I turned up to the Assembly Hall, Mound Place with not much knowledge or expectation of Denise Scott; all I knew was that she was an Australian stand up trying to make it in front of the Edinburgh audiences. Whilst I was waiting for the doors to open there was an older gentleman singing to the small crowd that had gathered with a ukulele, it wasn’t ‘til I looked closer that it was clear he was dressed in a suit made up of pictures of Denise’s face. This little gimmick brought a smile to my face and a slight pang of jealously that it would make flyering a whole lot easier.
Scott (or Scotty as she refers to herself) made a promising entrance ‘Mum dancing’ her way onto the stage, which mustered an all too knowing chuckle from the audience members. She made some clever observations about gluten intolerants and got the crowd in on her gags. She has a very natural, chatty, mumsy delivery, however it was a pity that the material didn’t really move on from mediocre menopausal jokes and one long-winded anecdote of touring Australia.
‘Regrets’ is a rather apt title as I’m sure Denise’s biggest regret will be that she completely messed up the order of her show whilst there was a reviewer in. This resulted in her backtracking on her material after a prompt reminder from her husband at the back of the room. The husband (whom she refers to a great deal in the show) is clearly her biggest fan. Yes, you guessed it, it was the ukulele playing older gentleman from outside. On several occasions Mr. Scott ruined Mrs. Scott’s delivery by laughing before she had even delivered the punch line.
It was a good job Scotty had won the crowd over as they helped her recover from her tumble. I’ll give it to Scotty that the start and finish of her show had me smiling, it’s just a shame that the middle didn’t really match up.
What Denise talks about: touring Australia, menopause and her husband.
Show details: 6.30pm, Mound Place, Assembly Hall. BOOK HERE.
Rating: 
Hannah, Uncanned Productions
