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At Spank, Edinburgh 2008

More Sally-Anne Hayward videos

Winner of the FHM/Holsten Pils award in 2004, and now a regular compere at Jesters in Bristol, as well as performing around the country.

Sally-Anne Hayward: Don’t Judge Me
Live Review

Don’t judge me? Fat chance of that happening at the Edinburgh Fringe. But it’s hard to envisage Sally-Anne Hayward receiving any complaints for this robustly funny hour of no-frills stand-up.

Even though she’s in a graveyard lunchtime slot, she has more enthusiasm than anyone has any right to be at such an early hour, and her lively engagement with the audience, although little more than seeking some affirmation for the material ahead, adds an engaging conversational air.

She has no grand designs for her hour, just observations from her life such as dead-end jobs, annoying parents and the joys of living alone – as well as wider observations; not that there was anything in the personal sections that everyone in the room wasn’t instantly identifying with.

Now and again she touches on the formulaic, such as imagining the sat nav as a real person nagging at her driving, and there are a couple of rather obvious pull-back jokes towards the start. But generally, although her topics are familiar, her take on them isn’t, a feeling boosted by the freshness in her chatty delivery.

Even getting old, another comic staple, is something she largely embraces, and how refreshing is it to hear a comic say ‘I like my boyfriend…’ rather than launch into a miserable invective about relationship woes and unhappy compromise. There’s some slightly adult content, but she delivers it with honest chirpiness.

Hayward’s a mainstream act in the best traditions of the word, talking about shared experience with a winning wit that has a broad appeal. She perhaps needs a shot more distinctiveness and ought to lose the last couple of tired techniques she occasionally employs, but she’s emerging as a reliable crowd-pleaser, backing up her innate effusive likeability with straightforward but effective writing. She may have a midday slot, but she’s a primetime act.

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Sally recently stepped into the breach when my MC dropped out. What a wonderful replacement she was. The audience were treated to a superb show of comic interaction and compere work. An asset to any comedy night. She will be back.

Out of Bounds Comedy, December 2010

Saw sally do a great 30 mins set in a cold tent in Southwold. Excellent material and performance. Nice to see her doing a set for a change

david ward, August 2010

Sally was funny and engaging at our show last night - she brightened up the audience and was an excellent compere. Would certainly invite her back again.

Phil from Tring, October 2008

I recently saw Sally perform compere duties at Bristol's Jesters club. Whilst occasionally dipping into some very funny material, her banter and ease with the audience provided most of the entertainment. One of her skills is in establishing a cast of characters around the room - first probing the idiosyncrasies of various members of the audience and then chairing a dialogue between them, with hilarious results. Whilst also wishing to see Sally deliver a full stand-up set, I would love to see her work her comperes magic again and with a fresh room of 'guests'. Superb.

Danny T., September 2007

Sally comperes the courtyard in hereford on a regular basis. As I go to 99% of the shows there I expect to see Sally repeat material but it seems to be getting a bit much lately. I heard several people complaining at the last gig (Feb 2nd ). I'm not knocking Sally, she's fine, just a little more variance please.

colin the courtyard king, February 2007

Sally's a great act, each time we saw her at Plymouth she was really good.

Andy C, November 2006

Delivered a brilliant 30 minutes worth of funny material, well loved by the audience.Funny lady, great style, great material.

Nik Hill, October 2005

I saw at Ha Bloody Ha in Ealing. I did think that some of her material was funny. In fact if only she had more self confidence she would be very good. Her job application material was the best part of the act. The show was spoiled as a few people talked amongst themselves throughout her act. Sally was not able to handle them and that is part of her downfall. She should believe in herself more and not try as hard to make people like her.

Andy, September 2005

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