Dulcé Sloan, a seven-year veteran of The Daily Show, feared that that pedigree would leave her with an audience of “three white people who listen to NPR” for her first appearance at Soho theatre. The US comic needn’t have worried: the room is full and she opens with local material for the London crowd. Why do we add an “s” to “math”? Why are Black people living here – “you knew it was cold”? Nothing in the capital scares her, she says, because we don’t have guns: “Give me your wallet!”
Sloan’s CV spans acting and improvising, too, and that shines through as she masterfully shapes the energy in the room. She avoids The Daily Show’s topical comedy, instead sharing vignettes from her life as a 40-something Atlanta-raised artist who has recently bought a house in LA for herself and her family. We’re treated to impressions of her “insane” mother and brother arguing, a “goofy” ex-colleague, and men trying to propose to her in Spanish. Punchlines are punctuated with sidelong looks, confident pauses left for the crowd to keep laughing after each joke lands.
This was billed as a show about Sloan’s experience of freezing her eggs as a single woman in America. That topic’s absent tonight. After a (very enjoyable) warmup from Michelle de Swarte, we instead get jokes on evolution, supporting her family and the “cop dog” she’s begrudgingly allowed into her home, plus thoughts on dating and why straight men need to rethink their approach. Some material will be familiar to fans, with a memorable bit about “broke dick” delivered more smoothly in 2023’s Netflix showcase Verified Stand-Up.
Maybe because of this, the show tonight feels unfinished – a collection of thoughts without a coherent narrative. There are strong sections on the white American obsession with dogs and her scepticism of jazz, and we skim the surface of intriguing strands, like the failed promises of feminism (“White women got bored, now I have to work?”) and why she’s ready for a rich husband. These morsels are nevertheless glued together by Sloan’s charismatic persona, as she conjures huge laughs from exaggerated incredulity and keeps the energy fizzing throughout.
At Soho theatre, London, until 22 March
