Just as Kemah Bob walked onstage last night a fan in the front row knocked over a large glass of water. Quite appropriate really. Bob's show, an arresting tale of a hellish holiday experience, is full of spills as well as thrills.
The Texan comedian, a familiar TV face from series including QI and Richard Osman's House of Games, has been a welcome London comedy circuit regular for eight years. So while it is a surprise that Miss Fortunate is her full-length debut it is less surprising that it is so accomplished.
Firstly the back story is set up. Bob is bipolar and in 2022 was trying to sort out her mental health by walking and went on a spending spree instead. She decided a Thai massage might help. And the best place for a Thai massage is, of course, Thailand.
Fans get to feel like fellow travellers as Bob vividly recalls the sights and sounds of Bangkok's frenetic Soi Eleven district. The ever-sociable stand-up – who is pansexual, "like bisexual but more chic" – falls into conversation with a sex worker involved in a custody battle for her child. Can she perchance spare any money?
And then maybe romance is on the horizon when she encounters handsome Abraham. Although he is a gold dealer, he is a benevolent one who helps small-time Africans sell their gold in the Far East. Sexy, kind, rich, surely too good to be true....
These incidents would be spoilers except that it is clear from the outset that this holiday might not be the required what-the-therapist-ordered stress-free getaway. But it's what Kemah Bob's brain wanted and as she says towards the end, a brain’s gotta brain.
And while we know that Bob didn't come to too much harm as she is here to tell the tale, there are moments of jeopardy where the luxury of hindsight makes it clear she should have got out of Dodge pronto. However, she explains, one of the side effects of the way her brain works is blindness to red flags.
Miss Fortunate is a clever, deftly structured storytelling piece, brimming over with laughs. Along the way the format allows Bob to riff on topics including white male privilege, family ties and unusual-shaped genitals in the animal world.
Kemah is a confident, charismatic presence as she bobs around the stage, taking the audience with her through each close shave. As for that initial spillage incident, it definitely didn't derail her. After all, she is a Pisces, which is a water sign. And this is a show that certainly makes a splash.
Until tomorrow and touring in 2025. Tickets here: berksnest.com/kemah
