Maisie Adam starts her show Appraisal by asking fans about their jobs. At one point last night she encountered Max, who works in television. Her eyes lit up, as if she might be about to land her big break. She was being disingenuous. Adam already has a CV full of TV, from Live At The Apollo to The Royal Variety Performance. I doubt if she could fit another job in right now.
Her set moved smoothly from skilful crowdwork to polished material in which the Yorkshire-born stand-up took stock of her life, hence the title. It is a simple but effective peg that offers plenty of scope for a winning evening of punchy, relatable, occasionally self-mocking stories.
And life has been pretty good for Adam lately. She got married last year, but had barely put the ring on when everyone was asking when she was going to get pregnant. This prompted a deft riff on motherhood. What's the deal with always mentioning the weight of babies? Why do mums insist on sending endless unsolicited pictures?
There is nothing negative or cynical here, just an honest down-to-earth streak that runs through her chatty performance, whether discussing Swedish audiences' fixations on facts, her chosen method of contraception or her dislike of whatsapp groups, particularly hen do groups, which enable you to “loathe people even before you’ve met them.”
Adam turned 30 recently and has started noticing changes in her parents. When did dad stop being the font of all wisdom and start struggling with pronouns. Her contemporaries, by contrast, are as childish as ever, despite climbing career ladders. How did her old schoolfriend become Head of Strategy when she has never done anything strategic in her life?
Each anecdote is delivered in an easy conversational manner, whether explaining why nothing will make her go swimming in the sea near her Brighton home, or describing, in a more subtly serious segment, how she protects herself from potential danger when walking home late at night.
The stand-out routine in a show overflowing with stand-out routines is an account of an appearance on a quiz where she inadvertently chose the wrong specialist subject. No amount of speed-reading Wikipedia while having her make-up done was going to save her blushes.
But at least she got a huge laugh out of it. In fact Adam could probably get a huge laugh out of anything. She is a complete comedy natural, currently at the top of her game. If her show was a real employment appraisal the only conclusion anybody could come up with would be that there is very little room for improvement.
