Given how often comics joke about getting old – all those grumpy gags about young people and the confusing nature of modern living – it’s surprising how seldom one encounters meaningful consideration of the midlife crisis in standup. Or so I found myself thinking midway through Zoe Lyons’ touring show Bald Ambition. Lyons’ show isn’t perfect: the first half is partly throat-clearing before the main event, and sometimes her depiction of existential drift aged 50 tends towards the sitcom. But there are also vivid jokes and set-pieces here, in an account of hitting the (just past) halfway stage of life that’s distinguished by emotional honesty as well as good humour.
Most of that comes after the interval, when the show is strongest. Act One roams across Covid, an accident Lyons had while skiing, and her supposedly faltering career – which tees up a risky running joke about how little she wants to be here. It culminates with our host becoming the public face of alopecia after losing her hair to stress – prompted, she says, by midlife angst, among other things.
