Live group therapy onstage delivers both laughs and intrigue
You don’t need to have seen much stand-up before thinking that a lot of comics could benefit from therapy. Shrink Wrapped goes one step further and builds a whole show around it – three comics and a real-life clinical psychologist get together onstage, perform some routines, and sit down together to analyse them. The resulting hour captures the magic of the very best panel shows, with fellow comics chipping in with riffs, friendly ribbing and unexpected observations.
Each show has a different theme; tonight’s is the “window of tolerance” – the range of emotional experiences you can handle without becoming either dysregulated (red zone) or disengaged (blue zone). It provides the lens through which Dr. Edel McGlanaghy – one of three psychologists rotating on the bill – takes notes throughout each stand-up set, before posing a pointed question or two at the end of each performance.
Tonight’s patients are show originator Robyn Perkins, Ethan Cavanagh, and Elaine Fellowes. Cavanagh in particular is hilarious, with an energetic set taking in breastfeeding, breakups, and weather forecasting – spurring me to book his solo show. All of the comics have a lot of fun with the psychologist perched onstage, attempting to sneak a glance at her notes, checking she’s appreciated a particularly clever punchline, and narrating obviously troubling elements. Interestingly, all three bring along material about their parents.
Shrink Wrapped is much more than an opportunity to see multiple stand-ups in a single show: it’s the climactic group therapy session that delivers the biggest laughs. And the biggest insights. Ethan discusses a childhood split between two very different parental homes; Elaine realises that the intensity of her emotions makes her more similar to her mother than she thought; and Robyn struggles to ever recall allowing emotions to dictate her behaviour.
At times, the comics’ instinct to turn everything into a joke clashes with the psychologist’s need to dig deeper, sapping momentum. But the genuine warmth permeating every interaction, even whilst the comics are relentlessly mocking one another, makes this easy to overlook.
When introducing Shrink Wrapped’s concept to the audience, Robyn jokes that the psychologist gets an extra £20 each time she makes one of the comics cry. The reflections feel sufficiently genuine, and the environment sufficiently supportive, that I wouldn’t be surprised to see this pay out regularly. There’s something compelling about the mix of humour and therapy that makes you want to return for another show. Come for the laughter, but stay for the surprisingly revealing reflections.
Show Listing
Venue: Hoots @ The Apex (Hoot 1)
Dates: Aug 7th-30th (not 12th, 19th, 26th)
Time: 21:00 (60 mins)
Ticket prices: Pay what you want