Isobel Jacob
Following her multi award-nominated debut show back in 2024, Hannah Platt’s new show Cult Classic shifts the focus from her previous topics of body dysmorphia and mental health to a discussion about fame and Platt’s experiences of it as an up-and-coming comedian. Still in a similarly confessional style, Cult Classic is a genuinely funny and endlessly spontaneous hour of candid and pensive reflections, loosely tied together with an interrogation of cults, cultishness and the true meaning of legacy.
Throughout the show, self-deprecation and a rare honesty is used to quickly establish Platt as an entirely real person, starting from the moment we enter the Attic at Pleasance Courtyard and she helps us to find our seats. Covering threesomes, dying young and unsupervised family computer time, Platt is witty and engaging as she draws the audience in with relatable anecdotes that do well to establish a bemused ‘one of the lads’ persona. She creates hilarious off-the-cuff conversations with individual audience members and utilises a faux innocence that drastically contrast with moments of sudden (and very entertaining) biting bluntness.
Shocking stories of arrogant comedians backstage are intriguing, if not unsurprisingly, and allow Platt to segue efficiently into her comic interrogation of the authenticity of those who have made it to the top. She is wondering if it would be better to aim for a cult following than mainstream international acclaim… but can this only be achieved after she’s already dead?
Platt has us on side throughout, however I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed with the general ordinariness of the stories we got to hear, especially considering Platt’s comment in the show’s opening that “things are going to get a bit fruity”. Hannah Platt is certainly unique in her down-to-earth delivery, and the perspective she brings as a queer Northerner provides no end of hilarity as she hits back at contraception-pill-prescribing doctors and the aforementioned overhyped male comedians, but I would be keen to see her lean more into the outrageous and wacky moments she showed glints of, in the future.
I’ve never seen a stand-up quite like Platt before, and I’m excited to see what she does next.
Recommended Drink: A classic Liverpudlian Cains Brewery ale.
Hannah Platt: Cult Classic is on at Pleasance Courtyard until 30 August at 19:15 (1 hour). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Esme Davis
Hannah Hamilton
