Susan Calman: Constantly Seeking Susan

Now a long-time player on the Scottish comedy circuit, Susan Calman well deserves the sold-out crowd she’s regularly playing to this Fringe. Her down-to-earth, punchy style has clearly found its audience.

After an amusing pitch to become the new face of her beloved Ferrero Roche chocolates, Constantly Seeking Susan centres around Calman’s self-written obituary. It’s due in print, she would have us believe, after her booze-induced death in October later this year. Lamenting her lifestyle, diminutive height and lack of success, she has a good moan about life in general. Peppered throughout this are the requisite jibes about the social ills of her native Glasgow – low-hanging fruit for any Glaswegian comedian.

The main problem is that Calman hits the same, self-deprecating note so many times that the audience becomes almost deaf to it. She clearly doesn’t have an over-inflated ego, but after a while you’re left wishing she’d shift gear into her more outlandish material.

She does just this when she outlines her feminist viewpoints, which are as silly as they are radical. By the end she’s recruited an army of "Fanny Fighters" and "Cunt Commandos" to take on the male establishment. As you’ve probably guessed, it’s far from an expletive-free evening.

Her frank accounts of her sexuality make for more great moments, even if they are slightly over-egged. Previously a high-flying lawyer, Calman’s change of profession is looking like a better move now than it ever did.