Katy Berry: Diamond Goddess Crystal Pussy ★★★★

Most comedy shows on the Edinburgh Fringe stick to the traditional format where a comedian delivers a series of observations or gags, possibly linked to an overarching theme. Some shows, however, tread a much less usual path, adopting a fantastic – in the truest sense of the word – approach to making folk laugh. Katy Berry’s Diamond Goddess Crystal Pussy, most certainly falls into the latter category.

Originally one of the stars of the Baby Wants Candy improvised musical comedy, Berry’s debut solo Edinburgh show recounts how she discovers late in life that she’s product of a secret, one-night-stand between her mother and Poseidon, god of the sea. Realising she is a Demi-Goddess, Berry reclaims her repressed magic from being raised a “mortal” on Long Island, and uses this to take the audience on a journey of self-discovery.

The show is focussed on life stories from three different phases of Berry’s journey to find herself, including disastrously mooning to make her 12-year-old friends laugh at a slumber party, becoming a groupie to meet her favourite teenage band, and leaving college to move to California to live with an alcoholic older man with mental health issues. Whilst on paper these might not seem like laugh-out-loud scenarios, Berry’s excellent comedic storytelling skills and cookie delivery certainly had the audience chortling.

With a great singing voice Berry also uses musical comedy and interaction to great effect to help audience members to “unleash everyone’s inner Goddess”. Asking audiences members to write down their guilty pleasures, she masterfully freestyles lyrics around these to a thumping rap tune, and later in the show, quizzes folk about what they aspire to, only for the answers to be instantly incorporated in the lyrics of a catchy show tune. Highly talented, as much as it was amusing.

Concluding with a revelation as to how Berry found her true calling in life, Diamond Goddess Crystal Pussy is a quirky show that comes from the heart, pulls on the laughter strings and leaves you feeling that much better about yourself.