Zoe Lyons is an excellent comedienne. Standing there with only a microphone, she delivers an hour of comedy at a speed that will make your head rush and with more punch lines than you think can be crammed into an hour. She needs no tricks or gimmicks to own a room. This is strong, material driven stand-up performed by a woman in control of her talents. The night I was in she had an incredibly difficult heckler, whom she dealt with charmingly and, ultimately, brilliantly, allowing him to leave the room before closing the door.The show is reportedly about machismo, a very masculine swagger, which Lyons quickly deconstructs with intelligence but also her own particular physical style of comedy. But its deeper than that. She casts an incredibly observant eye over the hypocrisy of gender definitions in modern society and turns a razor sharp tongue on middle class pretensions; everything from celebrity perfumes to organic cat food.Lyons comes out firing on all cylinders and then digs deeper for more. Why shes not more famous I dont know. That said, Ill be eating these words when I cant get a ticket to see her next year at her sell-out show. A guaranteed night of laughter.
