Cynicism is every now and then expressed in regards to the phenomenon of comedians writing books. Uncommon is the occasion of a comic book discovering extra success on the web page than on the microphone. Step ahead, then, Fern Brady, whose memoir Robust Feminine Character, about her expertise as an undiagnosed autistic lady, has met with awards and widespread acclaim – and appears to have turbocharged the Scot’s standup profession too. One assumes the guide’s success was a think about securing Brady gigs at subsequent month’s Netflix Is a Joke pageant in Los Angeles, and this new particular on the streamer too – whose title, Autistic Bikini Queen, invitations followers of the memoir to come back savour extra of the identical.
Is that what they’ll get? Properly, they’ll actually get a potent hit of the 37-year-old’s unsentimental character, as Brady – filmed at a Bristol efficiency final 12 months – launches into spiky riffs on marriage and relationships. There’s not a lot, or at the least circuitously, on her expertise of autism. The subject is effectively dispatched within the opening 5 minutes with a droll gag about the concept that her neurodiversity is “a superpower”. There’s additionally a joke about her undiagnosed situation revealing itself in Brady’s squeamishness about touching or hugging her mum, which sounded to this viewer much less like a symptom of autism than of Scottishness.
How dare I perpetuate such disparaging nationwide stereotypes? Properly, it have to be catching: Brady herself makes some broad generalisations about her (and my) house nation right here, some acquainted (we’re unfit and unhealthy), some much less so (apparently we’re anti-abortion). But when the Scotland she describes isn’t one I recognise, I’m positive it’s true to her personal expertise, rising up in what feels like a fairly strict Catholic setting, feeling perpetually anxious and judged as she tries to fathom why she doesn’t appear to suit.
That’s all simply background right here, although, to the present’s foremost concern, which is the Taskmaster 2022 star’s center age, her combined emotions about settling down and life in a long-term relationship. Her materials on the establishment of marriage is the present’s strongest: it’s the place she finds a goal worthy of her blowtorch cynicism. “I can’t think about getting married something aside from sarcastically,” is an attention-grabbing line, and her horror is a factor to behold as she considers the supposed enchantment of publicly declaring one’s love (“a intercourse tape of my feelings”, certainly) earlier than an viewers of household and mates.
This routine duly widens its focus, opening out to think about Brady and her boyfriend’s not-so-romantic backstory, and her latest failed expertise of attempting to rearrange a civil partnership. This pragmatic tackle marriage then leads us to a startling gag about assisted dying, the bleakness of which is just matched by ridiculousness of the situation Brady constructs round it. It’s a excessive level of the present, the place the disparate themes – ageing; Catholicism; relationships – are synthesised in a tone of voice (hoarse West Lothian accent; hardboiled worldview) that might solely be Brady’s.
Subsequent to it, there’s different materials right here – hating on London, say, or imagining beginning a brand new relationship in center age – that feels much less distinctive. There are enjoyable routines in direction of the top, one in response to a disturbing comment Fern’s granny made about tampons, one other about her love for her cats (not all cats) – each of which dial down the cynicism however nonetheless supply a bracing rudeness and oddity. Her audience-interactive finale makes for a cheerful bolt-on. The particular might not replicate Robust Feminine Character’s award haul, however it’s a powerful standup providing from an act who’s actually discovered her voice, on each web page and stage.
