Amy Annette – Thick Skin ★★★★

Comedian, TV producer, script editor and podcast host, Amy Annette has been coming to the Edinburgh Fringe since 2010 – first as a flyer-er, before graduating to producing and directing comedy shows for other artists – Aisling Bea and Tessa Coates counting amongst them. However, Thick Skin sees her taking to the stage in her festival stand up debut, an examination of navigating teen years in the 1990s and the repercussions this has for adulthood and being a woman in the 21^st century.

From the outset, Annette engages the audience and carries them with her on her comedic journey. An interactive sequence on her love for bread, even though she is gluten intolerant, might not sound that funny on paper, yet generated repeated laughs. Reminiscences about childhood friendship groups, teen girl magazines and millennial adolescent fashion choices also really hit the mark. Annette also deftly handles with great aplomb more sober themes, such the seemingly arbitrary and inappropriate classification female body types by the likes of noughties fashionistas Trinny and Susannah, delivering some knock-out punchlines in the process. A secret stash of props that regularly punctuate the performance also generated much hilarity (you will have to see the show!).

Such is the structure and flow of her set, it’s difficult to believe this is her debut stand-up performance on the Fringe, as she exudes a presence and confidence in front of the mic that suggests she has been doing this for years. Her gentle audience interaction really drives the hour, and whilst routed in nostalgia, it also allows serious themes such as the ongoing impact of adolescent influences and body image to be deftly explored. In all, an accomplished performance that leaves the audience contemplating as well as chortling, delivered (to draw on her bread theme again) by a comedic iron fist wrapped in a brioche glove.