Anne Edmonds In My Banjo's Name Is Stephen

Standup comedy is a handy way to exorcise a history of humiliations, but it only works for the audience too if they can believe these actually affected the comedian. Anne Edmonds makes such a self-assured Fringe debut in My Banjo’s Name Is Stephen that you frequently can’t. 

Through anecdotes of upsets on nightclub loos and comedy club stages, the Aussie appears unfazeable. Perhaps it’s due to the bombastic eagerness with which she recounts her supposed embarrassments. Each is transformed into an upbeat song accompanied by a keyboardist and some musical theatre mannerisms. Jazz hands and body-rolls make being stranded in traffic in a cheap swimsuit seem significantly less unwelcome. And despite initially swearing to never repeat her first live comedy attempt, Edmonds recreates ‘Jimbo the Possum’ with a willingness that’s more weird than winning.

Indeed the 33 year-old has developed some impressive eccentricities that serve as the hour’s highlights. The Stephen of the show’s title is the subject of some pleasingly filthy gags for a lunchtime slot. And an abridged one-woman-show she performs based on schmaltzy Australian drama series McLeod’s Daughters is delightfully mad. 

Edmonds certainly has confidence enough to indulge her oddities more, something she should definitely consider if she's to realise her potential. She lacks the vulnerability to make self-deprecating standup convincing and, while her topics are original - hardboiled netball players, corporately sponsored holidays and rural Australian life - her approach could be more so.