Review: EDINBURGH 2024: ABBY WAMBAUGH: THE FIRST 3 MINUTES OF 17 SHOWS, Pleasance Courtyard

Abby Wambaugh is a non-binary American comedian, writer and improviser, based in Copenhagen and regularly performs in the UK. Nominated as a Funny Women Finalist 2021 and co-host of Help Hole podcast, alongside Sofie Hagen, shortlisted for the 2022 BBC New Comedy Awards and selected for the Pleasance Comedy Reserve 2023.

For Wambaugh’s debut hour at the Edinburgh Fringe 2024, the shows premise is the offering of a top 17 set of ideas for beginning a comedy show. This provides a light-hearted exploration of varied comedic styles, of which all work superbly.

Frankly I did not want this show to end. Wambaugh is naturally hilarious, inventive and engaging, and so each segment is nothing short of a treat, with an insight to the inner workings of what can only be described as a beautiful and creative mind. The performance is sophisticated, blending personal storytelling, classic stand-up, absurd impressions and a small amount of audience interaction. The nuances of gender identity and parenting are raised, and towards the end of the show, trigger warning, miscarriage and baby loss, which are moving.

Wambaugh’s warmth and vulnerability create a genuine and invested connection with the audience, as the value of the work is demonstrated, in all its clever guises. The likeability sky rockets, as we feel safe in the presence of what feels like comedy royalty.

Impossible to mention just a few as the entire show is of such high calibre, but particularly spectacular are ‘Scare the Banana’, an exploration of the indestructible Danish rye bread with alternative usage musings, ‘Old Man Learns Parkour’ and ‘The Reliable Narrator’. Wambaugh is destined for their own sketch show, such is the quality of the hysterical work, which truly should be on an International scale.

Abby Wambaugh is a sublime and supreme comedic talent and is therefore my personal pick of the Edinburgh Fringe. This show made me laugh hysterically, feel moved to shed actual tears and far from exhausted I left elated from the energy, positivity and astounded by their sheer genius.

Do everything you can not to miss this show. Wambaugh is brilliantly funny, deserving of a mass of acknowledgement and destined for incredible things to follow. This is a masterclass of how to win over an audience and truly entertain.

Abby Wambaugh: The First 3 Minutes Of 17 Shows runs at 7:15pm until 26 August at the Pleasance Courtyard, Attic

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