Reviews
Ever found yourself in hysterics over some of the more ridiculous elements of daily life. Well Friday night at The Tivoli was the occasion when you could lose all those inhibitions about laughing at ourselves and what happens when we meet those middle aged years.
I'm not sure that reaching her forties has tamed Jenny Eclair, she is still hardly subtle and her vocabulary still as rich as ever. But is she Funny! Never quite accepted by the Radio 4 Just a Minute devotees, with a routine that is definitely not for the over 18s you either love her or hate her. Well I loved her. The Middle Aged Bimbo show sees Jenny now aged 42 coming to terms with the horrors of growing old - in her case disgracefully.
And we find ourselves laughing with her, as so many of the scenarios are so familiar. She compares herself to maturing fine cheese - which she reckons means she is turning into Stilton complete with blue veins. Her 40th birthday presents included shortbread and an appointment for a mammogram, while her new definition of being double jointed was having her two original hips.
Birthday celebrations saw her going out with a group of girls, who'd drunk so much that they believed that they looked like a Roxy Music album cover coming to life. We had no trouble getting in to the club as the bouncers thought we were Manchester United in drag, she joked.
Hitting the 40s has done nothing to sap Jenny's boundless energy as she drapes herself across the stage rarely pausing to sit during the hour long performance. Describing herself as hot flush Barbie, Jenny admits she's learning alot while dealing with the growing up process. Makeup just makes her face look 10 years younger than your neck and when it comes to giving dinner parties she now asks why?
There's also a softer side as we hear about her partner and teenage daughter, who she is always embarassing. Why did they sound so familiar to we mums? And I loved her description of when she and her partner in his 50s walked holding hands - at our age it looks as if one of us had Alzheimer's.
Supporting Jenny for the first time was excellent standup comedian Russell Howard from Bristol who responded hilariously to anyone brave enough to heckle. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, well worth the journey many of the audience had made from outside the area to Wimborne to see the award winning comedienne.