February 2nd sees Laura Solon perform at St David’s Hall on the Rabbit Faced Story Soup tour. Solon’s a Perrier Award-winner, one of the fastest rising comedy writers/performers and as the Laura bit in her name hints at, a woman.
I, however, am not a fan.
Have you had the pleasure of hearing her BBC Radio 4 show Talking And Not Talking? Like almost all Radio 4 shows it suffers from what Stewart Lee identifies as people talkinguplikethisthendownattheend.
Here’s some of the press release – “Tepid-shot publisher Diana Lewis is scrambled to find a writer to finish a book and save the company from crisis. Her obstacles include an American Super Agent, a lightly tanned boss, a call centre worker, a diversity officer, The French and a dead rabbit called Ian.”
“It’s like The Wire. But with character comedy. And EVERYTHING from The Wire taken out.”
I felt a little bit of me died reading that.
I acknowledge I’m prejudiced against impressionism (or putting on stupid voices as it is more accurately known) but could my odium be based on deep-lying misogyny? Apart from Lucy Porter and Joan Rivers I’m at a loss to think of a genuinely funny female comedian.
If I was a pompous arse (which I am) then I’d think the relative lack of top female comedians may be the result of the structure of the UK comedy scene, in particular the jump to the big leagues. TV (and to a lesser extent radio) panel shows provide the quickest escape route from the slog of touring. On such shows, the bear-pit atmosphere, the belligerent jostling and the crusade to the crudelands, lends itself to more masculine traits.
Or it could all be Catherine Tate’s fault.
Anyway, tickets for Laura Solon’s Rabbit Face Story Soup can be found here. The Mail On Sunday, The Guardian, The Independent and The Telegraph all gave it four stars.