Bridget Christie battles a stag party, plus Suzi Ruffell - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary
Published: Monday 10th April 2023
What's the worst combination of audience member and comedian you can imagine? You could argue that up there amongst the most concerning possible combinations would be taking a stag party to see the strong-willed feminist comedy of Bridget Christie. Yet, on her tour's second evening in Cambridge, that's exactly what happened.
It's not as if Christie has toned down her stand-up since appearing on big popular TV series Taskmaster either. This was an hour of feminist comedy about the menopause, and whilst there's plenty of love in the room for Christie, it's perhaps also notable which audience members are attending off the back of said TV show, some of which are maybe a little taken aback by the flavour of the comedy on offer.
The stag party might argue that they can provide added value to the audience: why see only one comedian on a night out, when you could see several? Seasoned professionals like Christie may need to start fearing for their livelihood, with top quality jokesmiths like them only too happy to offer their material for free. At one point Christie addressed the group directly, saying "it's very early in the show for this to be happening. I've got loads to say." One of the group responded "you sound like my wife". Which is, if nothing else, something of a bold joke to make at a feminist comedy show.
As most Bridget Christie fans would probably expect, she handles it all fantastically. Funny, then increasingly hardline as interruptions continue - "I've not got any oestrogen left, so I'm not going to be nice". On the central theme of the menopause, Christie is great. As she picks apart each symptom, or each manner in which society treats older women differently, you can always trust that there'll be a really good punchline waiting for you at the end of whatever point she's alighted on. There's also stories - including a particularly remarkable one about Christie's own birth - but if they don't always make for the finest sections of this performance, overall the show's high-quality punchlines are great enough to forgive a couple of slightly more meandering tales in the show's second half.
The stag party's attendance makes for such a surreal gig, you wonder if it may have been the best man's idea of a KLF-style performance art prank - bring a beery stag party along to see 65 minutes of assertive feminist comedy. Christie also makes it clear she has some admiration for their actions: "it's pretty cool to come to a show about the menopause"; "it's a really progressive thing you've done". In the end, it maybe wasn't all that intentional, however: we interviewed them during the interval to ask what attracted them to this particular show - "the stag likes comedy so I was Googling and saw she'd won loads of awards".
Suzi Ruffell has long been a solid booking in the stand-up game. That remains the case with her latest tour, even if it only faintly disappoints when compared to her previous work. The good sections unquestionably outnumber the weaker ones here. So if - say - the closing story involving Spice Girl Mel C feels like a slightly underpowered attempt to neatly wrap up the narrative of the show, sections variously involving a posh woman in a South London cafe, some difficult tenants and parenting in the 90s mean that you're still definitely getting your money's worth with this comic whose star justifiably continues to rise.
Heidi Regan's show, finally, pays tribute to "how much I love stupid jokes". Also strongly evidenced here is her love of geeky humour - at different points there's jokes about graphs, AI chatbots and Lord Of The Rings. These are better than they perhaps sound on paper, and they also succeed in balancing out the show's emotional core, as Regan recounts - with good humour and a generally light touch - how hard it's been for her and her girlfriend to conceive a child via IVF during the pandemic.
"She calls it catastophising, I call it 'planning ahead'" is one line that provides decent insight into both Regan's world view and sense of humour. This show - easily her strongest yet - is all the better for not necessarily having a neat resolution. It lends an additional feeling of authenticity to a show that already had everything going for it. It's a real gem.
Read previous editions of this column
Mark Muldoon is also available (for laddish banter only) on Instagram and Twitter.
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