Heidi O’Loughlin: A Woman Talking

Heidi O’Loughlin is a young New Zealand comedian who is already established in her home country. She talks about her time working on a popular TV show there and the sexist culture of comedy that she battled with. It makes for interesting listening.

However the main theme of the show is her moving to London and tracing her distant relatives. It turns out she is descended from some pretty influential Tahitians. There is a brief history of French Polynesia to set the scene.

O’Loughlin has a meandering style; she comes back to the central topic eventually but takes some wide detours to fill up this hour long show. The journey is pleasant though. Her story about applying for a job at several different cinemas is funny and endears her to the audience. She also talks at length about her time in film school and her wacky friend who sung her a Christmas mix tape completely off key. She plays snippets from the tape throughout to huge laughs. These little interludes are necessary to patch up the disjointed show.

O’Loughlin is funniest when ranting, and she has a lot to say of the sexist culture in comedy. She really lets herself go on this material, and is most alive when doing so.