Calculated Chaos: The Wonderful World(s) of Harriet Dyer

Seeing a Harriet Dyer show, you’re likely to leave using words such as weird, bizarre and, most importantly, chaos.

You might think it’s a perfectly calculated stage persona, but seconds into our chat, we’re flying into oddities with tangent after tangent veering in every direction. Before long, Dyer’s recounting a dog she saw frightening itself with its own bark or telling the story of a storm that threatened to permanently separate Cornwall from the rest of the UK, proving that on and off stage, the comic has a unique, energetic mind.

Dyer’s meandering anecdotes beautifully encompass the spirit of her latest tour, Easily Distra…, which dashes from idea to idea with a compelling mania. “My previous shows have been story-oriented, all revolving around a certain mental event in my life, but this one feels much more ‘classic gags’.”

As naturally tangential as Dyer is, the comic never lets that undermine her material, quipping “I did a big show at the Apollo recently and had another comedian come up to me, complimenting the act, saying how amazing it was that it all came to me in that moment, as if it spurted out randomly. It is planned! I swear there’s a routine! I've written proper jokes, or at least, my version of proper jokes!”

If anything, it’s an absolute testament to Dyer’s comedy that her honed material has the same energy and hit power as her natural outbursts. “I couldn’t do a carbon copy of a show if I tried,” she confesses. “I’m always enjoying the moment and catching myself focusing on random things. The other day in Bath I had a nice sandwich, and I just kept talking about that sandwich. Or, a few nights ago the venue was full of moths, and I just couldn’t believe all the moths. Everywhere you looked, moths,” she reminisces, before conceding “they must have heard all the jokes about them, because they’d all left after the interval!”

Amongst the madness and chaos, what shines through is Dyer’s crystalline and unique comedic voice. The innately physical delivery that floods her set only elevates each absurd punchline and fortifies the walls around the world she creates. What you get with a Harriet Dyer gig is “a rambling, whimsical journey of daftness,” which promises to be pure and simple fun.

Although this show steps away from her previous story-oriented shows, Dyer is quick to acknowledge that she has always had an affinity with stories, citing novels as the catalyst for her stand-up obsession. “I was a terrible student, just awful, but we had a creative writing competition – it was the only thing I could do. I won every week, a new story each time, to the extent that they would say, ‘right we’ll ignore Harriet this time’, to give someone else a chance. Looking back, they were all weird fucking stories, so not much has changed.”

Dyer then spirals off deeper into her writing origin, claiming, “I was really constipated once so my dad put me in the bath with a bunch of books and just told me to read and read until my constipation went away. I guess that’s where it started, just reading in the bath, trying to shit, but turning all the characters into little games and making up worlds for myself.”

Dyer enthusiastically talks about how important reading is, mentioning recent conversations with her nephews and nieces, recounting the urgency in which she encourages them to read and how she has sustained a career because of it. She speaks about stories with a feverish glee, quickly pointing to the music of Slick Rick and The Streets and how their lyricism centers around characters and events, before catching herself and reiterating with a cheeky, bashful grin. “I say all this, but I’ll remind you, none of this is really relevant to my new show.”

Whatever the influence and whatever the structure, Dyer is a delight. There is nobody else pairing quite the same delicious sense of playful comedy with her unbridled love for live performance. “My favourite part isn’t the writing or the performing, it’s the bit in the middle that pulls on both, it’s constantly tinkering and working the room.”

No comic on the circuit so effortlessly weaves the spontaneous and the sculpted like Dyer, and her new show is no exception.

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Harriet Dyer: Easily Distra..., Monkey Barrel Comedy, Edinburgh, 22 Nov, 7.30pm, £16
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