissera

Lauren talks to her CHARMING AND HILARIOUS friend Shenuque Tissera, a New York-based actor and standup who identifies as a genderqueer pansexual! Shenuque (he/they) grew up in a Sri Lankan Catholic family on Staten Island, and remembers the concept of masculinity making him uncomfortable as far back as childhood. This didn't get any easier when he started attending an all-boys Catholic high school, and so Shenuque learned to just keep his head down, and try to blend in with the machismo around him. It wasn't until just after college that Shenuque finally stopped repressing his sexuality...and by then he was already in a very serious relationship with a woman. Shenuque talks about how he started using standup as a way to process his sexual identity, and shares how exploring gender is what's currently most interesting to him. He also describes the messages he gets from queer Sri Lankan kids, and tells a surprisingly tender story about a hunky gym rat with a heart of gold!

Follow Shenuque (and watch his standup clips!) on Instagram at @shenuque, and on TikTok at @fakeshenuque. And check out Lauren and Shenuque TOGETHER on past episodes of FMK Champions here and here!