I first saw Sara Pascoe in 2008 when she entered the Funny Women Awards, made it into the final that same year and became a hugely creditable runner up to Katherine Ryan. It is testament to their respective talents that both women are now so high profile and busy with broadcasting projects and live shows. This is why I love my job!
Sara has a nervous, edgy style that discomforts and endears in equal measure. The show Animal (she has a book out with the same name) is an exploration of the human condition via the landscape of her life, which as she points out, is what most comedians do. The combination of her honesty and surreal embellishment takes the stories of her exploits to another level, still leaving room for her to improvise with the audience – as when the sound of an apparent apocalypse outside the theatre interrupted her flow.
Sara’s show is about the trials and tribulations of being human, from the horrible confession about pimping out her best friend (“we’ve all done it haven’t we?!”) to the awkwardness that surrounds bodily functions, including her distaste of hand jobs which I will leave to your imagination. Despite her success, Sara angsts over earning more money than her boyfriend and explores how their disparity of income affects their human behaviour. The piece about bestowing sexual favours within their relationship is enlightening and revealing.
I love the way Sara subverts the norm and makes reference to sexism without labelling it – it’s an effective stealth approach with hidden signposts that will get you thinking for days on end. Her brand of comedy, as Kate said in her review of Sara’s book “helps contextualise what feminists have been banging on about for years”.
Sara will be mentoring one of six finalists in this year’s Funny Women Awards.
Animal, the show, takes place at the Soho Theatre until Saturday 28th May. Book tickets here!
