Jenny Eclair hits the stage with such force at the start of her current show that it is physically impossible for her to keep it up but she certainly has a pretty good crack at it.
And if the pace dips at times, that gives the audience a chance to recover their poise after laughing uproariously at some of the best one-liners you'll hear this year.
The 48-year-old's themes are anger and despair at the way her body and mind are decaying. Taking a puncture wheel to Kwik Fit recently she exasperatedly explained that she had "a ladder in her tyre".
The amnesia issue was clearly genuine as she also occasionally lost her way at the Bloomsbury, though a front row fan going walkabout did not help.
As well as unabashed bawdy gags about snogging Johnny Depp and her gold-plated grumpy old woman banter regarding Enya, water retention and elasticated waistbands, Eclair put a crisp spin on the well-worn topic of Jeremy Kyle. She would like a bourgeois version of the downmarket talk show: "Son, Why Have You Stopped Playing The Cello?"
The sold-out crowd adored every vulgar, self-obsessed quip. The star might claim to be falling apart but on stage things are coming together.
Touring (www.jennyeclair.com)
Jenny Eclair
Bloomsbury Theatre
