Review – Jen Brister: Wishful Thinking
In Jen Brister’s words ‘this is an hour of the beige lesbian shouting at you.’ It’s an accurate summary, though perhaps a little too self-deprecating. The 39-year-old British stand up follows a very English vein of angry comedy. Brister is grumpy about a lot of things – racism, politics, her own laziness and middle age. She is an A grade show off, and the surprisingly full room eyes her every move.
Brister pulls at her face like it’s play-dough, moulding it into uncomfortable and hilarious expressions. She has a dynamic energy, bouncing around the small velvet edged stage with a mixture of extreme nervousness and gleeful excitement. She often stutters, splutters and abandons sentences, but this auditory chaos in combination with the facial expressions reveals the emotion behind Brister’s act. It’s not a performance technique that appeals to everyone; some audience members push back in their seats, trying to get away from the barrage of hard humour. Brister does not shy away from jokes that use politically sensitive material, something which not everyone is comfortable with. However, she does not joke insensitively – the punch line is never offensive or at the expense of an oppressed minority. Brister is likeable, and much cuter in real life than on her poster.
