Press

Thanks heavens for Joanna Neary whose skewed clowning is gloriously different. Frizzy haired and porcelain cheeked, her forte is superbly off-kilter sketches. One moment she is a sublimely funny Bjork, the next she is a netured cat sporting a boater and a stoic grin. An immaculate Brief Encounters parody encapsulates a lost age of repressed passion, snobbery and lumpy marmalade. Two skits shunt her onto the must-see list. The Billie Holiday-ish dissection of sexual metaphors in jazz is breathtakingly convincing, while her showstopper is the Pan’s People-esque interpretation of the suicidal lyrics in Harry Nilsson’s Without You.

This snappy series of monologues and songs has a character of its own. And the closing routine, in which Neary dresses in white to give an over literal, Pan’s People-style interpretation of Harry Nilsson’s Without You, may just be the funniest thing in Edinburgh.

Joanna Neary also has a huge amount of quirk-appeal. She’s been likened to Joyce Grenfell, and again, as with Long, there’s a goodness and a goofiness about this elfin entertainer that’s utterly enchanting. Her idea of crossing Celia Johnson’s character from Brief Encounter with a contemporary (trapped) housewife – relaying her diary’s 1940s-styled entries to us throughout the show – is so inspired, and beautifully executed, it deserves its own Radio 4 series.

A potential winner of this year’s Just Give Her a TV Series and Have Done With It Award, Joanna Neary skips through a whole village of original characters, as well as demonstrating her interpretive dancing, belting out songs, reading out extracts from her teenage diary, and doing impressions (including a dated but wonderful one of Björk pondering the housing market). If someone did give her a TV series, they wouldn’t need to hire any other performers. What’s most striking is the contrast between the big-grinned scatty sweetness she has when she’s being herself, and the surgical precision with which she skewers her characters’ foibles when she’s acting. Imagine French and Saunders, but better.

A performer who is one of the most naturally funny stand-ups around.

For character comedy that is glorious fun with no underlying point whatsoever, Joanna Neary’s Little Moments would be hard to better. Neary is a fiercely gifted actor and her short monologues are peppered with clever songs and silly dances. The real joy here is the character based on Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter, a pitch-perfect impersonation taken to its logical conclusion. This is a show that leaves you with a huge smile and a renewed sense of delight in daftness.

It took less than ten seconds to begin smiling, less than thirty to begin laughing, and within a minute of the show, it was difficult not to fall in love with Joanna Neary – such endearing comedy does not come by often. With astounding ease and amazing grace, the Brighton-based comedienne led a character-based song and dance show that made every single joke and gag work, even when they didn’t, melting the usual tension that Fringe comedy shows can carry with them. Truly a triumph of British humour, this is a show that could be enjoyed by anyone who values candour and a good Bjork impression.

Neary is a character actress par excellence; not only are her characters well observed and immaculately performed, but they are well written and, most importantly, funny.