From the mailroom to the boardroom, they used to say about improbable ascents up a company’s ranks. How’s about, from the HR department to the standup stage? That’s the trajectory traced at Netflix by staffer turned comedian Leslie Liao, who appeared on the streamer’s Verified Standup showcase last year while still working in its personnel office. She has since quit, although some deeply felt material here recalls the inanities of office life, and her tendency to cry when sacking people – not a great qualification for an HR role.
So is she better suited to the comedy stage? On this evidence, very much so – even if the Californian arrives in London with a selection of short club sets not yet woven into a coherent hour. There’s a running joke about what the theme of the show is – Liao ventures several unlikely possibilities – serving mainly to highlight that there’s no theme at all, just a collection of routines piled atop one another until the light flashes 60 minutes and Liao leaves the stage.
