Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Don’t be fooled by the title. In a Fringe of who knows what depravity, Bonnie He’s Terrible Show for Terrible People is, by comparison, not much cruder than a Carry-On film... and a lot less raucous.

The American comedian and improviser starts her wordless physical comedy show as the stereotype of the demure, giggly Asian woman, bright pink Hello Kitty camera hanging from her neck. She strikes a pose, coyly at first, increasingly revelling in the audience attention, getting ever more suggestive, a naughty glint in her eye.

As is par for any clown show, she quickly gets the audience to do her bidding and become part of the show, giving just enough ambiguity in her mimed instructions to allow for misunderstandings as the story unfolds. It turns out He’s character is widowed and desperately horny.

Cue her trying to satisfy herself while reading or flower arranging. She has a kink for toilet seats, apparently, and a gherkin is produced from her bra time and again to represent a dick (the subtext is not deep). And it’s quite clear men often don’t know what to do with their pickle.

If a show can have a one-track mind, this one does, with repetitions of the same basic joke, not quite able to choose between the sexy and the silly. A four-minute costume change, covered by a forgettable video montage, doesn’t help the pace of an hour that has the flimsiest story advancement.

The winsome He is a very appealing performer and her wordless crowd work is on point, so it would be unfair and glib to deliver a verdict based on the ‘terrible show’ title. But it’s something of a nothing, a feather-light hour forgotten as soon as you’ve seen it.

Review date: 6 Aug 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Underbelly Cowgate