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Brick Wall Comedy

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Sara Pascoe

BBC Two · 2019 · 77 min

A post-breakup stand-up set about the virtues of staying single.

The angle of the post-breakup special usually leans toward self-pity or score-settling, but Sara Pascoe takes her split from comedian John Robins as a prompt for aggressive self-sufficiency. Rather than wallowing, she decides to spend a year alone doing the things couples usually do, resulting in disastrously unromantic solo trips to Costa Rica and Paris. The hour leans heavily into the absurdity of forced spiritual healing and the awkward realities of trying to buy a high-end vibrator without feeling judged.

Filmed during a sold-out run at the London Palladium in March 2019, the special was broadcast on BBC Two later that spring. At this point in her career, Pascoe was transitioning from a reliable presence on British television panel shows to a major headliner and author, coinciding with the release of her book Sex Power Money.

Her delivery on stage plays with expectation, moving from a bright, slightly airy stage persona to sharp, clinical oversharing about teenage memories, drug deals, and a bizarrely persistent bit about an imaginary brother. Instead of typical self-discovery clichés, Pascoe compares human beings to Peperamis rather than Twix bars, arguing that we are designed to exist as single units.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Costa Rica yoga retreat

    Details embarking on a solo retreat after assuming Costa Rica was near Costa Brava, enduring a 14-hour flight, and imagining bugs tapping on the window saying 'let me in'.

  2. Valentine's Day trip to Paris alone

    Observes how solitary travel alters romance, remarking that if you are not kissing someone, the Eiffel Tower is just a high-up cage.

  3. Dating an 83-year-old admirer

    Recounts going on a date with an elderly admirer who fell asleep during her gig because he 'ran out of battery'.

  4. Defense against being called 'too tampon-y'

    Delivers a stridently feminist routine addressing critics alongside discussions of masturbation and who pays on a date.

  5. Imaginary brother Stephen

    Overshares about an imaginary sibling within reflections on love, sex, and solitude.

How it plays

Tone
Warm, insightful, heartfelt, candid, and socially progressive.
On stage
Candid, disarmingly open, self-conscious yet warm, pairing self-deprecation and awkwardness with sharp, relatable wit.
Pace
Conversational, lively tempo filled with tangents, silly anecdotes, and deliberate facial and verbal intonations.
About
breakups and heartbreak, singledom and dating, sex and sex toys, feminism and gender roles, solo travel

What the critics said

Highly praised across publications as a gloriously funny, intelligent, and warm hit conjured from personal heartbreak.

In the room: Delightfully warm and fully engaged, put at ease by Pascoe's openness despite the indelicate subject matter.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: bbc.co.uk, comedy.co.uk, flicklist.tv, pro.imdb.com, standard.co.uk, chortle.co.uk, theskinny.co.uk, magazine.funnywomen.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

Conceived in the aftermath of her breakup with fellow comedian John Robins following a four-year relationship, framed around her experiencing a year-long, one-woman stag do exploring singledom, love, and sex.

Details

Released
Taped
London Palladium
Runtime
77 min
Where
BBC Two
Director
Julia Knowles
Topics

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