EDINBURGH 2023: Review: KRYSTAL EVANS: THE HOTTEST GIRL AT BURN CAMP, Monkey Barrel

Trauma-based dark humour is plentiful in modern comedy – as Krystal Evans says herself; making comedy out of tragedy is the best way to take the power back from it – but none do it quite like The Hottest Girl at Burn Camp, Krystal Evans’ debut hour at the Fringe.

The hour-long show dives into the depths of Evans’ difficult relationship with her mother and the pivotal moment in her childhood when she narrowly escaped a house fire, along with the resulting aftermath.

To make the content of this show so outrageously funny is an art form. Evans expertly weaves the narrative thread of her set between emotional and comedic without ever compromising the weight or integrity of either. She embodies a casually disinterested humour that’s so accessible; it’s the kind of humour rooted in something meaningful rather than a frantic sprint for laughs and it underpins the content of the show well.  The build to the core material sets the stage effectively, providing the context and background for the story Evans is telling whilst easing the audience in and earning – almost effortlessly on Evans’ part – big laughs from the start.

Evans has a natural and disarming charisma that makes interaction with the audience seem easy despite the vulnerability she’s showing. Her crowd work, like most things about her delivery, is modest yet masterful. She knows when to hold a moment and when to break it, when to cut a laugh short and when to let it gradually simmer. She is self-depreciating but not exaggeratedly so, and it’s an effective chaser to the more emotional moments in the show that maintains a sense of levity. This allows her to tell what are at times truly harrowing details of her childhood whilst keeping the audience not only comfortable enough to stay in the moment with her, but consistently laughing throughout.

At the emotional height of the show, Evans remarks that she is aware she has lost people in the audience from the sheer weight of the story she’s telling, yet this does not ring true. Everyone is enthralled on her every word and no moments fall flat. Each punchline, delivered in her self-confessed “resting sarcastic voice”, is sharp yet understated and elicits a huge response from the crowd. This is dark humour wielded at its best: dark but not overdone, dramatic but not hyperbolic, blunt but not abrasive. It leaves a lingering laughter in its wake that takes a while to dissipate, allowing the unhurried pace of the show to continue at Evans’ control.

The material throughout is a gut-punch followed by a belly laugh and it’s clear this is a reclamation. There is power here that comes from Evans allowing herself to be vulnerable in a way not many would have the bravery to do. At times she stands before the audience as the teenager who did not allow herself the time to process her trauma; at others she is the mother figure she needed to be able to do so. These two versions of Evans come together in The Hottest Girl at Burn Camp as one to give her a voice. To find the catharsis in these experiences whilst also keeping an entire audience laughing with an unapologetic enthusiasm is a comedic finesse not many could achieve with such success.

The Hottest Girl at Burn Camp is a testament to Krystal Evans’ strength and skill as a comedian and a staggeringly good entrance to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The Hottest Girl at Burn Camp is at Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Hive) - Hive 2 Aug 8-14, 16-27

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