Our final previews at Blizzard Comedy went out with a hecking bang with hours from two brilliant acts who are equally weird and whimsical in their own unique ways.
First, we had Leslie Ewing-Burgesse’s Phenomenon ahead of her Edinburgh run – which as a show is a great use of Leslie’s natural stage charisma and likability. A show with a pretty wild premise and silly throughline hides some genuinely profound character examinations beneath the surface (that ,or I’m a literary nerd who reads far too much into things, either or). It works incredibly well as a presentation of the delightful nonsense ideas in Leslie’s brain and a very over the top prop that I won’t spoil but clearly had far more work put into it than I have ever put into anything ever frankly. (I say as my Camden fringe show is just over a week away and I’ve not even got a final draft of the script yet.)
Leslie takes the best parts of ’00s surrealist British comedy influences but keeps them wild and varied and unpredictable enough that your brain genuinely can’t predict the twists and turns in the punchlines she crafts, creating some of the hugest choruses of belly laughter I’ve ever heard in a room our size.
Leslie goes straight into the tone of the show. It’s fun, it’s silly, and yet there’s an earnestness underpinning all of it that just feels very authentic. Whether she’s talking about service work, 70s folk music, or cryptids, you can tell she is having the time of her life on stage talking about things she’s genuinely interested and invested in when she gets properly into the flow of the show.
Leslie’s act is a joy, there’s no other word for it, pure, unbridled joy. In all the weirdness it’s also intensely relatable, so if you’re anything like me (which if you’re reading this on purpose, you probably are) you are going to adore this show. Definitely check it out if you’re going to be at the Edinburgh Fringe this year! Show details here: https://freefringe.org.uk/shows/leslie-ewing-burgesse-phenomenon/
Finally, we had an early draft of Jain Edwards’ new show, which is not going to Edinburgh this year so is earlier in development, but absolutely showcases Jain’s comic mind at the top of her game.
The show features examinations of “evil” women, and the general treatment and perception of women throughout history. Jain plays the part of the narrator and analysist of this subject perfectly, using understated slightly bimboified sarcasm in the vein of something like a Philomena Cunk at times, but breaking character enough to unambiguously get her angle and points across.
And throughout the show, I’ve never seen a comedian break an entire room into hysterics quite like this before. Jain is one of the best for just taking very weird and niche yet slightly mundane ideas and getting comic gold out of it. I have no idea how she does it, but she’s one of those acts who I’m confident could talk about basically any topic and then render the entire topic redundant for any future comedian who wanted to talk about it. She’s that good.
The show is structurally still loose and clearly a work in progress, but the content of the show is top tier. If this is how good it is at this early stage in development, I can’t wait to see the finished product. Easily one of the greatest and most interesting comics working today. Keep an eye on further previews and announcements for this show on her social media profiles and LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/jainedwards.
And that’s it for Blizzard preview season! As you may be aware we are taking a hiatus from September, so it may be a while before we host any more previews, but we do still have two final shows for you in August, which can be booked for free here: https://www.outsavvy.com/organiser/blizzard-comedy
And we will be streaming up until August 26th over on Twitch.tv/blizzardcomedy.
Thanks for all your support this season, and for over the years! See you in August.
