Geraldine Hickey: Turns Out I Do Like Sun Dried Tomatoes
Live Review

American ‘blue collar’ comedian Jeff Foxworthy has made a huge career from his ‘you might be a redneck if…’ routine. Geraldine Hickey might well do the same with her list of the tell-tale signs of lesbianism.

Not that she picked up on many of them herself, mind. She got to the age of 32 before realising she was gay even if, in retrospect, all the clues were there – from being good at cricket, having boyish hairstyles… and getting off with women.

That might have been a giveaway, but when she first realised her sexuality at the age of 21, a combination of the intimidating lesbian ‘scene’ and her own Catholic guilt meant she promptly went back in again, waiting a good 11 years before finally accepting who she was. And as Hickey, herself a blue-collar comic, comments, the waters were further muddied as ‘there’s a fine line between being bogan and being a lesbian’.

Coming out tales are rarely as dramatic as the ‘outee’ fears, and for most of this show, Hickey proves no exception – although gaining the acceptance of her conservative, religious, rural parents, especially her mother, adds some tension and weight.

Hickey’s low-key telling of these personal events is uneventful, but she does so with an underplayed sweetness. That and a lot of sexual euphemisms. An awful lot of sexual euphemisms, from the title onwards.

It means the story doesn’t have huge impact – save for a brilliant routine about a daggy family wedding to underline the myth that heterosexual marriage possesses a unique ‘sanctity’ – but Hickey is quietly endearing and her material clearly comes from truth, making this a heart-warmer of a show. Come out and see it some time.