Pippa Evans is probably the most infectious person you’ll meet at this year’s Fringe. Leaning on strangers as if they were old friends, making fun at her own expense (“posh voice, no money” she describes herself) and generally being utterly charming, you fall in love with Evans within the first 5 minutes. Her show at this year’s fringe loosely focuses on her and society’s guilty pleasures, in an hour of shameless, uplifting mesh of improv, music and stand-up.
A regular member of the Showstoppers, Evans ability to interact with her audience, come up with lyrics and make them funny is flawless.
Her energy on stage is seen most clearly in her musical performances, which I’m sure everyone at Bannermans on Tuesday would agree with. Her songs, ranging from an intense cover of Sex Bomb to originals, are not only well performed and extremely catchy (I’ve had It’s Just Banter in my head for the last 24 hours), but will have you in sustained laughter throughout. A confrontation between a woman and parking attendant to the tune of Les Miserables showcases Evans’ acting talents, diverse voice and shrewd understanding of musical comedy, culminating in one of the most captivating, fantastic five minutes of comedy I’ve had the pleasure of seeing. “God I’m so talented”, says Evans, capping off the hilarity.
While the majority of Evans’ songs are pre-prepared, she leaves space for her improv skills to shine through. A regular member of the Showstoppers, Evans ability to interact with her audience, come up with lyrics and make them funny is flawless. Put that to country melody and you’ve got yourself another riotous four minutes in the Evans repertoire.
Because of the pure excellence of her music, Evans stand-up routines are merely good in comparison, but nonetheless are still very funny. What’s most impressive about her stand-up it its variety. Whether it’s observational humour, one-liners, dead pan or a fantastic array of accents, Evans clearly has many tricks up her sleeve to amuse her audience between her musical numbers.
At the end of this review I do feel like I’m jumping on the bandwagon somewhat; Bannermans was packed at the show I saw and will probably remain so for the rest of the festival. But Pippa Evans is a distinct pleasure and a comedian whose songs and personality will stick in your head for days. Get there early; you won’t regret it!
