Jo Caulfield Goes To Hell

Funny stuff, but if you've seen a lot of stand-up this year, you'll find nothing new here to reignite the fire of your first week at the Fringe

Review by Adam Knight | 18 Aug 2007
Jo Caulfield is one of the comedy-panel-gameshow-friendly comedians recently embraced by the mainstream of British television. Alongside Frankie Boyle and co., her brand of sweary observational comedy tinged with light political commentary is now very much in vogue. After spending the majority of her career playing tiny venues or hidden behind the scenes, writing for other comedians including Graham Norton, she takes to the stage this year in the ridiculously grand Assembly Ballroom.

There are a lot of things in this world that piss off the woman. The premise of her show basically involves answering the question, "if you could send anyone or anything straight to hell, who or what would it be." An intriguing thought, but it feels like a tarted-up version of the same basic template used by the majority of stand-ups. Nevertheless, Caulfield is perfectly proficient in extracting a giggle from her audience, if not through the use of unpredictable punches but rather a selection of annoyingly familiar stories. These are, however, punctuated with liberal use of the word "fuck" and some killer bitchy one-liners.

If you've seen a lot of stand-up this year, you'll find nothing new here to reignite the fire of your first week at the Fringe. If you don't mind your comedy a little less edgy, but delivered by one of the more engaging personalities on our poor deprived televisions, then Caulfield will provide you with her masterclass in pedestrian yet immaculately presented comedy.