Jenny Eclair turned 50 this year, and if you left the gig not knowing this, then it’s safe to say you slept through the whole show.

After a bizarre start with a few technical hitches (sorry Jenny, I mentioned it!) and Eclair tentatively appearing from behind the curtain, hula hoop round her waist, trying to work out why there was no music. The music eventually came and she came bounding onto the stage and proceeded to do a bit of hula hooping.

The first half seemed to be a bit hit and miss at times, some material getting huge guffaws (“Someone mistook me for Su Pollard in my dressing room!”) whilst others raised a barely noticeable titter. Most of the first half was spent explaining the pitfalls of turning 50 when you’re a woman and starting to go through “The Change,” the “Big M.” Most of this was certainly relatable to her mostly female audience, whether it was it happening to them, or as one young audience member was overheard saying “I could just imagine my mum having all these problems.” She talked about how middle-aged she was getting (“I now have an addiction to per una clothes”) to which most of the guys in the audience gave blank stares, whilst a lot of the women gave understanding nods.

After the interval, she came back on, telling us not to fret, the second half was only about half an hour, which I think was said mostly for the male audience members. The first half had been ok, but when she said in the second half “so, other things I’ve noticed since turning 50” I couldn’t help think ‘oh, we’re still on that are we?’ And yes, yes we were. Having half a show on one topic is fair enough, but there needs to be balance, talk about something else in the second half, not just more of the same, otherwise it becomes just that: samey. There were a some highlights (“rabbit shaped boobs”), but otherwise the second half kind of merged into a blur.

This was an ok gig, but Jenny, do please change the record occasionally.

SL

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