Amanda Dwyer @ The Stand

Amanda Dwyer is just a girl. A girl who goes to a spin class in Govan, hoping to build enough strength to crush a man’s skull (if the opportunity ever presents itself). That’s the kind of disarming, darkly funny honesty that defines I Did Something Bad, a show that blends Dwyer’s dry wit, raw vulnerability, and oddly nuanced connections to Taylor Swift’s discography. 

She’s not a stand-up so much as a sit-down (literally and figuratively). Fanning herself with a paper fan that reads “It’s fucking hot,” Dwyer speaks with a coolness that masks the weight of what she’s really saying: personal stories of sexual assault, miscarriage, medical trauma, and the deeply human need to understand one’s experiences, all while reminding us she is, first and foremost, a Swiftie.

Dwyer’s recounting of medical experiences, from horrid coil removals to a “vagina vacuum” (yes, it exists and it will hurt you), is both horrifying and hilarious. Her storytelling is intentionally unstreamlined, punchlines dropping like comments from your funniest cousin at a funeral. Yet, there’s a sharpness beneath the chaos. A deep sense of rage, of care, of trauma that is still healing. 

There are moments of incredible emotional depth – particularly in her interactions with the audience. She regularly checks in, and it’s clear that she only feels comfortable enough to share when the room feels comfortable with her. That care builds an unmistakable sense of camaraderie in the room. You’re not just watching a show. You are being trusted with something real.

Despite the bleakness of her material, I Did Something Bad never feels heavy-handed. It’s cathartic. It’s the kind of show where you laugh, wince, and be left thinking about a healthcare system in which a woman can be left to bleed for six weeks post-miscarriage while having to work a minimum wage job, and laugh again. 

I Did Something Bad is deeply affecting, and proof that laughter doesn’t diminish pain, it makes surviving it possible.

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Amanda Dwyer: I Did Something Bad, The Stand (Stand 4), until 14 Aug, 3pm, £10