Rhona Cameron [2007]

Note: This review is from 2007

Review by Steve Bennett

They’re flocking back to stand-up this year: Frank Skinner, Sean Hughes and now Rhona Cameron is back on the stage after a five-year absence.

She seems quite tentative in renewing our acquaintance. Not in delivery, you could never accuse her of being timid in that department, but in the choice of safe material, pandering to her lesbian fanbase that has stuck by her.

It’s odd, because he thoughts on the subject are bland and stereotypical. All lesbians are butch dykes who you could never envisage in feminine jobs such as air hostesses, she asserts. It could be argued that with this, and various other jokes that rely on a similar premise, she’s playfully reclaiming the negative generalisations, but I’m not convinced.

This material, repetitive and dull as it is, does, however, get the job done. It is greeted with gales of laughter, though the reaction is so powerful those producing it seem almost to be making an empowering point as much as having a chuckle. And you can understand why Cameron does it, as many much better gags get a more muted response. What’s a girl to do?

But after the first 20 minutes or so of this nonsense, the quality of the material noticeably steps up a gear or two, as Cameron gets more personal and honest, especially when talking about the relentless rows with an ex in the most unlikely of places.

Observation and overblown exasperations have always been her strongest suit, and there’s plenty of both on ribald display here. She gets so vein-poppingly fury about the most minor of irritations, you can imagine what failing technology or pretentious superfoods do to her blood pressure.

As we race through her bugbears, the energy and passion reach fever pitch. Her vortex of grumpy anger pulls us all in. It’s a performance masterclass, all right, but more than that, the observations are spot-on and the gags sharp and funny.

The rest has clearly done her a world of good, and she’s back with a vengeance.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett

Review date: 1 Jan 2007
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett

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