Shelley Cooper

The show has some genuine laugh out loud moments but it feels patchy in places, in need of polishing

Review by Ioana Poprowka | 12 Aug 2007

It’s inevitable, if slightly disappointing, that a transexual doing stand up will devote a sizeable chunk of the material to their gender, as if without an explanation the audience would spend the whole show wondering why they hadn't mentioned it. That said, there is a refreshing candour in the way Cooper discusses her sexuality, putting it out in the open early on in the show, and daring the audience to be shocked by it. Sadly, some of her tranny jokes misfire slightly, playing up to tired old stereotypes of how a transsexual should behave. But, she is self-aware enough to admit this, alluding after one gag to her waning popularity within the trans community.

The show has some genuine laugh out loud moments but it feels patchy in places, in need of polishing. Cooper fidgets endlessly, pacing the stage and playing with the mic stand, which is all terribly distracting.

The most awkward moments arise when she interacts with the audience, though not in the way one might expect: mistakenly beiieving one audience member to be gay she is endlessly apologetic, treating the slip as an insult. Which rather misses the point of the whole show.