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Alison Spittle: Wet

 
James Macfarlane Review by James Macfarlane 4 Published: 11 Aug 2022 Pleasance Courtyard Show Dates: 3 Aug 2022-28 Aug 2022

The Pleasance Attic on a sunny afternoon is hot, especially sitting in a sold-out crowd. Scanning the room, I can see makeshift fans and plenty of cool drinks. As I didn’t have either, I didn’t know how I was going to be able to survive the hour ahead. Thank goodness then for Alison Spittle.

Spittle had us all right in the palm of her hand

Bounding into the room in a fantastic yellow dress and Midsommar-esque headband, she immediately put a smile on my face. As the material started, the smile got wider – as did many other people’s. As a fan of her appearances on The Guilty Feminist and her Wheel of Misfortune podcast with Fern Brady, I knew we were in for a great show.

The Attic is a great room for creating an intimate atmosphere allowing comedians to connect with their audience. It worked for London Hughes back in 2019, and it certainly worked for Alison Spittle. Around twenty minutes into the show, after a few shudder-inducing sound effects involving her potential X-Men origin story, it was clear the crowd was hooked, with the majority hanging on to her every word. I feel as if there comes a point in every comedy show where the audience gives themselves over to the comedian and trusts them to make them laugh. For me, this was that moment.

My favourite routine came after a peaceful moment, what Spittle called the “opposite to meditation”. The concept of the section, announced somewhat out of the blue to the room, initially struck the crowd as one that they most definitely didn’t want to hear. However, as the material hit its stride, we were all absolutely dying to hear the end of it. With these types of routines, it’s an absolute pleasure to see Spittle coax an audience in with gentle beginnings and then devastate us with some killer punchlines. Suffice to say, we’ll all look at geese very differently from now on. Spittle had us all right in the palm of her hand.

From pregnancy tests to menstrual cycles, aqua aerobics to three lines of cocaine, there’s a lot to like in this hour of comedy. It’s an incredibly polished routine – well thought out and professional. Alison Spittle has created a show where there’s nothing cheap, nothing groan-inducing – just hilarious.

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The Blurb:

Alison loves to do star jumps in the water. She also likes to watch people fight in chip shops. Her two worlds collide as a fight breaks out in aqua-aerobics and she's never felt so alive. When the foam settles, Alison realises she's an outwardly nice person who lives for confrontation. Host of BBC Sounds Wheel of Misfortune, The Guilty Feminist podcast and writer for Have I Got News For You. 'A kind of genius' **** (Irish Times).