Filthy Funny Females deserves an award. Or possibly two: one for comedy, one for truth in packaging.
(Dungeon) Mistress of Ceremonies Katharyn Henson (of ‘Ew Girl, You Nasty) opens the show before playing hostess to other female comedians – on opening night, British Nicky Wilkinson (‘Fancy Pants’) and Canadian Tor Snyder, though the cast of the three remaining shows may be different. Even if they aren’t, I doubt it’ll be the same show as I saw on Friday night, because Henson in particular makes audience involvement so vital a part of the entertainment that I suspect it will be an almost completely new experience. If you don’t enjoy audience participation, especially if it means revealing things about your personal life, then I recommend skulking in the poorly-lit back rows of the theatre, but those of us in the front row had a hilariously wonderful time and were still laughing as we left the building.
If you’re easily offended, or squeamish about female physiology and/or sexuality, the show may not be for you. There were jokes about topics including periods, thrush, IUDs, dating apps, sodomy, scissoring, sex work, fellatio, fetishes, penis size and more – mostly, but not exclusively, from the comedians on stage. Tor Snyder, celebrating her escape from retail work, briefly digressed into a relatively tame discussion of her sideline in furniture restoration and upholstery and her experiences with Facebook Marketplace, but most of the comedy was raunchy and riotous. I won’t say it was all in good taste – some of it was scatological, and you may have second thoughts about putting garlic sauce on your kebab after seeing the show - but I didn’t notice anyone getting upset by any of it (including the other five men in the mostly full house), and I’m not astonished that it sold out every show at Edinburgh Fringe.