Anna Burnside reviews a 'cleverly self-deprecating' set.
Waspish Canadian Michelle Shaughnessy is so over self-help bullshit. “If you think it’s too late to achieve your dreams,” she tells a room full of people who have paid good money to be there, “it probably is.”
She weaves observations on her mental and physical health problems, along with a bad habit of postponing her worrying about these to the future, around her desperate financial situation.
This means gags about Botox, Ozempic and selling dirty pants on the internet.
Then there are her thoughts on Britain, where she saw both a double decker bus and a foreskin for the first time. This cues up, inevitably, a joke about riding on top.
Shaughnessy is a competent comedian, although her heavily injected face doesn’t make that job easy. She’s cleverly self-deprecating and can construct a joke at her own expense while still showing the audience a picture of her in underwear.
Poke the premise too hard and it all falls to bits, but there are enough funnies to distract from the structural problems. Who knew that the worst thing about having a sugar daddy is that their only topic of conversation is Brexit?
Michelle Shaughnessy: Too Late, Baby performs at Underbelly at Bistro Square from 1445-1545 until August 25, 2024.
Photo by Steve Ullathorne.
RSS