Review of trans comic's new show at the Soho Theatre

She came to fame, or notoriety, by getting her kit off, flashing her boobs and playing a keyboard with her knob live on TV. Now follow that.

Jordan Gray knows she’s facing ‘difficult second album’ syndrome after bursting on to the scene so emphatically with her powerhouse 2022 debut Is It A Bird?, when she treated her Edinburgh Fringe shipping container-style  venue like it was the London Palladium - then ended up playing the real thing. 

Being so in-your-face comes with unwanted consequences, and putting her well-coiffured head above the parapet, especially on Channel 4, drew out the ugly hatred of those who think that as a transgender woman she should simply not exist… and who now bombard her with chilling messages every day threatening to make that happen.

Her instincts are to double down. To make more knob gags, sing more outrageous songs. To claim the space the intolerant would deny her and demand to be seen and appreciated. She solicits hollers for her outfit. ‘Look at that,’ she preens, patting her skintight jeans. ‘That is not the arse of comedian!’

Some of the jokes conceal a point, though many are just dumb, and she fires them out with dizzy glee. The ‘gender critical’ would want her to remain the way she was created – and that seems to be natural-born entertainer, with a timing and commitment to punchline that would be almost 1970s old-school, if she wasn’t talking about being ‘transgendo’, as she playfully dubs it.

The other point of comparison is, unfortunately, Russell Brand, with the same Essex accent, the same exaggerated loquaciousness, the same hair, more or less, and the same penchant for dandyish fashion. But Gray deflect this with a gag too, just as she does a previous reviewer making the (not invalid) point that the ‘funny things my East European wife says’ segment of this show feels a bit like filler. She’s got an answer for everything, and it usually rhymes with ‘puck you’.

But the odd line snuck under the radar plants the seeds for a hard pivot, notably the darkly droll lyric: ‘If you want to kill me, do it / but you’re going to have to beat me to it.’

For in the second half, the truth hits home. The mental effect of facing down so many haters, and the strain of living in world that seems so increasingly hostile to her very existence, take their toll. She even has doubts about choosing a career in the spotlight. ‘I’d rather be at home earning passive income playing Minecraft,’ she insists.

That’s a bit hard to square with the defiant, ebullient joy of the first half, in which Gray seems to take as much joy from the audience as she gives them. Her delight at belting out the songs and bantering with the front row seem genuine, but who’s to know what’s going on in another’s mind?

Does the sombre ending come from certain expectations that comedy shows now need to wear their seriousness on their sleeve? Or is it a heartfelt howl against intolerance and the impact it’s having on her that Gray just needs to get out? Either way, it seems an entirely separate show from the first half, and strangely less powerful,

It would be nice to think that the best response to the haters would just be to have the best life on stage. To keep on creating that giddy, carefree, outrageous, knockabout feeling – albeit with tightly written lines – that makes people warm to her and forget all the toxicity that comes from treating trans rights as a divisive ‘issue’ not another bit of messy human diversity for society to muddle through. But maybe that’s just naive.

• Jordan Gray: Is That a C*ck in Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Here to Kill Me? is at Soho Theatre until Saturday then plays a full run at Assembly George Square at the Edinburgh Fringe. Her sitcom, Transaction, comes to ITV soon.

Review date: 28 May 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett