Lola Rose Wood
Disclaimer: In the spirit of ‘Think Less, Feel More’, what follows is a stream of consciousness to capture the feeling of watching this show. It is therefore an extended piece to suit this expansive form.
Too many man, too many-many man
Too many man, too many-many man
We need some more girls in here
We need some more girls in here
Skeptah plays to a packed out auditorium, is this a comedy show or a house party from my teenage dreams/nightmares? Both? Neither? I’m confused. So is Duker! Does she hate men or need them? Is she giving up on men forever, or determined to save them from themselves?
I’m a big fan of fingering, personally (both giving and receiving) so Sophie Duker’s opening line doesn’t land with me. Are all stand up comedy shows still all about bad sex? Although her line up of grotesque fingering similes are good enough to make any English teacher cry, I’d hoped comedy had moved past that. I guess a good gag never dies. This is why I don’t like stand up comedy, but I chose to come here – so let’s get into it!
Duker hasn’t dated a man since… 2020 – CONGRATULATIONS! Am I… am I at a stand up show about being bisexual? Now this is what I’d call synchronicity. Finally, a stand up routine I can relate to – I feel seen.
But not for long! After a very funny joke about how everyone hates bisexuals (cri) Duker’s no longer interested in me – because I am a white, bisexual woman I get to fly under the radar, unnoticed, unimplicated. This show is all about The Milky Boizz, her Vanilla Kings. Duker knows who her audience is – straight, white cis men – and manages to make them both the butt of all her jokes and the star of her show.
“1 in 5 men don’t have any close friends. …
Sounds about right.”
It’s deftly done. I almost… feel bad for men? Whilst also LOLing at them? What magic is this? This is stand up comedy that packs a political punch. I wonder if it feels alienating performing to an all white audience as a queer black woman at one of the whitest theatre festivals in the world? Duker takes it comfortably in her stride – she’s a posh black queer woman after all.
Man or bear? Man or bear? Man or bear?
I’m not sure what I’m choosing man or bear for? A picnic? Oral sex? To take in a fight? Oh, another viral meme I’ve managed to miss. Do I live under a rock? I thought I was chronically online. The punchline, however, is clear: there are more positive role models for bears than there are for men. Amen!
It is Duker as an Auntie I’m most touched and taken by – especially her relationship with her nephew. A boy who used to ask for keyboards as birthday presents, now a young man who asks for cash in an envelope. He’s saving up for a car – a totem of modern day masculinity, alongside ‘Beef Milk’ or ‘Full Fat’ as the braver men in the audience offer. Cue the best impression of a man driving a car I’ve ever seen. MILK! When Duker gets physical, she excels.
Duker cirlces back to a seeminly throw-away joke from the begnning of her show about Arkoudaphobia, defined as a persistent fear of bears. She compares this to the definition of Androphobia – a persistent and irrational fear of men. Almost like the definition was written by a man. Duker manages to make us laugh outwardly whilst crying/raging inwardly – this is clever fucking comedy with a stunning narrative arc. Duker is one self-aware and switched on comedian.
Hot Beef Injection mocks a world made for men, whilst tragi-comically still trapped inside one. Be prepared to laugh and rage and maybe also fall in love with Sophie Duker if you haven’t already. When will our knee-jerk response to sexism be “kneeing someone in the nuts until they die” rather than laughing and looking for an exit? I’m not sure. Neither is Duker. But perhaps Paddington Bear holds the answer.
Recommended Drink: A gallon of full fat cow’s milk, ideally chugged then crushed while doing a keg stand.
Catch Sophie Duker: Hot Beef Injection at Forth at Pleasance Courtyard from the 5th to the 30th of August (except 19th & 26th) at 20:30 (70 mins) Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Issy Cory
Isobel Jacob
Esme Davis
