Comedy review: Jay Lafferty: Jammy, Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh
Jay Lafferty: Jammy, Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh * * *
She's been compiling a small survey too, assessing Brits' reduced expectations of good fortune, but unscientific belief in the concept. Highlighting examples from her own life, the Glaswegian recalls how her mother used to evoke luck as a disciplinary tactic, a punitive measure lest the young Lafferty be delivered to a bogeyman. And she mocks the young for outsourcing their quest for love to the roulette of dating apps. All very chucklesome, she nevertheless has a stake in learning about odds and gambling from her friendly local bookies, beyond the theme for her show.
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Hide AdAt 37, Lafferty is on the older side to become a mother, at least by the NHS' unsparing assessment. And with arguably one of the worst reveals at the festival, she confirms that she's pregnant, thereby breaking what was indeed a palpable tension in the room. There follows a workaday routine about losing hard-living friends to parenthood. But then, via an interactive version of the game Play Your Cards Right, she establishes the odds of her struggle to conceive, how it all turned on her stalking a dog-loving man and other factors too unlikely to process. Finishing on a really uplifting note, Jammy is another effortlessly amusing hour from the personable comic.
Until 26 August
Jay Richardson