★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This year, Lauren Pattison has brought her first hour, Lady Muck to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. If there's one person everyone's talking about this year, and one person with the most reviews on their poster outside the Pleasance, it's Lauren Pattison. So it's no wonder that she's been selling-out and has added extra dates.
Unfortunately on the day I went to see Lauren, she walks in clutching a bottle of water, lets us know that she's not feeling well and declares an area for her to be sick in, should she need to.
Thankfully she wasn't sick and despite (over) apologising for not delivering her best show, I had no complaints. I genuinely can't think of how Lady Muck could have been even better had she been well.
At just 23, Lauren has been through some shit and most of it has happened in the last 18 month. Lady Muck deals with her moving to London from Newcastle, being ghosted by her (dickhead) boyfriend and her insecurities.
One of the great things I love about the Fringe is the sheer volume of female comedians but what Lauren quite rightly makes clear in her show, is that this doesn't mean sexism is comedy no longer exists. It absolutely does and Lauren has unfortunately experienced this first hand revealing how once a male audience member gave her advice which he would never give to a male comedian.
Lauren is a natural storyteller, she loves talking and she loves making people laugh so being a stand-up comedian suits her. Working it Boots it would appear, does not as she gets sacked after genuinely trying to make a regular feel better.
There's a real warmth in Lady Muck too as Lauren speaks highly of her five-year-old nephew who sounds adorable and clearly means a lot to her.
Alongside an apparent confidence in her performance, there's a vulnerable side to Lauren which comes out towards the end of the show and sees Lauren genuinely get upset. I'm sure I wasn't the only one in the audience who just wanted to get up and give her a hug.
To give five stars to a debut show is a bold move, but Lauren absolutely deserves it. She's incredibly natural, incredibly funny and should be incredibly proud of what she has achieved with her first hour.
And even though she was ill, I was blown away by her talents, her honesty and her ability to make an audience laugh. With the last 18 months now behind her, I'm excited to see what Lauren will talk about in her next show.
Lauren Pattison: Lady Muck runs until Monday 28th August 2017 at 5:45pm at the Pleasance Courtyard (The Attic)
Extra shows 24th, 25th & 26th August 2017 at 3pm at the Pleasance Courtyard (Bunker Two).