No comedy expertise is required to deduce, the moment she steps on stage, what Janine Harouni’s show is likely to be about. The 35-year-old is (visibly) eight months pregnant; she reaches full-term in the final week of the fringe. But if you are expecting any sense of the jeopardy attendant on that precipitous state, forget it: Harouni – a best newcomer nominee in 2019 – is the smoothest, most controlled of comics. And she delivers a perfectly wrought hour, telling her story of imminent parenthood and the reflections on her family inheritance that it has prompted.
Her poise is a marvel to behold, as Harouni ranges across her rebranding as Asian (she is of Lebanese descent), her partner’s accident-prone proposal of marriage, and the arrival of “husband” and “wife” in her personal lexicon. Over and again, you get the measured setup, the polished punchline – then Harouni’s serene smile of satisfaction at a job well done. As a style, it can feel mechanical: when she introduces a bartender character with the catchphrase “why not?”, you just know it’s getting recycled as a punchline before the end of the show. But machines are nothing if not efficient, and every cog, axle and sprocket here is geared for laughter – and tendresse, too.
The laughs come from Harouni’s bluntness with her husband about their relative status as expectant parents, and from her American dad’s eagerness to impress Janine’s therapist. They keep coming – give or take a few lesser gags, such as the hoary one about creepy English-accented kids. The heart comes from some switchbacks along Harouni’s road to parenthood, and her reflections on her grandmother, who gave up a career in classical Arab singing to migrate to the US and raise kids. Must mothering and professional fulfilment come at one another’s expense?
There is another poignant strand, which I worried might feel tacked on for emotional effect, but which ends up enriching our host’s inquiry into parenting and care. This a warm and entertaining offering from Harouni, for what I’d call her long-awaited second solo show – but I’m not sure “solo” quite covers it.
• At Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until 25 August.
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