Shelagh Martin – Original Review

Note: This review is from 2002

Review by Steve Bennett

The resemblance isn't immediately apparent, but Shelagh Martin is strangely reminiscent of a bald middle-aged bloke.

Not, of course, in looks, but in her manner of delivery, she's a dead ringer for Clive Anderson.

And, like the ex-barrister, her uneasy manner with its stilted sentences and awkward pauses belies the quality of the material.

Her trade, though, is not the barbed put-down, but the crafted one-liner - often surreal, sometimes brilliant, and frequently involving bizarre mental images of animals.

It's sweetly innocent stuff, with no attempt at audience banter, just a set which moves swiftly from one gag to the next.

Like most who deal in the short, unadulterated joke, the results can be a bit hit and miss. But in Martin's case the ratio is stacked strongly in favour of the hits, which has an impressive cumulative effect.

It all makes for a most enjoyable, and refreshingly happy, set.

Review date: 1 Sep 2002
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett

Live comedy picks

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.