Review: ZOË COOMBS MARR: EVERY SINGLE THING IN MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE, Soho Theatre

“What is the point of all of this?”

Zoë Coombs Marr: Every Single Thing in My Whole Entire Life certainly has a fascinating hook -  the show description claims that it will be a “tell-all, personal storytelling comedy show.” Unfortunately, audiences actually learn very little about Coombs Marr’s life. We are shown a range of spreadsheets that Coombs Marr has created in an attempt to put every single memory she has had into one place, ranging from mundane things like making a sandwich to some more memorable moments like meeting Cate Blanchett.

Pretty early on in the show, we learn about some of the darker moments in Coombs Marr’s life, with the comedian promising that we need to know these important parts of her life in order to understand the rest of what will happen over the next hour. After a whole bit in which she talks about how “suicidal ideation” is a phrase that sounds cool and a few uncomfortable jokes about suicide, there was no payoff at the end, so the audience has gone through this for nothing.

One of the main aspects of Zoë Coombs Marr: Every Single Thing in My Whole Entire Life that I struggled to understand was how much depended on decisions made by audience members. Instead of taking us through a set path of stories in her life that lead to a cohesive show, Coombs Marr lets the audience choose which stories we hear, sometimes taking several minutes to debate which callout “wins.” This leads to some disappointing bits in which Coombs Marr laments not having the time to tell us some of her better stories, even though the show runs over by fifteen minutes.

At one point, Coombs Marr apologies to the audience, saying “Sorry it’s not all gold” when referring to the different stories from her life. This is certainly true for quite a few of the tales she tells, especially those that focus on her obsession with vomit, something disgusting that I did not want to hear about at all - I certainly didn’t want to see any photos, but we had them forced upon us anyway. One of the spreadsheets has a section titled “My point . . .” and, as a heckler in the audience points out, there is nothing checked off. Indeed, it is difficult to find the point of this show.

There are several times where Coombs Marr goes on rambling tangents that contribute nothing to the show as a whole. Quite a few of these rambles are not even directly related to her life, which, again, takes away from the impact of the show. Towards the end of the show, Coombs Marr attempts to get the storyline back on track, focusing on what it is like to be performing at queer gigs and how to deal with heckles compared to the ones she usually receives at comedy clubs with a straighter audience. 

Zoë Coombs Marr: Every Single Thing in My Whole Entire Life is a show with an interesting concept that fails to deliver and leaves on dissatisfied. Audiences do not learn enough about Coombs Marr to make the show’s premise justifiable and its heavy emphasis on audience interaction greatly takes away from its storytelling impact.

Zoë Coombs Marr: Every Single Thing in My Whole Entire Life runs until 21 September at Soho Theatre.

To post a comment, you must register and login.