Eva Peroni @ Gilded Balloon Teviot
Jungled is a cheeky first hour from Livingston’s own Eva Peroni
Eva Peroni's debut hour Jungled charts a transformation from teenage tearaway to stand-up, by way of a life-changing couple of years in Costa Rica. Sent to a wholesome college in Central America after leaving school at 16, the show is part queer coming-of-age, part fish-out-of-water adventure.
It does have the air of a club comic who’s honed their wares in ten-minute chunks (the quips about looking like a Victorian child and Costa Rican postcodes certainly do), all sewn together loosely but on theme. Sure there’s a couple of naff gags here and there, and a running callback where Peroni wails into a microphone which, by the third time, does grate a little, but by and large, this is a well-paced, funny debut carried by the comic’s cheeky charm.
Where the hour really comes alive is when Peroni channels a more boisterous energy. There’s extra electricity when she gives it some aggression, a crackle of danger, a bit ‘in yer face’. It’s present in the likes of Rosco McClelland, someone she’s no doubt spent hours watching on the circuit, as well as the West Coast wideness of Christopher Macarthur-Boyd. It’s a kind of low-key swagger which gives an onstage assuredness. As a result, it affords Peroni more bite and politics in her material than your average debuting stand-up.
Jungled is well worth your time, especially to catch such a confident, likeable stand-up at this stage in their career. With even more experience under her belt (both on stage and in life), Peroni will soon be an unmissable figure on the comedy scene and at the Fringe.
Eva Peroni: Jungled, Gilded Balloon Teviot (Nook), until 30 Aug (not 17), 4.40pm, £13-15