Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

‘Marketing people love working-class Northern women,’ says Nina Gilligan, reflecting on all the voiceover work her endearingly soft Mancunian accent has landed her. Indeed, she epitomises all the positive stereotypes those advertising executives want to convey: warm, chatty, unpretentious and dryly funny.

But she also adheres to the other side of that image that’s less useful when selling Branston Pickle: having a firm sense of right and wrong and a steely glint when it comes to tackling those who’ve harmed her, amplified by the strength in numbers of a community, especially a community of women.

That comes later. The first part of Goldfish - ostensibly named after the creature she voiced on ITV weather idents – is a satisfying and hilarious routine of relatable observational comedy, family stories and self-effacing anecdotes. In a slightly scattergun style, we hear witty tales of her eccentric mum, enjoy a clever joke about gaslighting (or did we?) and learn about her experiences as a menopausal woman.

With disarming honesty, Gilligan reveals she has a form of memory loss called transient aphasia, which leads her to forget simple words for everyday objects, leading to a delightfully funny guessing game. She also has painful fibromyalgia and suffers chronic migraines, too – not that her problems were treated seriously by male GPs.

It's not the only time women aren’t listened to, and this section segues into a sobering section that contains the meat of a show, which proves more well-constructed than initially appears. 

By this point the easy laughs of the opening half have made way for the uneasy truth, strikingly told. At one point, the comedian leaves the stage, the message told in stark, powerful voiceover. Not for nothing did Gilligan and fellow comedian Kiri Pritchard-McLean set up the Get Off! Live Comedy HR service for those on the circuit who need it.

Lest this all get us down, Gilligan closes with a big and daft song-and-dance finale. Gratuitous, yes, but a much-needed palate cleanser before we emerge into the night with much food for thought to digest.

Review date: 18 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Just the Tonic Nucleus