Sold Out

Victoria Wood has a specific talent for turning the mundane parts of British domestic life into sharp comedy. She zeroes in on the tension of a school reunion, the mechanics of wife-swapping, and the way Coronation Street character Deirdre Barlow’s perm gets shorter and tighter the more stressed she becomes. The stand-up is regularly broken up by Wood moving to the piano to deliver songs like ‘Saturday Night’ and ‘Reincarnation,’ keeping the momentum moving forward.

Filmed at The Mayflower in Southampton, a theater she notes on stage has a hint of a British Home Stores lighting department about it, Sold Out aired on ITV in 1992. Wood was already a massive television draw following her sketch series As Seen on TV. The solo format gives her room to stretch out on stage, alternating between standard microphone work and her signature keyboard performances.