Breaking Black by Njambi McGrath

Njambi McGrath is something of a rough diamond, though you would hesitate to describe her as such, with the precious gems one of the most obvious resources plundered from Africa by the West. Unpolished and lacking much of the basic stagecraft to engage an audience effectively, McGrath nevertheless has a compelling, rarely heard perspective within UK comedy – that of a Kenyan-born woman, standing up and extolling the benefits of immigration into this country, while shaming it with the racism she's experienced.

Opening with a routine about female genital mutilation makes for a difficult listen, the wry, humorous intent almost suffocated by the attendant squirming. Still, it's part of a piece that challenges the media's focus on negative stories about Africa. Suggesting it harms the continent's “brand”, she can point to the well-intentioned but patronising consequences it's brought to relations with her London neighbours. Persuasive on why immigrants are unlikely to try to undermine the British way of life, she's witty too about the foreign arrivals who want to pull up the rope ladder with their support for Brexit.

Compromised by a delivery that veers unpredictably between impassioned and dryly sardonic, she rarely delves beyond the most superficial analysis of wider social issues and is stronger with personal anecdote, delivering a shocking account of police collusion in racially-motivated exploitation. Fitfully amusing and occasionally insightful, Breaking Black would benefit from some judicious editing. But there are some decent lines in there if you strain to hear them.