Fern Brady: I Gave You Milk to Drink ~ Adelaide Fringe 2024 ~ Comedy Review

[COMEDY/Stand-up ~ UK] Fern Brady: I Gave You Milk To Drink Le Cascadeur at The Garden of Unearthly Delights, Fri 15 Mar, 2024. If there was a universal checklist for how to nail comedy without punching down, Fern Brady ticks all the boxes. The fresh-faced but seasoned performer opens with a proud declaration that she’s discovered she’s 98.3% Irish (in her notoriously raspy Scottish accent), before stating that it has never been a more embarrassing time to be British. Brady goes on to unpack her psyche and experience of fame and travel in front of us, playfully jousting with a full-capacity audience who clearly know and adore her work. The excitement is palpable and she riffs off it in a way that tells us she’s here for the experience, not the remuneration. After confessing that she finds it hard to do small talk because she’s autistic, Brady has us in stitches over her encounters with TV producers who are seeking autistic representations in their shows – feigning a guarded approach, before casually dropping the names of the respective programs. The remainder of the set takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey through her interactions with celebrities like Miriam Margoyles (who poetically berates her for her use of Botox) to a fateful trip to Thailand with her brother that saw her worshipping a stray cat whilst on magic mushrooms. Scattered through these stories are golden lines of political commentary and self-reflection. Her insight on the irony of having a condition (autism) that impedes an emotional reaction and injecting fillers into her face that further the struggle for emotive expression, had punters “rolling on the floor.” This show was a rollicking adventure into the perspective of a fascinating character. Brady commands the room with her energy, yet through a series of often sarcastic self-denigrating punchlines she keeps it real and relatable. 5 stars Louise Adele Fern Brady: I Gave You Milk To Drink continues in Le Cascadeur at The Garden of Unearthly Delights until Sun 17 Mar, 2024. All remaining shows for this season are SOLD OUT. #TheClothesline #ADLfringe