Mrs Barbara Nice Housewife Superstar 'Hiya and Higher'

Review by Collette Cullen | 21 Mar 2012

The Stand is an intimate venue at the best of times, but introduce a few empty chairs and an enthusiastic staff member urging people into the front seats and you've got a skeptical audience on your hands.

Cue Mrs Barbara Nice. Bustling her way through the crowd with her charity shop anorak and bag for life to a chorus of 'Eye of the Tiger' she cuts the music and asks us all to pick out someone to wave at.

Is she serious? Little do we know she will take us on one by one until we are awkwardly assigned a waving-partner. What have I let myself in for?An evening of full-on audience participation, old school party games and a cheesy sing-a-long is what. And I love every minute of it.

Don't let this mother-of-five from Stockport fool you. She is a shrewd cookie who can get a Glaswegian out of their seat, wrapped up in wool and playing musical statues on a dreary Monday evening.

Female comedians often try to out-cuss and out-crude their male counterparts, but by avoiding the cheap laughs Barbara manages to come up with something worthwhile: a connection that gets you following her up the stairs and onto Woodlands Road for the grand-finale.

Hard graft made look 'piggin' easy!

Read ourĀ interview with Mrs Barbara Nice

The Stand, March 19 as part of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival http://www.mrsbarbaranice.co.uk/