Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Though an engaging presence, TikTokker and live comedian Maggie Winters has too little to reveal in this straightforwardly autobiographical hour. Not saying it’s basic, but the three sections are titled Live, Laugh, Love.

In part one, she takes us through the food she likes, the celebrities she looks like, and every place she’s ever lived – all four of them. And two of them are Chicago. She calls herself Irish, in that typical tiddly-eye, desperate-for-identity American way that makes every actual Irish person cringe. There are leprechauns on the graphics.

She also lived in Normal Illinois – which took me far too long to realise was an actual place, not just a euphemism for anywhere in the state that wasn’t Chicago – and Angers in Western France, where both she and the locals had fun with stereotypes, not too far from what you’d expect.

Winters then takes us through some of the ​temp jobs she had and her college experiences. She has a drinking story that one time she got so absolutely wasted that… she woke up dehydrated. Doug Stanhope she is not. The average Fringe-goer probably had a worse night yesterday.

The sections are punctuated with fairly lengthy compilations of her internet content – on-the-street vox-pops, drunken St Patrick's Day antics, shonky Love Island parodies shot in front of a green screen, that sort of thing. But content you might idly scroll through at home for free feels inadequate on the big screen, paying up to £15 for the privilege.

Late in the day, Winters brings substance to the show in its final section, whet the plus-sized stand-up explains why she got into comedy, saying, rather sadly: ‘People didn’t like what I looked like, maybe they’ll like what I say.’

She approaches her depression and anxiety rather gingerly, so it just skims the surface compared to how deep into their mental health many Fringe comedians will dive.

It’s the same issue as with her jokes. She has a nice style and a few witty lines, but they are throwaways on top of insubstantial base content. Either the story needs to be powerful or the jokes great – ideally both – but this is neither.

Despite the insecurities which brought her to comedy, Winters is engaging and likeable and has a good way with the audience – even kind to the woman fast asleep in the second row. You can see why she’s popular online as she’s good company – but  the live scene surely demands something more substantial.

Edited 8/8: The original incorrectly stated Winters was a TikTokker before becoming a comic, when it was the other way around.

Review date: 7 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Pleasance Dome