A good fun camp old time that you can chuckle along to, with some solid comedy moments
This is your classic one woman stand-up comedy show starring a glamorous alien from out of space. Sprinkle in a few music numbers, lots of camp, and a large blonde beehive, and you have a uniquely Juno Birch show. If you are not already familiar with Juno Birch, she is a drag queen from Manchester who has amassed over a million combined followers on Youtube and Instagram thanks to her iconic look, witty humour, and appearances with other famous drag queens such as Trixie Mattel. She has brought her new show to Soho Theatre following on from previous successful shows including “Attack of the stunning” which she toured around the world.
Very charismatic and engaging. Has a unique look which adds visual interest.
You do not get to the level of fame and acclaim that Juno Birch has without being incredibly charismatic and engaging, and this charisma is on full display in this show. She has a clear sense of how to play to the audience, with some of the largest laughs of the night coming from her ad libs in response to audience interaction. She also has a visually interesting look which is part alien from space, part 1970s housewife that wouldn’t have looked out of place in earlier seasons of Coronation Street. The look along with the charisma helps to ensure that this show is an engaging 60 minutes that keeps your attention throughout.
As generally entertaining as Juno Birch is, this is not a show filled with cutting edge, exciting, or even particularly unique comedy. A large number of the jokes felt very dated and played out with quite obvious punchlines. I felt that a lot of the sections of the show were lacking a final crescendo of a punchline to really tie it all together. It is all quite humorous, and there were not any complete dud moments, but this is a show to mainly chuckle through, rather than uproariously laugh at throughout. The more interesting moments were when Juno told stories from her life that were much more unique to her. The hairdresser segment felt quite tired and played out, but the stories from her childhood and around coming out to her parents and going to football were more engaging and felt unique to her. These sections felt fresher with less obvious jokes.
There were, however, 2 moments that had me heavily laughing. An almost throwaway absurdist joke about a tap dancing dolphin caught me completely off guard and had me in stitches. The absolute highlight of the show is when she brings out her “daughter” and they perform a truly bizarre and absurd musical number which had me laughing throughout. The absurd and the ridiculous is where Juno Birch seems to shine the most. The mother daughter musical number is worth the price of admission alone.
In conclusion, this show is a good fun camp old time that you can chuckle along to, with some solid comedy moments. If you are already a fan of Juno Birch, then this is a show that you will not want to miss.
Juno Birch: Probed is playing at the Soho Theatre until the 16th November.