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Lady Like

Susan Calman

Go Faster Stripe · 2015 · 86 min

A Scottish comedian learns to like herself despite the internet.

Watch on Go Faster Stripe(opens in a new tab)

Susan Calman stands before a home-town crowd in a tailored waistcoat, bouncing around the stage to explain why she isn’t a huge fan of herself. The former corporate lawyer and Radio 4 regular uses a conspiratorial delivery to detail her struggles with depression and a nervous breakdown brought on by homophobic hate mail. Rather than a bleak confessional, the set remains fundamentally upbeat. She pairs her mental health realities with physical act-outs about her lack of fitness, her obsession with cats, and the quiet dignity of eating Viennetta in her underwear.

Filmed at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, Lady Like marked Calman’s first UK tour and debut release, put out by Go Faster Stripe in 2015. The set is anchored by highly specific anecdotes, including a routine where she outlines the unromantic administrative reality of upgrading her civil partnership to a legal marriage. Critics praised the hour for its warmth, noting her ability to pull an audience from a nervous hush over the topic of mental illness straight into a punchline.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Filming extreme adventures in Iceland with Phil Tufnell for television channel Dave

    Her blunt, unpretentious Glaswegian reactions to terrifying activities

  2. A romantic honeymoon trip to Paris with her wife

    How an ill-fated detour into the Paris sewers created an ongoing marital grievance

  3. Appearing on a broadcast program alongside Sue Perkins and Sandi Toksvig

    Causing an enraged homophobic listener backlash that set the network's duty log ablaze

  4. Childhood ballet and dance classes

    Recalling the brutal crushing of any ambitions she had of becoming a prima ballerina

  5. Experiencing a nervous breakdown from online trolls and self-doubt

    Addressed with rare emotional vulnerability before swiftly puncturing the tension with gags

How it plays

Tone
Warm, uplifting, positive, and mildly self-deprecating
On stage
Smartly suited, diminutive, chirpy, self-deprecating everywoman and self-described 'mad cat lady'
Pace
Jauntily paced, assured, conversational, and energetic
About
self-acceptance and self-worth, depression and mental health, online abuse and social media, marriage and relationships, childhood memories, eccentric domestic life

What the critics said

A widely praised, warmly funny, and impeccably structured hour of personal storytelling, though some critics observed she pulled back quickly from deeper discussions of mental health in favor of lighter anecdotes

In the room: Warm and enthusiastically receptive Glasgow home crowd

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: themoviedb.org, comedy.co.uk, nuxt-movies.nuxt.dev, standard.co.uk, chortle.co.uk, theguardian.com, threeweeksedinburgh.com, en.wikipedia.org, pressandjournal.co.uk.

Backstory

Reflecting on turning 40, her recent marriage/civil partnership, and coping with severe depression and a nervous breakdown sparked by online vitriol and trolls

Details

Released
Taped
Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
Runtime
86 min
Where
Go Faster Stripe
Topics

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