‘I’ve had some good news, I’ve had some prosecco.” Today’s performance finds Amy Gledhill in a celebratory mood, with good reason: she’s just been nominated for the Edinburgh comedy award. You can see why: Make Me Look Fit on the Poster is an endearing hour of autobiographical comedy, just about unified by its engagement with the issue of body image, as Gledhill finds herself single and weighing up her value in the dating market. If there’s something indefinite about that theme, the Hull native keeps her audience warmly onside as this or that indignity is addressed with blunt northern mockery and good cheer.
Maybe that cheer is in shorter supply than in her 2022 debut. Fair enough: amid the dappy material about Toby Carveries and dangling from a tree at Go Ape, there are troubling stories, too – about a hurtful letter from a boyfriend that’s haunted her, and latterly, about a sleazy assault on a train. They are included here to illustrate not so much body dysmorphia (à la Hannah Platt’s elsewhere on the fringe) as body uncertainty, as Gledhill struggles to describe herself, and considers how others describe her. (“You look so … bubbly!”)
Those are tentative feelings, only tentatively mapped on to this show, which frequently deviates to talk about something else entirely. A routine about playing “would you still love me if … ?” with an ex-boyfriend fizzles out a bit. Another about the joys of living alone paints a stark(ers) picture of Gledhill’s newly liberated existence. A set-piece about what our host demurely calls “willy kissing” majors in outré blue humour, and leaves us with an indelible image of tipsy Gledhill maintaining her balance by biting down on … well, you get the picture.
As further proven by her reenactment of an erotic massage-chair experience, no one can touch Gledhill for bawdy comedy delivered with a blush. That does little to develop her body-image conceit, but together the show’s strands still add up to a delightful hour of standup, from an act whose prosecco is well earned. Just don’t call it bubbly.
At Monkey Barrel Comedy, Edinburgh, until 25 August. Then touring.
