Becky Lucas’ Baby: The Girl Next Door Has A Wicked Quip
The Wild Oats Wine Bar just off the Enmore Theatre buzzes with excitement as we walk into the cramped, dimly lit setting. There’s a sense of communal superiority in the air. Why? Because Becky Lucas is a comedy gem still emerging onto the national scene and we are some of the few who’ve figured it out early.
Lucas at first comes across as the classic girl next door – not overdressed, not over-energised (in the vein of the stereotypical comedian-on-crack), she delivers her show in a centred and conversational manner. Her humour is as sly as it is crass, and once you get the angle, strap in for a great night. Her style is pleasantly surprising in that it feels as though you’ve reached an amusing but thoroughly mediocre punch line; and then she delivers. One phrase, maybe just two words. A smart quip at the end of the jokes often turns the bit from an amusing anecdote, to a hilariously embarrassing moment.
It’s often easy to tell which bits in her material are more practiced, and occasionally she uses them as a steadier if she starts to stray off the pace. However, Lucas is also not afraid to go off script, chatting with her audience and involving them in the jokes more personally. Baby is a refreshingly sincere comedy show unlike a lot of material currently doing the rounds on the comedy circuit. She digresses to talk about life philosophy and her status as a ‘lazy feminist’ at times, but always twists it back around to a laugh at the end.
While a little rough around the edges, the show is thought provoking while not in your face. As she self-deprecatingly bemoans the fact she only gets cat-called before the tradies have had their morning choccy milk (despite her assertion that she’s a ‘strong 7’), you can’t help but be charmed by the strangely compelling honesty in Lucas’ deliver. And while she jokes that she only discusses the abortion she had to avoid having to go to a feminist rally, you get the feeling that she has put her heart and soul into her show.
There’s something for everyone in a Becky Lucas show and we would agree with the line she left us on, that not only is the show named after the baby she never had, but Baby could also stand for Becky Always Back Yourself – words to live by for this young comedian going places.