The comedy society's show way exceeded this first time goer's expectations, and raised a good amount of money for charity in the process
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This International Women’s Day saw the Southampton Comedy Society host a stand up/improv show for their female members to showcase their talents. It’s safe to say, they very much proved the night’s tagline ‘Women Aren’t Funny’ hilariously wrong.
A complete newbie to the society’s shows, I arrived to an absolutely jam-packed Bookshop Alehouse, so crammed they had to stop letting people in once we were officially sardined against one another. High expectations ran through the murmuring crowd as we eagerly watched the makeshift little stage at the front of the tiny basement. When the show finally started, I genuinely think I could’ve broken a rib from laughing so hard from beginning to end. Any concerns that the group wouldn’t live up to the massive crowd that had gathered to see them were quickly sundered with the opening act, and such hilarity continued throughout the whole show.
Feminism and women’s rights were, obviously, the theme of the night, with jokes galore about sexism, children, sex, and the workplace. We got some truly awful puns, dirty jokes, chaotic improv sketches and a surprising but not unwelcome jazz interlude in one of the sets. No spoilers if she decides to use this material again, but I will say I wasn’t expecting to hear a comedic dramatic reading of some *ahem* interesting literature, but it’s what we got and it was hilarious. Also shout out to first time performer Rose, who absolutely rocked her set. The variation in performers sets kept the night moving, and kept the audience laughing. I’ve got to hand it to Sadie, the night’s MC, as well, for keeping us all entertained between sets and making sure the whole night ran smoothly.
The roasting did get a bit intense at some points, with some insults bordering on going a little too far, but all ended in a laugh and a grin. The improvisational comedy skits were a definite personal favourite of the show. The girls were very clearly pros at thinking on their feet, bouncing off eachother easily and doing the most simple things that got an easy rise out of the audience (say, dramatically hiking up your trousers to play a ‘construction worker’, or telling your sister in the middle of an argument that she really ‘lights up the room’ when you grab a compliment rather than an insult).
Pretty much the only flaw to the night was the wait for the show to actually start in the beginning. The best part of the whole thing was that the society was clearly having a great time. Girls, keep up the good work, and I can’t wait to catch another one of your shows in the future.
