Proud of Yourself 
The Colonel Fawcett, Camden 
★★★★

STAND-UP COMEDY is in a funny place. The most successful proponents are fairly trad, liberal acts, many not wanting to upset the political apple cart lest they get banned from Live At The Apollo.

There is also a whole new roster of extreme right-wing comedians grifting and griping about being “cancelled” while punching down on the most vulnerable groups in society.

This milieu makes regular queer showcases like Camden’s Proud of Yourself all the more important. Straights are welcomed as beloved allies, not that any heterosexual in the audience feels brave enough to admit that, for once, they’re in a minority.

Our charming host, Matthew Ali, clocks and interacts with the potentially lively front row, a bunch of prosecco-quaffing gay couples gathered for a friend’s birthday. The questions are direct but not unkind, which is lovely to see in a world where TikTok algorithms are pushing a whole generation of MCs to think that “owning” the audience is the main point of the job.

Indeed, Ali is so nice that he breaks character to thank headliner Rosie Jones for her generosity and kindness, but we’ll come to her.

First up, the amazing Lil Wenker — and yes, that is her real name. Wenker is a clown, who has been wowing audiences with her cowboy persona in the hit show Bangtail. Here, she’s trying out a new character, a teenage basketball player who dares you to find her sexy.

You know when you’re in the hands of a master when a whole room is in her hands through not much beyond dancing and mime.

In a multimedia-heavy first half, the material most tailored to our current times is a set from self-professed bisexual quantum physicist James Robert Lyon. It’s a very amusing metaphor and a reminder that even waves and particles are more complicated than they seem.

The second half is opened by Monica Chatterjee, whose first joke is an impromptu visual gag, thanks to an unfortunate error in scale (she’s much shorter than the mic stand suggests she should be).

Chatterjee’s style is frank and scattershot, painting a vivid and witty picture of an unusual life. She grew up in a Kuwait under threat of Iraqi invasion, but, being a child, she had more important things to worry about, like how she might be attracted to her school bully.

Many, though, are here to see Rosie Jones, aka a comedian what you might have seen off the telly.

A hero to gay and disabled comics alike, Jones commands the room with such authority and confidence. Working on new material, her beautiful and unique sense of timing is as intact as ever, as unexpected conclusions still shock and delight despite — indeed, often, because of — the time taken to reach them.

She’s even doing impressions now, though the accuracy of these… you’ll just have to find out for yourself.

Proud of Yourself takes place on the third Thursday of every month. For more information see: thecolonelfawcett.co.uk 
Rosie Jones tours Britain in the autumn. For more information see: rosiejonescomedy.com.