Comedy review: Wicked Wenches, Edinburgh

When tortured Courtney Love-esque bipolar country rocker Loretta Maine declares that she will happily perform at wedding parties, you just know that she has never been asked to appear at such a function.

Wicked Wenches - The Stand, Edinburgh

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Perhaps some kind of post-spring feelgood factor is at play during this month’s Wicked Wenches, as the joys of marriage seem to be at the forefront of the comics’ minds.

Compere Susan Calman is celebrating one year of her civil partnership by booking a relaxed trip on the Orient Express. The rather strict dress code, though, has her in a fevered state of panic.

Meanwhile, Brixton-born and bred comic Meryl O’Rourke is reflecting on 14 years of wedded bliss and the recent birth of her second child.

This leads her to some very detailed and often hilarious analysis about the physical shape her 42-year-old frame is now in.

But no-one has a more traumatic wedding-related tale to tell than Jay Lafferty. It’s a story of thwarted passion due to a wardrobe malfunction that results in serious injury.

As well as being wed in 2012, it was also the year that the Greenock-born stand-up turned 30 (despite being mistaken for a woman twice her age: her 60-year-old mother as it happens) and it represents the fifth anniversary of her being placed second in the Scottish Comedian of the Year tournament.

Perhaps Lafferty hasn’t risen as quickly to the heights that her impressive showing that night would have suggested, but she still has a winning stage manner and plenty self-deprecating charm whether she’s discussing the merits (or otherwise) of 50 Shades of Grey, allergies or supermarket meal deals.