Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

The joke of Meghan Stalter’s act is that she demands our adoration and acclaim without displaying any discernible talent to have earned it. How very 2023!

She enters the Gilded Balloon’s Debating Hall half-heartedly singing a song, but barely gets to the end of a line as she cracks herself up so much. Same goes for what we could loosely term her stand-up, which often comprises a few phrases thrown together as the planned sentence collapses around her in a fit of shrieked chuckles.

Her delusional diva rails at the empty chairs in the supposedly sold-out room, snipes at the tech desk for mucking up her big moment, pointedly ignores her guitarist and sarcastically mocks the bored and confused faces of those who don’t worship her. 

Stalter – an ex-social media star probably best known for playing Kayla in Amazon Prime Video’s Hacks – pays only passing attention to what might make a show. ‘Bits’ include her disappearing into the wings to have anal sex with her husband, reading some of her bad literature, and getting some game audience member on stage so she can berate them for following her instructions wrongly. ‘It’s a show we’ve worked really hard on,’ she insists, convincing no one.

This egotistical monster finds herself hilarious, and the room is split about 70:30 in her favour on the issue. I was in the minority, finding it hard to appreciate the difference between ironic self-indulgence and the real thing. Still, the majority couldn’t get enough, hooting with delight at the chaos she wreaked.

Stalter is not short of confidence, either in the irritating on-stage alter-ego or the performer behind her. The freewheeling show has a certain energy, the self-deluded craziness feels convincing, and that she can hold a room with so little content is testimony to her megawatt charisma. 

But I yearned for the added layers of Catherine Cohen’s The Twist...? She’s Gorgeous persona, which had a similarly out-of-control ego, but then built a robust show around it rather than just mucking about.

Review date: 20 Aug 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Gilded Balloon Teviot