“I’m doing alright for myself, gang!” That’s quite the understatement. Laura Smyth at Hackney Empire is more than just a comedy show, it’s a triumphal procession for the east Londoner returning to home turf. Her rise has been dizzying if not without difficult detours, the former teacher winning the Funny Women award six months after her first gig, appearing on Live at the Apollo two weeks after her treatment concluded for stage 3 cancer – and now a fixture on the nation’s TV screens. Here then is the maiden live tour, to show uninitiates what the fuss is about.
It’s about, first and foremost, a comic with swagger, and the very sure popular touch to back it up. Smyth knows who she is, a gobby working-class woman who gambled and won, but only after she’d paid her dues raising kids, gossiping in staff rooms and keeping things afloat via buy now, pay later lenders. That’s the hinterland drawn on in Living My Best Life, which majors in blunt putdowns of anything the 42-year-old finds up-itself or overrated. Her daughter’s concern for boundaries? Give over. Mental health? “Everyone’s got mental ’ealth nowadays!” And as for holidays? Give Smyth a cosy stay in hospital any time.
