It’s when Erika Ehler brings up a picture of a man with a rat shaved into his chest hair on the big screen that the audience really understands what she’s about.
Femcel, a candid and, frankly, filthy hour detailing Erika’s travails through dating offensively meh guys, is a triumph in both composition and giving deep insight into the workings of a woman who is genuinely worried she might have “been written by a man on 4chan”. Femcel — a play on “incel”, the word for virgin nerds who hate women — means a woman who can’t get a relationship. Unlike incels though, Erika isn’t short on sexual exploits to talk about.
From “rat chest” to being ghosted by someone who lives in a basement (it’s his existence below sea level that stings the most), Erika has really been through it. It seems as though a good proportion of this is down to her own choices, but give the woman a break, it’s hard out there when your options are boys who sound like: “please sir, can I have a bit more coochie?”
A video from her 12-year-old self is an inspired addition. She uses visual aids just the right amount — not too much to overwhelm her material, but enough that every bit is juicy, in particular an intense voicenote on a dating app from a guy who gives more than she bargained for in answer to the question: which character from the movie A Bug’s Life would you fuck?
She revels in a kind of low-key contempt for the audience, which only stands to make us want her approval even more — this one contained a high quotient of young comedy fans; lucky, because olds are not welcome. She delights in the little reminders that she is younger (and better) than most of us, backed up by the fact that she can’t remember 9/11…
Erika is sparklingly scathing from start to finish. She’s an expert at showing us the Erika she wants us to see and nothing else: a woman who thinks she should be allowed to get a package deal of Brazilian butt lift and lobotomy on the NHS.
★★★★
Erika Ehler: Femcel is at Monkey Barrel, Carnivore at 21:40 until 28th August. For tickets visit EdFringe.com
