Review: Maeve Higgins at Basement Theatre

Higgins is not only very funny but particularly clever as well. Photo / Supplied

If you were to choose just two words to describe Irish comedienne Maeve Higgins, you could find none better than these: deliciously awkward.

They're not my words (my friend Dave deserves the credit for that) but they perfectly encapsulate the feeling, style and humour of Higgins.

Self-deprecating and scatty, Higgins delivers a set of stories, bad jokes (but they're meant to be bad; she even points out how bad they are) and externalised internal monologues with a curious lack of conviction.

Timing is everything in comedy - so they say - and Higgins' timing is perfectly off, as she leaves jokes hanging, waiting to see if the audience will bite or not. When they don't, she leaves them a little longer, and then a bit longer still, until the audience can't help but laugh at how awkward it is.

"Is she for real?" you will find yourself thinking. "Was that meant to be funny or is she having a laugh?"

The irony is, of course, for someone seemingly unconvinced by her own jokes, it takes a tremendous amount of balls to pull off this type of humour. And as the show progresses, any ambiguity is cleared up as Higgins reveals herself to be not only a very funny comic but a particularly clever one as well.

From the disarray of scattered jokes, one-liners and incomplete anecdotes, Higgins' grand finale magically transforms the collective chaos into a complete picture - one you could never have visualised at the start. Quite simply, she is a delight. A deliciously awkward, deceptively clever, delight.

MAEVE HIGGINS
What: Maeve Higgins in Kitten Brides
When: 8.30pm, until Saturday, May 16
Where: Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave