Tiff Stevenson: Mad Man

Tiff Stevenson is, by all accounts, quite good at comedy. Her profile has risen through reality TV series Show Me the Funny, and she's since enjoyed success both at the Fringe and on TV. It's a shame, then, that this year's offering, Mad Man, is so underwhelming.

Stevenson handles culturally sensitive subjects with all the subtlety of a short film about a bull in a china shop directed by Michael Bay. In her clumsy hands, delicate topics are thumbed to pieces. At the other end of the scale, she goes after well-worn tropes. Isn't Katie Hopkins horrible? Isn't Dubai materialistic? Grateful are we for having such things pointed out to us. There is one brilliant joke about coverage of gay marriage only mentioning male couples—"Even equality isn't equal"—but it's mostly pretty hackneyed stuff.

There's an uncomfortably arrogant air to her act, reeling off tired observations as though they're so fresh only her brilliant mind could conceive of them. She refers to the fact that she's a feminist. Great news. The problem is that she just uses that as a stick with which to beat hypothetical naysayers, instead of riffing on gender politics. Shut up and agree with her already! It's particularly frustrating if, like me, you do agree with her, but find her views presented so petulantly you can't help but feel alienated.