Photos by Alexia Pang.

Behind the Green & a recap of Lyle the Therapy Gecko’s live show

The Reddit live streamer-turned-podcaster and comedian, who started his career in his mom’s basement, Lyle the Therapy Gecko — also known as Lyle Forever — offered his unlicensed therapy and advice to those who attended his show at MacEwan University on Nov. 6, part of SAMU’s Speaker Series. 

Who is Lyle the Therapy Gecko, and why did he come to MacEwan? 

“I got an email that said the Student Organization at MacEwan University [SAMU] wants me to come do a show in Edmonton, and I was like, ‘what is Edmonton? ‘” said Lyle. 

 “I’ve kinda committed to doing this until the phones stop ringing, and it’s been five years, and they haven’t stopped ringing.”

– Lyle Forever

Lyle is from Baltimore and lives in New York. He’s been conducting online therapy sessions since 2020. “During lockdown, I was locked away in my mother’s basement, and I just started streaming live on Reddit as the Therapy Gecko,” he explained. 

“I’ve kinda committed to doing this until the phones stop ringing, and it’s been five years, and they haven’t stopped ringing.”

Lyle’s live interviews were wild, from a self-proclaimed sex addict to a guy getting stabbed by his girlfriend. The audience was in shock many times from the potentially serious stories, but at the same time, they laughed at the pure absurdity of it all. The audience also had fun teaching Lyle about some of the best Edmonton has to offer, such as Whyte Ave., the mall, and the local gay sex club Steamworks, which made for some hectic audience interaction. 

When someone thinks about Lyle’s comedic style, they probably think about mostly crowd work, which is prevalent. However, from what I saw in his show and in conversation with him, his strongest strength is his storytelling. When Lyle tells stories, no matter how serious or how silly, he makes people laugh, constantly. His personal stories went over especially well with the SAMU audience. 

Some of those personal anecdotes were part of an exclusive look at his next project, where he visited Iraq as the Therapy Gecko just because he could. Another outrageous story detailed a trek he took through the Australian wilderness while on mushrooms.

“No matter how hard it gets, don’t ever kill yourself.”

– Lyle Forever

Something odd about Lyle is that his show really doesn’t need the costume for any other purpose other than representing the brand he has created for himself, so why wear it all? More importantly, why a gecko? 

“All the other costumes they have, like, fake heads and stuff, you know, like I’m still me,” Lyle says. “In this form, you can see that a human being is at least possessing the lizard, whereas other costumes, I’ve seen the human element is gone completely.”

So where does the gecko end and the man begin? Many successful comics experience a disconnect between who they are in private and who they are on stage. Lyle says, “I believe that the self is not comprised of multiple different versions, and there’s a winner of the true version, you know what I’m saying? The self is comprised of multiple different versions that are all true.”

Lyle did a terrific job with his situational and character comedy that had the crowd laughing and cheering throughout the evening. When asked if he had a message to the people of MacEwan University, Lyle said, “No matter how hard it gets, don’t ever kill yourself.”