At the risk of becoming a curmudgeonly oldie, I can’t help but notice that a fair bit of stand-up comedy these days is loud, aggressive and confrontational, and therefore, in my book, not very funny. Thank goodness, then, for Amy Mason, who delivers her comedy set using a microphone in the way (one would think!) it ought to be used – to speak at normal conversational volume, letting the microphone do the work of amplification. It’s remarkable how many on the comedy circuit these days seem to have forgotten that they do not need to yell at the audience.
Occasionally, someone will reveal on social media what table number they have at a branch of Wetherspoons, inviting people to buy drinks for their table if they are so inclined. It sometimes results in the staff pausing orders for that table if there are an excessive number of orders going through and other customers waiting to be served. And in other cases, sometimes people realise the hard way that they’re not as popular as they thought they were. While Mason was the recipient of gifts, they weren’t things she asked for. They were certainly not the sort of things she would ask for on social media for a laugh.
Mason’s storytelling style is engaging, if somewhat deadpan. The comic timing is exquisite, and she puts the audience at ease with her unpretentiousness. Unexpected gifts, especially ones that because of their very nature can’t exactly be stuffed into a recycling bin, are the centrepiece of a wide-ranging story about how she got to where she is now, encompassing everything from somehow managing to reach the threshold for a personal visit from the NHS to super cheap tradesmen who turn out not to be quite so dodgy after all. If you want to know what the gifts are, she’s brought them to the Fringe, so feel free to find out directly. She might even let you hold them. A facetious and fascinating comedy hour.
Review by Chris Omaweng
When Amy Mason got hacked, she lost her number, bank account and social media access. And then the hackers started sending her gifts. Behold!, directed by Jessica Fostekew, is the unmissable new show about connection in all its forms, finding sex toys in your porch and the perfect reminder not to use your dead cat’s name as your password.
AMY MASON: BEHOLD!
Pleasance Courtyard (Baby Grand) at the Edinburgh Fringe
30 July to 25 August (not 13 August) 2025
