Zoe Lyons: Miss Machismo Review

Submitted by JD Stewart on Thu, 13 Aug '09 7.30am
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Edinburgh Festival review
Rating (out of 5)
5
Show info
Company
Mick Perrin fro Just For Laughs
Performers
Zoe Lyons
Running time
60mins

Machismo. Men all over the world strut around with it, so why can't women have it too? This is Lyons' main argument in her seventh appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe. After seven years, you would think that the wealth of humour and laughs from an audience would have dried up. Well, with Lyons, that would be the worst assumption you could make.

Having moved The Hut out of the Pleasance Courtyard and into the Gardens across the road, you would think that people would almost forget about it, considering its displacement from the main hubbub over the road. Lyons seemed to have no trouble filling the small space, obviously with fans that have been her followers from the start, and some newcomers (like myself).

Using wonderful observational humour of things that have happened to herself, Lyons lit up the stage for an hour with her genuine, bitchy and sarcastic humour that left everyone in stitches. I don't think I have laughed so hard at a stand-up show in my life, a big achievement as after a while, nothing seems funny anymore. I was hanging on every word as Lyons flitted between her love of celebrity perfumes to Sarah Palin and her own feelings after finding out she is the 81st most influential gay/lesbian in the UK. Who ever would have thought it?

Overall, this has to be one of the best-constructed stand-up shows I have seen. The gags shoot out of Lyons' mouth like bullets from a gun.

Just make sure you are listening, as none of it should be missed.

Times: 12-30 August, 8.30pm