Snappy is the latest set from the dleightful stand-up Suzi Ruffell. It treads many topics from a new baby (and their interest in a certain part of the cat’s anatomy) to a lifetime of coping with anxieties (whispering them into a worry doll). There are even divergences into more political fare, as she briefly lands on covering her conspiritorial cousin. Ruffell is candid and honest without ever letting this aspect detract from the show’s lighthearted quality. This is a stand-up whose happier to adopt an amusingly effective sort-of Italian accent for her young child (comparing them at one point to Ray Winstone in Sexy Beast) then dig too deep into some of the topics raised.
But on a Friday night who really wants that? Not this audience member, who was escaping their own life-changing children for a night. There is warmth, affection and, crucially, love here. No meanness gets through the door and Ruffell’s set is all the better for it. She is a performer who comes with a wealth of experience, mining the audience for additional punch lines in an approachable, occassionally cheeky fashion. Mischief is had early on with a pair of late comers (one is a member of the RAF police) and by the time we’re deep into the second half of this, we feel like Ruffell’s friend and confident.
There’s a confidence here, tempered by a delightful awkwardness. An encounter with a Spice Girl whose presence has felt like a running gag, is an uproariously funny moment in a show packed with them. I haven’t laughed quite this hard or consistently in a stand-up show perhaps ever. Ruffell feels at home at the North Wall, which feels intimate enough to get to know us and expansive enough to match the perfomer’s almost-star status (a fact she riffs on when she comes on stage – this is a stand-up who comes with a thick wedge of self-deprecation). We are treated to a comic at the top of their game who quickly becomes a contender for one of the very best stand-ups I’ve seen.
Great support comes from Will Duggan who deftly jumps from topic to topic as he warmed up the crowd. He was friendly, enthusiastic, a tad crass and occassionally pushed into more risque material. Duggan was, in fact, a perfec precursor to Ruffell, in what proved a terrific night of entertainment in a contender for the best venue for stand up in