Molly McGuinness review: Generous and open – comedy is where she belongs
Edinburgh Fringe
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Edinburgh Fringe 〰️
Image: Jack Hauxwell
by Zoe Paskett
If the audience on the day I saw Molly McGuinness are anything to go by, people really need to start being braver about the buffet.
It’s the perfect introduction to start gently berating the room for not digging into her veggie sausages, and a suitably characteristic demonstration of what’s to come: an open ease and generosity in front of a crowd.
Molly’s debut show is titled Slob, as she has been worrying about not doing enough with her life. Her day job serving beans at a buffet isn’t providing satisfaction, and neither is being moved onto coffee: just another type of bean. It’s the crisis many a person entering their thirties encounters, but going into a coma isn’t, which she flings in with the most blasé announcement ever.
After a rare complication from tonsillitis led to sepsis, she was forced to do literally nothing but lie in a hospital bed and suck on a sponge (which she speaks about with such relish, I’m really keen to try a few sucks). With this, came a change in perspective and a lot of bizarre coma dreams.
There are few people more naturally suited to the job at hand. Molly’s debut flows out of her with seemingly effortless dexterity. The coma announcement comes late enough into the hour that we know already who she is and how she responds to things – whether that’s her lethal choice of karaoke song, her teenhood job as the goth Pamela Anderson of CEX, or the fact that she’d drunkenly join a random massive queue and nearly end up…I won’t spoil it.
We learn about Molly’s ability to attract a certain type of men – old, ankle tags, goes to Wetherspoon’s at 9am – and we get the opportunity to date some of them ourselves thanks to her hilarious Lonely Farts Club (which inspired a brilliant piece she wrote for the LMAOnaise paper last year by the way!)
It may sound unlikely, but her description of dating (not an old man) on the intensive care ward is honestly one of the most romantic things I’ve ever heard. I refuse to believe that says anything about me; it’s truly a love story for the ages.
We know a coma is serious business – it’s a coma – so she doesn’t have to hammer that point home, and instead focuses on finding the funny side and identifying the simple pleasures she’s learnt to appreciate. It also means the brief sobering moments hit even harder.
Before the Fringe when people were asking about who I’m most excited to see, at the top of my list was Molly. She didn’t disappoint. Screw the beans, comedy is where she belongs.
Molly McGuinness: Slob is at CabVol 2 at Monkey Barrel Comedy (Cabaret Voltaire) at 14:55. Tickets here
