Not only did Desiree Burch turn her experience of receiving unwelcome dick pics into comedy material, she also used the imagery (ahem… Not sure who modelled) to create an award winning poster for her first full length stand up show at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.
As the winner of the 2015 Funny Women Awards, Desiree possibly has a bit more to live up to than most people we review at Edinburgh. Plus she clocked up a Fringe First Award last year for Tar Baby, her powerful one woman play exploring race, the history of slavery and its relationship with American folk lore. The merest ghost of this is implicit in her stand up as a black American woman who, by her own admission, carries a few more pounds in weight than is entirely healthy.
She addresses some stuff that she knows we are all thinking about but not brave enough to discuss. For example, how does she and her equally overweight British boyfriend manage to have sex? How to curb the out and out racism of cat calls and dealing with the afore mentioned dick pics. Desiree does not flinch from the realism of racism, obesity and sexism in an hour of high octane comedy exploring the human condition.
Squeezing this all into the confines of the upper deck of Bob’s Blundabus cannot be without its challenges too. This combines the intimate nature of the material with an equally intimate location which may prove off putting to some but this is the very essence of the Fringe so get over it.
We are privileged to have such talent in our very midst and This is Evolution is a brave and valid debut for her first full hour of narrative stand up.
★★★★★
Desiree Burch: This is Evolution is at Blundabus until 29th August. For more information and tickets click here!
