Comedy Review: Gina Yashere 'Laughing To America' - Udderbelly Festival, London ✭✭✭✭

Gina Yashere

Laughing to America 

Udderbelly Festival, London

Review by Christina Benneworth 

Sat in a freezing cold upside down purple cow, doesn’t sound very appealing. But sat in a freezing cold purple cow listening to the comedy genius of Gina Yashere, definitely does sound more appealing. Gina Yashere managed to distract you from how cold it was, by simply making you laugh.

Yashere has this incredibly ability to bounce off her audience, getting to know the front row in particular. Her first opening story was about her doing a gig on a gay cruise and wanting to investigate the ‘dick deck’: “I was shocked and disgusted for the whole seven hours I was up there.”

It was clear that some of the material was unrehearsed, but this wasn’t a bad thing, it shows how clever and funny Yashere actually is. With her clearly planned jokes they were very cliché, with the same old jokes about the Olympics and rap music, very funny, but nothing new. Yashere wasn’t scared though to touch on some of the current events happening in London, touching on the events in Woolwich, describing it as “crazy people chopping people up in the street”.

She also touched on some more personal topics, stories about her OCD in hotels where she travels with her own bedding and touches nothing. And how most Americans are stupid as they don’t know there are black people living in the UK, so they think she is an Aborigine from Australia. Also she talks about her gambling addiction she had a few years back, commenting on her addictive personality enforcing it with the fact that she ate a Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut bar every day for seven years.

The show finished nearly 30 minutes late, clearly showing that Yashere is not only addicted to laughing herself, but making others laugh too. It’s great to have her back in London, a fun evening full of laughter what more could you ask for.

Four stars ✭✭✭✭