Katie Mulgrew: Your Dad's Not Funny

Sometimes it pays not to do any research before seeing a show. While I knew full well Katie Mulgrew didn't actually play Captain Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager for 7 years, I was completely unaware of the details of the relationship at the core of her hour-long Fringe debut Your Dad's Not Funny, so found myself carried along very pleasantly by it.

Mulgrew is endearing and bubbly, and it's difficult not to feel comfortable in her presence. The theme of the show hangs very loosely around her material and this turns out to be a refreshing positive, allowing stage presence and personality to shine through helping to develop the much needed rapport with this small crowd. Yes, there’s a story to tell but she doesn’t let it get in the way of the laughs, and the balance is manintained exceptionally well.

This makes for a heartwarming and enjoyable hour, and while this is by no means earth-shatteringly edgy comedy Mulgrew *does* know when to bite: go and find out why she is probably the only comic on the Fringe this year who can genuinely get away with making an Operation Yewtree joke. [Tony Makos]