What women want. Liz Truss. Awkward greetings. Rachel Parris covered it all at the Playhouse this week as part of her UK tour - her biggest yet, in fact.
Those who know Parris from The Mash Report/Late Night Mash will be pleased to know that politics still play a big part of her act. Although she told the audience that as she’s now hit 40, she’s becoming less pent up about it, thankfully, that’s not true.
I can’t tell you which part was my favourite. Was it the song participation? The really uncomfortable dog-tampon story? Or the finale playing up to Bond stereotypes?
Even as I write this I flit between deciding whether or not to tell you about the Brexit song. My knee was bouncing the whole way through and my jaw hurt at the end. It also made me not want to attempt to cross the Channel at Dover any time soon - thanks for the heads up!
Parris brings her feminism to the front of every joke, sometimes without you even realising it. The way in which she delivers her lines, pauses so perfectly, and chucks in a few knowing looks, makes her the perfect comedian to watch on a big stage.
The musical elements of her act only serve to enhance her comedic timing. Matching well known melodies to catchy, repetitive and hilarious quips had the audience chuckling more and more as the night went on. I was a bit concerned when I saw that the show was almost two hours long. Even with an interval, I wasn’t sure how she’d keep going, but song after song, joke after joke, it was over before I knew it.
As I edge towards the big 4-0, it felt apt listening to Parris talk about how frustrating it is to say ‘life begins at 40’ when she’s achieved so much. A poignant moment towards the end of the show, brought back to comedic reality when she announced, “don’t worry, I’m not going to finish the set with a folk acapella”.
It was a joy to see Parris on such a large stage, and with a surprisingly more balanced female to male ratio than I expected. It’s a real shame she didn’t sell out, and had to ask the audience to tell their friends to go see her at future dates. I wonder if Nish Kumar had to do that last week?