Leo Reich wants to be clear: his character, Ethan, in his new A24-produced TV show, , is not autobiographical. “He just has my face and my voice and does stuff that I might do,” the 28-year-old deadpans, cradling an iced coffee and wearing a pair of secondhand Dickies shorts and Birkenstocks. “It’s very different. There’s a full separation.” The sitcom, which he has been developing for nearly four years, follows three best friends – Ethan, Sam (indie actor and musician Olive Gray) and Abi (Emily Fairn, last seen in House of Guinness) – who have been an unbreakable, albeit dysfunctional, trio since university. But they are now late-20s, kicked out by a crappy landlord, with boring boyfriends, jarring exes and futile hook-ups, all while figuring out the life they want.
A dazzling suite of cameos – Lena Dunham, Andrew Scott, Amelia Dimoldenberg, and Zadie Smith as a narrator (“obviously unreal” he says of them all saying “yes”) – cement this as the new quarter-life crisis comedy to enter the canon. “It was really nice having actually funny people just being funny,” he says of his “incredible” cast. “And then I get all the credit. Perfect!” The ironic part? That Reich has never had flatmates. “I lived with my parents until I was 25 and then immediately moved somewhere by myself.” He realises it’s a question that’s going to come up in interviews. “Maybe I start lying.”
Leather coat, poplin shirt, silk tie, flannel trousers, and leather shoes, Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello.
Born and raised in Islington, Reich describes himself as a “mummy’s boy” who was “really into bugs and birds” as a child. (He also had a pet rabbit that roamed freely around his bedroom.) Studying English at the University of Cambridge, where he performed with Footlights, nudged him towards stand-up: his 2022 Edinburgh Fringe show Literally Who Cares?! – a self-obsessed salute to the narcissism of Gen Z – became an HBO comedy special and drew the attention of Dunham (“she is the funniest person I’ve ever met”), who was so impressed that she wrote a part for Reich in her 2025 Netflix show .
Reich says he’s “not really up to much at the moment” although the suitcase next to him suggests otherwise. He’s off to Paris for the Dior show, New York for Pride, then back to Paris for the Robyn concert (“it’s like Pride squared”) before coming home to “binge all by myself sobbing”. It’s a hefty itinerary, alongside which he’s cooking up series two of and, naturally, “finding love and getting a brand deal”.
It Gets Worse airs on Channel 4 in October. Photograph: Jameela Elfaki. Styling: Lois Adeoshun. Grooming: Lauraine Bailey, Tina Khatri. Tailor: Inna Romanovych. Production: Chloé Medley.