EdFringe Review: Amy Mason: Behold!

So, what is Amy Mason asking us to ‘Behold!’?

Well, first of all, a mysterious box of sex toys. Who sent them? Why are they bidirectional?

Having been hacked, and currently without a phone number, bank account or social media, she struggles to investigate. Making matters worse, loss of access to her apps has meant her medication cabinet has run dry.

The last time she went without, she ended up making some alarming, but admittedly hilarious, life choices.

Simultaneously, she finds herself without any doors in her house, and strongly suspects theft.

It’s time to send a message to the doctor’s surgery. What a message! You don’t see many comics get their phones out on stage, but when Mason does, strap in for the laughs. If anyone in the audience thinks she’s making it up, she’s come with the time-stamped receipts!

Suffice it to say, things do not improve from there.

Mason has a wonderfully deadpan, though not dead, delivery. She’s just as amused and bemused by the things she does, and which happen to her, as the audience. She also comes armed with the best cat/dog gag I have heard in years – it is, so far as I’m concerned, comedy perfection.

“It’s time to send a message to the doctor’s surgery. What a message! You don’t see many comics get their phones out on stage, but when Mason does, strap in for the laughs.“

She has much more than that, of course, including a superb bird-themed take on the Bristol school-run, some superbly warm observations on community via Facebook groups, amazing lowlights in her LGBTQI+ dating history, finding porn when you’ve family locked your computer, and even a little physical comedy. Lots of comedians harvest dealings with their kids for laughs, but very few mention Emily Dickinson. Mason gets big laughs from both.

‘Behold!’ is a masterfully paced, well-constructed, and deceptively tight set even if I’m not convinced it ends purposefully enough, given the number of loose ends. Otherwise, I have no criticism of ‘Behold!’ which held up to the ultimate test. Reader, I related said cat/dog joke to Mrs. QR once I returned home. She not only laughed, she cried.

Behold!