It’s increasingly common for acts to greet their audience at the door, it helps create a connection with the audience, gives them a chance to get the measure of who has come to see them, but most of all it gives them something to do rather than hang around in the wings or stand awkwardly at the microphone. In contrast to this 2016 Funny Women Awards finalist, Micky Overman clearly feels at home on stage even when not delivering material, creating an air of relaxed confidence.
So it’s hard to believe that the Dutch comedian has ever struggled with self-esteem, she certainly doesn’t strike me as the type to travel 100s of miles to Australia to join her (newly) ex-boyfriend and the girl he’d left her for… Perhaps it is Micky’s job as a nanny to a 13-year-old girl that has enabled her to take more control of her self-worth.
Role Model is simultaneously a trip down memory lane and a love letter to Micky’s teenage charge with a tip for any vampires in. While diary entries and teenage anecdotes have long been fodder for comedians, Micky’s composure means her recollections of a lower-status, younger Micky transcends the usual self-deprecation device many stand-ups rely on.
This self-assuredness lends itself well to controlling the group of lads who made up a substantial part of the audience, even when they audibly baulked at a menstrual joke and ribbed their mate Micky never lost command of her audience, there is no doubt who the star is here.
A confident debut with great promise, Micky will make her mark on Edinburgh Fringe.
★★★★
Micky Overman: Role Model is at the Pleasance Courtyard, Bunker Two at 22:30 until 27th August. For tickets and more information click here!
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