Ania Magliano's new standup show, Peach Fuzz, now playing at London's Soho Theatre, delivers a finely tuned set of jokes about her quest to live a more embodied life. The 28-year-old comedian, who co-hosts Saturday Night Live UK's Weekend Update, brings her TV fame to the stage with a show that explores alienation from her own body and its experiences.
A Comedian's Journey to Embodiment
Magliano looks longingly at other cultures, which she perceives as more corporeal than the UK's. She questions whether there are any bodily sensations worth savouring in Britain. One obvious answer involves sex, but Magliano is already in therapy for her ambivalence about that. This is illustrated by a marvellously British routine about an online sex influencer claiming to have 27 consecutive orgasms.
In another scene, prompted by her counsellor, Magliano communes with her own genitals via a hand-mirror, a moment that humorously echoes Descartes' mind-body problem. The show sits at an enjoyable point between thoughtful, meaningful, and delightfully daft.
Detours and Callbacks
Magliano takes detours into the relative virtues of Barbie and Sylvanian Families, and her penchant for 'indoor boyfriends' as a bisexual woman. The set includes choice gags, such as one about the evolutionary advantage of having big labia. Deftly deployed callbacks, a hallmark of finely honed standup, punctuate the performance.
A closing set-piece brings loose ends together in a sensory deprivation tank, where Magliano learns shareable lessons about what the body is for and why we should celebrate it. According to the review, this full-bodied comedy show is a cracker, proving that TV fame has not diminished her live work.
Peach Fuzz runs at Soho Theatre, London, until 4 July, then at Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, from 7-22 August, and tours until 7 May.
