I hadn't heard of Ms. Bourke before so this was a bit of a punt (which is the point of the Fringe I guess).
The gig didn't get off to a great start. She asked if anyone had seen her before ... tumbleweed. She turned to me and asked, "You sir, why are you here?" I replied, "Well, to be honest, I was looking for a show before Katherine Ryan and this sounded interesting." I think I genuinely discombobulated her with that one ...
Anyway, really glad I came because she's a hugely funny and very smart woman. Self-styled as Ireland's only 45 year-old housewife/rapper The Notorious MJB, her routine is based considerably (though by no means exclusively) on the juxtaposition between her age and life, and her deep love for gangsta rap (as I believe the kids call it) - most revolve around her "10 Commandments Of Rap" which she recorded and played throughout (as well as plenty of other musical snippets), using each as a springboard for anecdotes, musings and observations - including many pithy comments about the absurdity and misogyny of many of the lyrics (there was a section where she read out lyrics and we had to decide if they were hers or from a song - I had the deciding vote as the pink-hat wearing Pimp Daddy - long story). It all culminated in a very impressive rap about passive/aggressive behaviour. Look, it was all an awful lot funnier than it sounds.
Some excellent tales and one-liners including a piece about the sell-out and commoditisation of Jay-Z and Beyoncé plus an intriguing story about Dr Dre and the serial numbers of Beats products which I'd never heard.
Lots of good lines and zingers - my favourite was her description of a diva ("a cunt who hasn't left the room") but loads of other good stories: cooking with Coolio; kids on the bus and "Yo momma" gags; playing a feminist gig in Brighton; plenty of others.
She mentioned several of her routines are on YouTube and that, as a female comic, the general tone of comments was either "she's funny but I wouldn't fuck her" or "I'd fuck her but she isn't funny". In a great example of me completely missing the point my immediate thought was "can't she be both?"
A very funny lady, very clever and talented and a good start to a long day ...
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