If fans of The Daily Show are seeing anyone on this year’s fringe, it’s likely to be new host Trevor Noah, who arrives this weekend. They could do worse, however, than check out Jena Friedman, a producer on the show, writer for David Letterman, and provocative, liberal (more or less) voice on the state of modern America. Her fringe debut American C*nt (her asterisk) showcases a playful, edgy comic who lacks the devious self-confidence of Sarah Silverman, but many of whose jokes arrive with the same sharp jab to the social conditioning.
Her set offers a tour d’horizon of contemporary cultural sensitivities – abortion, transgender politics, Bill Cosby, the commodification of everything. Usually, she wades right in, feigning the insensitivity of the spoilt young American. There’s a great line twinning 9/11 and fashion, and another on the invisibility of older women. (“There could be some here – but how would we know?”) There’s also a striking dystopian vision of one’s intimate relationships being co-opted by advertisers. Sometimes, the bloodlessness jars: even though the joke is on herself, painting a picture of a child in Africa dying of Ebola purely to demonstrate her own maternal instinct is a bit crass.
It might not be – but this faux-callous shtick requires a surer touch than Friedman’s. In fact, she seems a bit uncertain of her effect here: the jokes are delivered from the back foot; she laughs self-consciously after many of them. Sometimes, the tentativeness is justified: her section dismissing criticism of Israel as “trendy” is a bit thin. The final quarter of the show, focusing on US politics rather than culture, is the weakest. But more often, Friedman’s comedy combines fine joke-writing with a nose for the faultlines in liberal arguments to which she is herself sympathetic. Hers is an intriguing voice; it could yet be an essential one.
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At Stand Comedy Club until Sunday August 30. Box office: 0131-558 7272.
