Camilla Cleese never mentions her dad John by name in her third of American...ish, a three-way stand-up treat on offer at the Gilded Balloon this summer, but we know who he is - and she knows we know who he is.
She pokes fun at his relationships past ("My parents have been married for 42 years... to seven different people") and present ("We have a new child in the family... my new stepmother"), but no matter how hard she goes in on Jennifer Wade, a Daily Mail-baiting 32-years John's junior, it's clear that no malice is intended. Being mean, she explains, is how the Cleeses show affection. When they start being nice, that's when you need to worry.
Generally she is hilarious, and easily has the funniest gags of the three comics on offer in this show. Where she falls down a tiny bit is in her delivery: at times she appears slightly uneasy, and she transitions between 'bits' a little too nervously for her set to be truly seamless. But she has no reason to be nervous: she's a naturally gifted comedian, and hopefully in time she'll gain more confidence and really start to flourish. Her jokes about height, from her 6ft+ self to renowned short dictators, are great; and when they do veer towards bad taste, her general on-stage "persona" frames them in a way that keeps the audience laughing rather than shuffling uncomfortably.
L-R: Cleese, McCown and Tiana (Photo: PR)
And shuffle uncomfortably is what they do (or at least did during the performance we saw) during some of the next act's less politically correct moments. Cort McCown has far more confidence in owning the stage than Cleese, but his gags test the audience a little more - whether it's about gender, nationality or physically punishing children, he's got some amusing observations but the relatively quiet audience we watched with weren't too sure how to respond. He did have a fantastic bit about airlines, though, and he is a naturally funny performer who can plough on confidently regardless of how quiet his spectators are.
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Sarah Tiana finishes the night, chatting us through her southern roots, her love life, her need for men to be traditionally 'manly' and her strong dislike for anal sex. Like McCown, she is naturally funny, and could probably raise a chuckle just from reading out a passage of the phone book; but again, we were sat with a relatively quiet and conservative audience (many of whom were probably Fawlty Towers and/or Monty Python fans) who weren't quite on board with some of the dirtier stuff. Give her a more responsive audience at a later timeslot and she'd probably soar.
Generally funny stuff all round from American...ish, then - all three comedians are competent and know their way around a punchline, but be ready to have your PC sensibilities tested.
3/5
American...ish plays at the Gilded Balloon until August 13 at 20:15.
