Becky Lucas: Baby

11 March 2016 | 3:50 pm | Madeleine Laing

"There's some great images, like of young dudes looking 'like seven hams in a singlet' and dark takes on bad relationships."

Brisbane (well, recently relocated to Sydney) comic Becky Lucas starts out this set admitting that her show's still in trial stages and not fully polished yet — which goes a long way to explaining the slightly scattered first half. The jokes are definitely landing; it just often feels like she's trying to make some greater points that don't quite come across yet. This is slightly frustrating, but after a while it's easy to just take the laughs and barbed descriptions of the (often shit) stuff that's happened in her life so far. The name Baby references a story late in the set, but this hour doesn't really have a unifying theme. However, her dry anecdotes are consistently funny and relatable for the mostly young audience.

Lucas is really at her best when she gets mean and personal — there's some great images, like of young dudes looking "like seven hams in a singlet" and dark takes on bad relationships. It would be great to see her go even darker in later revisions of the show; there's moments where she describes a person, situation or feeling (especially the generalised despair of adulthood) so accurately you can't help laughing in painful recognition. While this show will definitely get better and better, it's also cool to see the quick mind of a promising young comic working out what flies and what doesn't in front of a festival crowd.