Review by Paul Fleckney

Two years on from winning the Foster’s Best Comedy award, Bridget Christie is keeping her foot on the gas, and on the throat of her political enemies. In A Book For Her, there is no let-up in her frenetic, impassioned delivery, and she consolidates her place as an important comic voice of our times.

Things have got a bit more complicated, though, since winning that award. These days, she’s part of the media conversation, not just about feminism but also about Labour, and Tory cuts, and this feels very much like a show of somebody embroiled in a media conversation. On occasions she seems to be responding to criticism that’s taken place outside the room, mocking her own lack of ethnic minority fans, and attempting to defy definition as a feminist and a feminist only by pointing out she’s also a mother and can load a 17th Century musket. In hindsight, her 2013 show benefited greatly from not having to deal with such concerns.

Her previous two shows also had a focused, singular message, whereas A Book For Her is more like liberal political bingo, taking in not just her usual subjects but also the Labour leadership, VAT on female sanitary products, and civil rights activist Rachel Dolezal. It’s likely that she spreads herself thinly in this show because it was originally conceived as a 55-minute plug for her new book, but it certainly lacks oomph as a result.

Another major gripe is that doing routines about Nigel Farage feels tired, comedically, no matter how justified it may be. Likewise, she takes aim at Erick Erickson of Fox News. This sort of stuff is auto-pilot for a comic like Christie, and you could be forgiven for switching off. And on a slightly odd note, a lengthy section about where she could now tour in Tory Britain is strange to watch because everything about it – the tone, the crescendo, the repetition – feels like a Stewart Lee routine.

Despite hopping from one subject to another, Christie does produce some wonderful moments. Her routine on Dolezal and Caitlyn Jenner, and the finale about said sanitary products, are stand-out moments, likewise her astute reading of politicians wearing ‘This is what a feminist looks like’ T-shirts.

All in all it’s a powerful display by Christie, if a bit of a waste of her talents.

Review date: 25 Aug 2015
Reviewed by: Paul Fleckney
Reviewed at: Stand 1