Comedy review: Anna Devitt: Last One Standing, Glasgow

Building regulations and a shoulder injury ensured that Anna Devitt couldn’t perform on the pole-dancing pole she’d intended to as part of this Glasgow Comedy Festival show. But if that possibly had an impact on audience numbers, the comic and playwright is a trouper, seizing on the intimacy of this gig to share her thoughts on the perils of online dating.

Anna Devitt: No pole-dancing, plenty of fine comedy material

Anna Devitt: Last One Standing - State Bar, Glasgow

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The unabashed, confessional mode is one of her strongest suits, and having noted the role apps like Tinder have played in transforming women’s expectations from that of Disney princesses to Fifty Shades of Grey, she suggests that she herself has multiple laptops for her multiple internet personalities.

The comic potential of trying to sustain various lies for various guys without tripping up is obvious, and one that she can undoubtedly develop further. Later, she makes a controversial if persuasive argument venturing that online profiles are the new, socially acceptable, 21st century equivalent of prostitutes’ cards in phoneboxes.

Her likening of ex-boyfriends to the humble appendix is knowingly contrived, but it’s a punchy routine and she is ambitious in analysing the predatory way that Facebook’s algorithms appeal to the unattached and insecure.

Too often, the UK stand-up scene is seen as synonymous with the views of middle-aged male comics whingeing about their marriage and domestic contentment. So with that in mind, it’s always a boon to hear an outspoken, anxious voice like Devitt’s offer another perspective – particularly as we struggle to grasp the growing role that technology plays in our romantic lives.

Seen on 13.03.15