Edinburgh Fringe Review: Michelle Wolf – So Brave ***1/2

American Fringe debutant Michelle Wolf certainly leaves an impression in her solo show at the Pleasance with a busy repertoire of anecdotes and jokes stretching from the US Presidential hopefuls to Dating.

“It’s a great time to be alive” Wolf proclaims.  Well, that is until she recalls there’s the small matter of Trump v Clinton back home.  The sharp tongue of the former banker certainly shows no favouritism for either candidate, each being treated to dynamic derision in equal measure.

Wolf is all for equality too.  However, she reckons that there is a lack of focus on the big stuff whilst too many smaller, less important battles are being fought.  And that the #freethenipple social media-led movement could very well have been the mastermind of a man…

There’s a plethora of topics that show Wolf is indeed brave in her first year in Edinburgh.  Her JFK assassination sketch is met with a few ‘oooofts’ from the audience, whilst noting that the detective work during Bill Crosby’s prosecution was ‘lazier than this eye’.

It’s a punchy, pacey far-reaching show which perhaps loses a little direction at times, but it’s fair to say Wolf isn’t afraid to push the boundaries, including the ever awkward discussion over periods.  We can only assume the couple who left the show at this point had another to go to…

Wolf’s admission of her personal dating dilemmas is laid bare (so to speak) and the show ends on a surreal text message exchange, complete with pet names, to and from her personal trainer. She’s never heard from him again.

It’s certainly something you won’t be able to say about Wolf who is likely to command a bigger stage when / if she returns next year.

Michelle Wolf is at The Pleasance Courtyard.