top of page

ED FRINGE REVIEW Katy Brand, I Was A Teenage Christian

★★★

After 11 years away from the Fringe, Katy Brand is back but this time she's ditching her sketch and character comedy roots for autobiographical stand-up.


She took us back to when she was 13, and the Sunday she went to a local church service and became a fundamentalist Christian.


From then on she attended church four times a week and for seven years she put the 'fun' into fundamentalism... and the 'mental'.


She was an obnoxious, self-important dick, but at least she knew she was going to heaven. Now she's not so sure.


The show started with huge potential, she walked on stage and told the story of how one tweet about the death of Jackie Collins, whose books she has read since she was 11, led to her becoming an impromptu death correspondent for Sky News.


After sending a camera crew to her house to talk about Jackie Collins, Katy went on to talk about Ronnie Corbett and Victoria Wood, but drew the line at Caroline Aherne.


But unfortunately, what followed, which was incredibly honest and interesting to some, just wasn't my cup of tea. I was aware that this wasn't Katy Brand in character, or playing various characters, but by the end of it, I had wished it was.


The laughs were few and far between, and it felt more like a therapy session than a comedy show, with Katy getting things off her chest from her time as a teenage Christian.


She's very likeable and that's what keeps you listening to her. I admire her honesty of course and on the most part what she was saying was genuinely interesting but after 11 years away from the Fringe, I expected more.


An observation about celebrity deaths and the way the public and media react would have perhaps been a stronger show as her material at the start was strong but it was downhill from there.


Katy Brand: I Was A Teenage Christian will be on at the Pleasance Courtyard until Monday 29th August at 4:45pm

bottom of page