Canadian stand up Zoe Brownstone brings her debut hour show A Bite Of Yours to the Fringe this year, covering dating, how 90s rom-coms made her a hopeless romantic, and inventing jewish sex positions (Brownstone™). Read on to find out what Funny Women thought of the show.
Zoe Brownstone’s self-assured, affable stand up presence makes her incredibly watchable. On stage doing stand up is certainly where she belongs. Brownstone’s style is so conversational and effortless you feel more like you’re having an intimate chat with a close friend rather than watching a comic in a room full of other people (emphasis on full – Brownstone’s final show of the Fringe was sold out).
The show focusses on Brownstone’s hopelessly romantic take on life, which gets her into all sorts of pickles, including uprooting her from her native Toronto to Amsterdam to live with a new love – the best man at her sisters’ wedding – only a couple of months into their long-distance whirlwind romance. Because ‘how romantic a meet-cute is that?!’ Brownstone asks us. We learn quickly that this does not go as planned…
Brownstone’s hopeless romance is nicely undercut by moments of drier humour, filthier punch lines and light touches on heavier topics. Particular highlights include her invention of 5 Jewish sex positions (I will spoil none of these, you’ll have to hear them from her); references to her line of work before comedy (let’s just say it rhymes with shmarcotics); and how she learnt about love from 90s rom coms and her parents – they met butting heads both trying to snort the same line of coke. The sprinkling of these references brings balance to the show, nicely summarised in Brownstone’s description of her life in London: a hopeful optimist who ‘loves London’ because it’s ‘broken, [just like her]’.
Despite the twists and turns of Brownstone’s romances, she’s never left jaded or bitter, and this translates to the show itself; you leave on a high, dare I say, an optimist yourself. Brownstone’s debut hour left me excited to see what’s next for the comic.
Brownstone has now finished this year’s Fringe run, but you can catch her next on Wednesday 18th September @ 9:00 pm at The Camden Head, Angel. You can grab more info here.
