Jessica Fostekew: Luxury Tramp

Liberally handing out paper fans to the audience as they filter in (it can get rather stuffy in here), Jessica Fostekew leads in to her main subject by way of explaining the oxymoron in her show title. This allows her to play with a little linguistic trickery and bounce a few ideas off the twenty-something strong audience,and as a warm up, it accumulates laughs with ease.

Fostekew's main problem in everyday life, it transpires, is trying to please too many people. There are obvious links to the nature of stand-up itself here. Arbitrating between examples from previous day jobs (she was a soft boss) and reflecting on the psychological impulses of comedians, the material is well-balanced, avoiding the temptation to be too self-referential.

The performance is laced with commendable moments of stupidity, with recurring instances of horse noises complementing anecdotes about her money-driven younger brother and romantic rejection. I'm not convinced that the jokes consistently remain focused through the lens of the 'luxury tramp' idea, and some of the gags are better suited to a shorter, rag-bag style set. Much promise for the future.