2014 Funny Women Awards finalist Lauren Pattison’s Edinburgh debut hour was the first show that made me snort with laughter, with a joke about what was the appropriate term to use for her deaf nephew. Addressing the murky waters of political correctness in comedy is complicated, writers and comedians have devoted 1000s of words to to what is and isn’t offensive and then 23 year old Lauren Pattison manages to sum it up in a single sentence.
I bring up Lauren’s youth only because I want to highlight her experience as a comedian – as she herself does in her show Lady Muck. Lauren has been performing stand up since she was 18, this is a woman who knows what she is doing when it comes to comedy. Lauren is actually quite unusual in that she is both an accomplished writer and able to fire off a quality quip off the cuff.
Having given everything up to pursue a career in stand up, leaving her boyfriend and home in Newcastle, Lauren finds herself starting her life all over again in London. What could be a mildly gossipy collection of dating and hangover stories, or a quixotic quest to rewrite the past is instead a show that conveys the sadness one feels in loneliness and how unknowable we can be to ourselves. It’s hard to believe someone as talented as Lauren might have insecurities, but have them she does and this comes across not just in what Lauren says about herself but in how people address her when she relates various conversations in her set.
Lady Muck gives great insight into the sexism women comedians encounter whilst at their job and takes us on a journey of self discovery in which Lauren learns she is nobody’s princess but her own damn queen.
★★★★★
Lauren Pattison: Lady Muck is at the Pleasance Courtyard Attic at 17:45 until 28th August. For tickets and more information click here!
