Astonishingly good. An upbeat, hilarious hour of stand-up from one of the most exciting and vivid new storytellers in comedy.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
For some, performing once a day for the run of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is enough. But not for Hull-born comedian Amy Gledhill, who alongside Chris Cantrill is one half of the sketch group The Delightful Sausage and has decided that 2022 is the year to debut her own solo show.
As the title would suggest, Amy has seen a pattern in her past relationships that makes her The Girl Before the Girl You Marry. Or as she likes to put it, a human property developer. She readies men for marriage, but just not with her.
In someone else's hands, this narrative could result in a downbeat show about past relationship fails, but Amy never lets it become that. Instead, as Amy takes us on a tour through her past relationships, the result is an upbeat, hilarious hour of stand-up from one of the most exciting and vivid new storytellers in comedy.
Like so many newcomers this year, the standard is so high that audiences stumbling into Amy's show would be forgiven for not realising that this is her debut.
Each and every story was met with riotous laughter from the audience, who Amy rather endearingly referred to as 'The Bullied', and whilst the promise of a juicy story coming up later in the show was a risky strategy. "The juice is coming!" she'd repeat. But was it? And when it came, would it be disappointing? In short, no. She was absolutely right to build this story up and keep us waiting.
Other highlights include a routine about flashing a tit, yet just the one, at The Queen of England, and when I say routine, I quite literally mean routine. A hilarious trip to Pizza Express - no connection to royalty, don't worry. And an inventive new way to use a dog toy.
With such confidence, ability and likeability, Amy might be new to solo shows, but she's an assured performer who understands the craft better than most and if this is only the beginning I'm excited to see what's next.