Reviews

Review: Bridget Christie – A Bic For Her & An Ungrateful Woman

1 Comment

Sat in the middle of the second row of a small arts centre with nobody sat in the seat in front of me, it wouldn’t have been unusual to feel on edge, exposed or even anxious at the thought of spending two hours sat eye to eye with the force that is Bridget Christie. But it may come as a surprise for you to hear that as an audience member, I have never felt more comfortable than when sat listening to Bridget perform her material.

Two slightly shortened sets were performed, Bridget’s 2013 show: A Bic For Her, and her latest one: An Ungrateful Woman. Both followed a similar theme (because, believe it or not, she hadn’t quite ran out of material on feminism just yet) and supported each other well, with well-informed subject-matter that never leaned towards feeling heavy or boring. Unknown to some, Bridget Christie’s shows haven’t always been so orientated around social change. In fact, in a recent episode of the Comedian’s Comedian podcast, she divulged that in her earlier years, she once dressed as a pea and sat on stage with just her head outside of a box, watching her audience be seated.

An Ungrateful Woman

It is clear to me that this lady is afraid of very little and with this, she can do very much. She talked of her own personal triumphs that help deal with misogyny on a small, day-to-day level, involving a hilarious anecdote about magazine stands in supermarkets, but also interweaved material around issues surrounding suggestive advertising, FGM, Michael Gove, a certain snooker player and Beyoncé.

So, we know that this comic can do surreal as that’s what she’s done in the past, but these two shows were different: they were hard-hitting and informative yet still immensely enjoyable. There are still elements of the fantastical within her comedy, with energetic and preposterous slapstick routines that accurately portray what others have hinted are “things a female might do”. Packed to the brim with sarcasm and a slight hint of derailment, A Bic For Her and An Ungrateful Woman bring to the forefront how important feminism is in today’s society and remind us that there is no such as thing being satisfied with something as insane as one nation having “better” inequality than another.

With her assertive self-confidence and, dare I say it, actual proposed solutions (so you can stop your “raging feminist that just moans about everything” stuff now), I left Bridget’s show feeling assured that someone else, well, the woman herself, had the situation in hand.

You can see where Bridget Christie is on tour right now by visiting her website.

(And an additional side note, that I am sure you are all aware of: I encourage you to watch Emma Watson’s speech to the United Nations that she gave this week. It is inspirational in the same way that Bridget’s performance was for me.)

Sara Pascoe and John Robins, Edinburgh Previews

1 Comment

It’s nearly time for the Edinburgh Festival 2014, and although that makes me want to shrivel away with jealousy because I can’t be there, it also means comedians are performing their shows to small audiences in order to perfect their routines. I visited a lovely little art centre called the Mac in Birmingham, which I’d urge anyone to visit if they are nearby as it also puts on theatre performances, art exhibitions and cinema shows (amongst many other things).

Firstly, we saw Sara Pascoe’s show: Sara Pascoe Vs History, which was a wonderful mix of relatable material, crazy facts and a small amount of madness. Sara has been one of my favourite comedians for a while and she has growing audience-wise week by week, having recently appeared on Mock The Week, for example. It’s been great watching her television persona develop over time and I was really looking forward to actually getting to see Sara perform her stand up to a live audience.

What I loved most about Pascoe’s show was that she talked very openly regarding her feminist views without leaving a resentful feel in the air: she spoke of liberation and change. But also, it was hilarious. One of my favourite ideas she expressed was one that she also talked about on Mock The Week very recently: that Page 3 should actually be made like jury duty, where anyone could be called up at any time. She expanded on it during her live show and I actually think it’s an excellent idea in theory, but I definitely don’t want to see it put in place! (Well, actually, I gladly don’t read The Sun, so maybe I, and most people I know, would be okay!) I really enjoyed Sara’s set, even though everyone was sure the building was burning down at one point and even the venue staff had to investigate the smell of smoke during the interval.

Pascoe and Robins

Next, we saw John Robins (my latest Comedian Of The Month, who is a relatively new comedian for me) with his show: This Tornado Loves You. I talked at length about John’s style of comedy in the post mentioned above so I won’t go too far into that as I’d just be repeating myself. However, what I will say is that this new show is very strong, with a good balance of accessible observations (such as an in depth analysis of the strange tradition of weddings and people’s behaviour at such events) with brilliant acted out scenes that only contained one person (John, obviously), but were developed around another silent character. I found a quote for John which summed up what his new show portrayed: ‘His self-deprecation and Olympic ad-libbing would have you skipping happily down even the darkest alley’ (Venue).

It was really interesting to see which jokes from both comics didn’t work with the audience, not because they weren’t funny but simply because there needed to be something additional said in order for us to understand and appreciate them (such as subtle wordplays that kept going unnoticed). If you’re in Edinburgh this summer or are interested in seeing some preview shows, I definitely recommend both Sara Pascoe and John Robins as they are both very talented and hard-working comedians.

SEVEN QUESTIONS WITH… SARA PASCOE

MORE EDINBURGH PREVIEWS

Review: Joe Lycett – If Joe Lycett Then You Should’ve Put A Ring On It (2014)

1 Comment

Yesterday evening, I finally got tJoe Lycetto see Joe Lycett’s show If Joe Lycett Then You Should’ve Put A Ring On It after waiting for such a long time. I saw him last month at a comedy night but we only got to see a limited set due to there being other comedians there.

Joe’s set was basically an extended version of the set I saw at the Comedy Hut but was just as funny, if not funnier the second time around. The show featured many of his famous letters of complaint that he had sent out to various companies (this was one of my favourite parts of the show) which were delivered in Joe’s brilliantly exaggerated manner and this is what really ‘makes’ them. The way these complaints were so pedantic and utterly self-indulgent is why they are fantastic- it reminds me a bit of Rich Fulcher’s book: Tiny Acts Of Rebellion which is full of silly but hilarious ways to break the rules of society. He also featured hate mail that he had received which was funny in the same way, and the insults were so imaginative, you can’t help but applaud the guy who sent them.

There was a big focus on homophobia but not in a heavy, rally kind of way, just in the sense that comedy addresses things that are often very serious but adds a lighter slant to them. (For example, Paul Foot talks about the levels of homophobia in his jokes called ‘Disturbances’.) There was a great game Joe played with the audience where we had to decide what percentage of ‘gay’ certain things had. Just counting the days until that becomes televised really.

My absolute favourite part, without giving too much away, is Joe’s spirit animal: Walrus. I agree with him that horoscopes etc are rubbish but absolutely love the idea of having a spirit animal like Walrus, he sounds like such a great guy. I’d love to be able to blame my horribleness on a walrus and the way Joe talked about his experience with Walrus had the audience in tears of laughter.