Comedy review: Jo Caulfield: Killing Time, The Stand 3 and 4

Jo Caulfield: Killing Time, The Stand 3 and 4 (Venue 12) ****

Her latest Fringe show has a title, but no overarching theme, it’s just what’s happened to her in the last year and random observations about life. She gets a lot of comic mileage out of her Aberdonian husband. She really doesn’t think much of men who sport Peaky Blinders caps. She and the husband went to New York to celebrate their anniversary and condescension ensued. She judges you...

... And the packed house at The Stand judged her observations pretty damn funny. Caulfield is whip-smart, her stories as insightful as they are hilarious, her wicked barbs towards others balanced by a tendency to be as honest about her own failings. Of course, every comic is presenting a version of themselves, the one that will get the most laughs, but the on-stage Caulfield always rings true.

With her hair newly piled atop her head, and a casual elegance, she has a look of the great Katharine Hepburn, but while Hepburn could be brilliantly waspish on screen, she didn’t write her own material.

Caulfield’s areas of interest this year include the wisdom of inciting foreign folk to drop by if they’re ever in Scotland, the trouble with New Town bars and kiddies who expect to be worshipped. And as ever with Caulfield, there’s plenty of bouncing off the audience, not literally, of course (though that might be fun). Caulfield has few peers in this area.

If you’ve never seen Jo Caulfield live, I could list plenty of reasons why you should. Or have I done that already?

• Until 26 August, 7:45pm