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Kate Moxon shares her thoughts of Helen Bauer's Madam Good Tit...
On her first solo tour of the UK, Helen Bauer performed a deeply personal and funny show at Leeds’s Hyde Park Book Club.
The pre-show playlist consisted of songs by icons such as Britney, Whitney and even Duffy to which Bauer’s self-confidence is comparable. As a clear Queen of the Babes (the title she gave to her audience members) she somehow made her show feel more like a catch up with an old friend rather than one she’s performed a multitude of times. The fresh feel was only furthered by her pre-show chat to which she described a loose spider in graphic detail whilst she was physically buzzing from the amount of sugar previously consumed.
The show itself was filled with references from the early noughties including Gok Wan’s ‘How to Look Good Naked’ and Super-Size vs Super Skinny which no doubt triggered most people’s fight or flight responses. Her comical commentary on a woman named ‘Sue’ from the latter tv show spoke on the broader issues of the time encapsulating the toxic diet culture and the public’s obsession with having the ‘perfect’ body. Along with this, her overtly confident nature was used to scare the very few men in the audience with phrases such as ‘don’t be sorry, be better’ and ‘I don’t make the rules, but I do enforce them’. This prompted a child-like reaction which only emphasised the grasp she had on the crowd.
Both Gen Z and Millennials were united by her on the nose description of Jaqueline Wilson’s books as ‘tragedy porn for under twelves’, which seemed to be what everyone in the room was thinking. Another story which seemed to strike a chord was her tweenage rolodex of personalities including the ‘Leading Lady’ which she has clearly perfected.
As a follow up from her best newcomer nomination, this show was bound to be impressive. The self-proclaimed ‘basic-plus’ comic managed to keep the ‘babes’ on her side even when slightly targeting them. Not only was Helen funny, she was also somehow relatable to everybody in the crowd which guaranteed a connection on the highest level.
Words: Kate Moxon
Photo Credit: Berk's Next
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