From the very beginning when the award winning comedienne squeakily introduced herself from offstage, and denounced the notion of a ‘Typical Woman’ the show was firmly entrenched in the battle of the sexes
Her first joke, focussing on her title’s derogatory nature, made valid observations hilarious. For Sarah, men’s focus lies somewhere near: ‘Look at the way she has just parked…Typical Woman’, and never ‘She’s really good at listening to friend’s problems…Typical Woman.’ She had the audience instantly roaring with laughter.
The show focuses on the often comical divisions between the male and female sexes, not to mention the grey areas where they blur. This is where her genius lies, in making incredibly astute examinations about the genders, and their members (no pun intended).
In this vein Sarah reveals that the emancipation of women has certainly had some effects – ‘Women putting up shelves…and men crying’… ‘at the shelves’. Despite this incredible shift in gender relations there is still a fundamental difference between men and women for Millican, which is simply that ‘men have a sh*t so impressive that they want to show you’. Fully embracing this difference Millican’s ideal man is one ‘who can block a toilet’, ‘a proper f*cking bloke’.
Embracing the spirit of her all inclusive topic Miss Millican gave time for members of the audience to reveal what the best thing is about their gender. A rather confident bloke at the front proclaimed ‘cock’, to which Millican immediately retorted ‘having some… getting some… being one…?’ to a huge uproar of applause and laughter from the audience. Giving her Brighton performance special significance the audience were treated to a sample of new jokes at the end of the show.
An admirably developed show, Typical Women is thoroughly engaging. With bawdy jokes and swearing aplenty, Millican managed to accentuate the divisions of the sexes and united the male and female components of the audience by way of roaring with laughter.
Amy-Rose King
