Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

It's difficult to believe this is Amy Annette's Fringe debut. One of the ultimate comedy insiders, she's been prominent on the scene for well over a decade as a writer, producer, director, podcaster and performer, without previously putting herself out there for the full hour. 

Given that the long-awaited day has finally arrived, you might wonder what's changed, or what story needed to be told in this format. The answer to that question is still not clear, although Annette's years of experience in the run-up make this an unusually fluent and well-balanced debut.

As a performer, she has a camp, bubbly flavour. Like a millennial Zelda Fitzgerald, she hides her points about the capitalist co-opting of feminism under her musical vocal inflexions, trilling lines in mispronounced French for comic effect and warmly bringing her guests into her orbit like she's hosting a cocktail party. 'Chic! Divine! We love it!'

Thick Skin is themed around that millennial angle, looking back to an adolescence where body-shaming went unquestioned and girls' magazines handed out unworkable sex tips and dreadful fashion advice. 

Without dwelling on anything for too long, she whips through these topics along with the dynamics of girl gangs, notes on the millennial/Gen Z divide, and a slightly off-topic detour into collective nouns, that trusty comedic watering hole from which all stand-ups must occasionally sip on their long journeys across the plains.

Millennial life is one of the better-mined areas in comedy. Even if you haven't heard these observations delivered by a stand-up you've probably seen them on Buzzfeed lists or Instagram memes or discussed them among friends. 

The strength and the drawback of the topic is that the reference points are fixed for all time. It's relatable to 100 per cent of people in a certain age bracket, but finding a new angle is just short of impossible. The usual remedy would be to bring in elements of the specific and the personal, but Annette reveals relatively little about her own experience, making this hour an entertaining and rehearsed debut, but sometimes frustratingly general in its approach.

Review date: 2 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Tim Harding
Reviewed at: Pleasance Courtyard