‘Too Hot To Handle’s’ Desiree Burch On Race, Comedy & Dating Shows

Comedian and actress Desiree Burch says the things we’re all thinking as we watch absurd-yet-addictive reality shows.

As the narrator for Too Hot To Handle, Netflix
NFLX’s dating show where actually hooking up gets you booted from the program, Burch delivers zinger after zinger. She has a unique ability to laugh with the contestants rather than at them—which would be too easy. Instead, you imagine her delivering her insightful barbs with a hug and a smile.

“We all like these people,” she says of her approach to narration. “There’s a lot to be made fun of within the genre and the way they’re behaving, but they’re also having their own moments of growth through it. I opened my heart to these people and cared about their lives. I think it was snarky in a good way.”

That informs Burch’s approach to comedy. A Yale graduate who performed with the Neo-Futurists in New York City after graduation, Burch presents and preserves truth in her comedy, something she says is essential as an entertainer. She wants to make people laugh, but she also wants to tell them a story.

Sometimes that story can be uncomfortable, as with her 2013 one-woman show, Tar Baby, which she recently posted on YouTube. It addresses race in America while acknowledging that most people don’t really want to talk about that subject. The premise seems particularly relevant right now.

“One show isn’t going to change the world radically, but it does have the power to initiate a spark of awareness,” she says. “Of course, a lot of people will say, I feel energized or empowered, I think I got it. I listened to one person’s story and now I consider myself an antiracist.”

The truth is that people have to commit to doing that work in the longer term, she says.

“Frequently, the problem is people want to have the answer to ‘what can I do.’ It’s like with dieting. People want to lose weight and they’d prefer to just buy a pill. But really, you have to eat less and exercise. Racial equality and social justice are a constant struggle, a lifelong struggle, and it’s not dissimilar to trying to lose weight,” she says.

Having the chance to develop her own material has kept Burch interested in theater performances. She also says moving to the UK brought her “back to comedy full time,” and she sees that as her future path. She likes making people laugh. She likes making them think.

“It will be interesting to see what theater develops into in the post-COVID world,” she says.