While Foster's Award-winner Bridget Christie is at the forefront of a flotilla of assured, opinionated female comedians, there are others not far behind. Sara Pascoe, Róisín Conaty and Kerry Godliman are all making waves. And surging up fast is Katherine Ryan, who is confident, smart and getting funnier all the time.
The London-based, Canada-born comic has been on the circuit for a while but in the past year she has really found her voice. In Glam Role Model Ryan skilfully tackles a number of hot potatoes, from celebrity obsession to the over-sexualisation of society.
There are some terrific lines that really stand out. In a topical riff on our fame fixation, she notes that we can spot a topless royal in seconds but cannot find a plane in a month. Twerking, meanwhile, “is not a dance, it’s a cry for help”. Elsewhere, she unearths original laughs in the challenge of juggling single motherhood and keeping her love life sizzling.
The set does dip in places and some targets, such as Cheryl Cole and Harry Styles, are a little unambitious, but the chuckles regularly return. Particularly towards the end when Ryan goes into her well-honed impression of Beyoncé, her perfect role model. It is a precision-tooled winning routine and Ryan knows it, strutting, gyrating and replicating Mrs Jay-Z’s “sexy face”.
This feels like a potent, appropriate moment to finish but instead the finale involves some hit-and-miss audience participation, when Ryan should really be the one who is foregrounded. Glam Role Model has the makings of a significant show, it is just not quite there yet.
Until May 3 (020 7478 0100, sohotheatre.com)
