Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Erika Ehler describes herself as not for everyone. She won’t be – she might not even be for me – but she is becoming a force to be reckoned with and she will have her audience, a substantial one.  

She has presence to burn, a cynical aloofness and quietly challenging delivery that a comic with decades more experience would envy. Her Canadian cool and refusal to take her foot off the audience's throat had her crowd gasping, guffawing and cringing. Yes, there were a couple of comics whooping extra loudly at her determined pursuit of the ick factor but the non-comedian crowd were right there with her too.

She is merciless on herself, scathing about her weight, her childhood learning difficulties, having a YouTube channel aged 11, illustrated with a couple of video inserts, bullying and her attention-deficit disorder diagnosis (there’s an excellent line about that). It means nobody can complain about her jaundiced, sour view of the men whom she dates, or, more accurately has sex with. And dear God, she does pick them, impoverished scumbag losers, the lot.

While she relishes the grot and goo of talking about sexual experiences, not my favourite content, she has writing skills and such tight control on what she’s doing that she seems a lot more mature than her twentysomething years. 

She complains about feeling old – despite winning the Chortle Student Comedy Award just three years ago. That’s the only mis-step in her hardboiled set, a barbed cliché used by many young comedians, presumably to sting the rest of us ready for dementia care by their assessment.

Her complaint that she’s never yet had an adult relationship is not a sentimental, soft spot in the show. It’s a bald statement of fact and her cold-eyed hilarious observations would make you question why she would want one. 

Her controlled fierceness makes her incredibly watchable, even when it’s uncomfortable. But she could afford to lighten the content and not seem so defended without losing one jot of her power.  

She’s an original voice, a great presence and she should be going places when there’s a little more breadth to the material.

• Erika Ehler: Femcel is on at Monkey Barrel Comedy (Carnivore) at 9.40pm 

Review date: 18 Aug 2022
Reviewed by: Julia Chamberlain
Reviewed at: PBH's Free Fringe @ Carnivore Edinburgh