Comedian Sue Perkins (not to be confused with Mel Gedroyc, nor with Sue Perkins, the Miss America beauty queen) has many varied strings to her entertainment bow. She brought sparkle to Bake Off with her never-ending crusty puns and corny, over-egged innuendo; with assured fluency and vibrant enthusiasm, she was a highly accomplished, top panellist on Radio 4’s Just A Minute before taking over as host – with great aplomb – from the late Nicholas Parsons. She has an MA in Literature from Cambridge and writes; she conducts orchestras, is always game for a laugh with aforementioned career partner, Mel, and she’s even been known to make remarkable noises on Taskmaster. Back on the road now as a stand-up comic after more than a decade, her job is to engage and amuse audiences that span a broad age range, wherever they may know her from. Commanding stage presence, amiability and chatty fluency ensure the job gets done admirably.
The blue stage has no clutter whatsoever, not even a glass of water, while a large screen neatly relays occasional visual aids (predominantly shaggy dogs) to illustrate jokes and anecdotes. Longer stories alternate with punchier repartee, and the show is well paced and varied, the main theme of shame covering slices of life that might, perhaps, be best forgotten, but that actually entertain the most, especially when an audience member’s phone rings just as you’re talking about humiliating occasions. Of course, as in all our lives, it’s the things that go the most wrong that elicit the most hilarity.
Intriguing stories of a shaggy dog in Bolivia, a hoover placed provocatively at the bottom of the stairs, of mental breakdown, of the impact of side effects of drugs for ADHD and for malfunctioning pituitary gland and benign brain tumour, of topless mammaries let loose on the internet, of terrible slimming apps that robotically shame and blame, of the DVLA and car insurance, and of gut biomes and poo hammocks are told with sparkling lucidity, engaging bonhomie and self-assurance while we finish, most aptly, on a great big laugh.
Eileen Caiger Gray
