Jo Caulfield: Awkward Conversations

There's an unsung hero of standup, subject to boundless ridicule and expecting no credit in return. His misgivings are a rich source of material. He refuses to ask for directions. He misreads social signals. He forgets to turn the oven off. I refer, of course, to the bumbling comedy husband, to whom every comic in the land seems to be wed. Jo Caulfield is one such lucky lady, and in Awkward Conversations she recounts a series of painful encounters (most of which involve her other half) with enjoyable whimsy. 

In attempting to harness the eponymous cringe moments, I imagine her scurrying around with a notepad, scribbling the minutes of every dinner dialogue and asking strangers who've just said something outlandish if they could jazz it up a bit. Having ascertained the nationality of certain punters in the crowd, that becomes their moniker for the rest of the show ("Are you in a relationship, Australia?") and she is adept at bringing her audience into the discussion to position them on her side of the story. It becomes "us against the moment" and very quickly the anecdotes become an inclusive affair designed to strike a chord with our own experiences. 

Seemingly beset on all sides by life's most excruciating interactions, it's easy to see why Caulfield chose to adapt her travails into standup material. For the most part it's bristling with wit and waspish flippancy. The drawback is that it's neither impassioned enough to feel cathartic, nor satirical enough to transcend the anecdotes it comprises to form a greater social comment.