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Edinburgh Fringe 2019

Age Fright: 35 and Counting

Jaleelah Galbraith

Genre: Solo Show, Stand-Up

Venue: PQA at Riddle Court

Festival:


Low Down

In a performance where Tawny Owl cannot interrupt, stand up comedian, Jaleelah Galbraith takes us through the things that have been a reminder of her best decade. We get to revisit the nineties, even if we didn’t want to and end up hearing all about her 11th year old self from her own 24 year old diary.

Review

Galbraith is a great comic with timing at an acute level with material that is genuinely funny. I lost count of the times I laughed out loud as she took us through material that includes her being a drama teacher and then how she always ends up, as a single woman, buying multi packs of toilet rolls.

The material hits the mark most of the time. There are opportunities for some audience engagement and when it comes, she uses it, includes it and manages to keep her focus on where she was originally going which is damn impressive.

With the 90’s being her jam, there is a massive segment of the show that is all about her nostalgia for that time and that is when it really works well. Galbraith hits the mark with her material and does not let up as she goes through pogs, skipits, snap bangs and rush pops. She takes us through this with a glint in her eye, the naughty side that she probably can’t display in class obvious as the delight that comes from finally getting to snap that damn thing on her wrist – in front of her mother – is realised!

When we hear about her penchant for a man with a square jaw, we don’t get all embarrassed, but we do get a sense of her as an adult rather than just a teenager who got old. The responsibilities of her time have made this show an absolute delight to watch and after chuckling heartily, laughing out loud and then getting the pathos of losing grandad and her best friend we hit incredibly hard material.

By that time, she has us where she wants us and the tribute to both is heart felt and truly endearing. I left with a real sense of someone who understand structure, where the funny bone is and how to coax it out – all the whilst keeping a foot in reality so she could give it to us tight like a Chesney Hawkes betrayal.

It is no doubt that I really enjoyed this and left unable to remember if it was raining outside or not afterwards – true comedy gold, Edinburgh, August 2019.

Published