Andi Osho sees the funny side of her ethnic roots

5 April 2012

Andi Osho has recently become one of those ubiquitous comedians who always seem to be on the television when I arrive home and channel-surf for another fix of funny after a night out watching comedy.

She has been impressive in short, sharp bursts and I was looking forward to seeing her deliver an extended show.

This final night of her UK tour still clocked in at under an hour, and while it was extremely amiable it was ultimately more about showing potential than fully realising it.

The title, Afroblighty, cannily encapsulates the black-and-gold-haired comedian's relationship with her ethnicity, having grown up in London with a central casting strict Nigerian mum.

In her brisk, engaging style, she recalled her Newham childhood when the National Front was gaining a foothold.

Her recollections of racism oscillated between the comic and chilling - white kids singing
"nig-nog" to the rhythm of a police siren, a coconut lobbed onto the doorstep and not by Lidl's home delivery service.

Life was hard but happy, she explained, as she shuttled between then and now.

She brought things up to date with solid gags about the Olympics, Madonna ("She's all over Africa, she's like malaria") and last year's big freeze - "the whitest my area has been since the Seventies." Despite the overall theme, a lot of this felt like various tight club sets about nostalgia and recent headlines stitched together with confidence and brio hiding the joins.

It is only towards the end that Osho struck a deeper chord, offering a pretentious and passionate showstopping poem celebrating cultural diversity.

A good gig - but there will undoubtedly be better ones.

Andi Osho
Bloomsbury Theatre
WC1

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