The List

Comedy Preview: Karen Loftus
by Steve Cramer

Look at this face. Playboy bunny? Plastic pop creation? No, stand-up comic, we'll have you know. The title of her one woman show, I'm Not The Blonde You Think I Am, should disabuse you of any notion of going just to look at her. If you're just after an aesthetic change from the usual shingled white females of the comedy circuit, go away and read some Laura Mulvey, you sad bastard.

Loftus' work has incorporated a wide range of media. Her experience in film and theatre is extensive, and she's even taught physical comedy. The physical tag might give you an idea of what to expect. Her act incorporates that molded form of comedy, the sight gag. There's also a good range of observational humour in her act.

Residing across the pond, she's built something of a reputation for herself, having received the Tennessee Williams Fellowship, a prestigious bursary for the development of new forms of performance.

Her play Barbie Dolls has been performed successfully in Los Angeles and around the USA, and she's appeared in two independent films The Push and Race To Love of recent years.

This kind of artist brings a different flavour to the comedy circuit, and not at the cost of entertainment. Janey Godley's Jesters should be congratulated for bringing her to Scotland, in addition to the usual run of high quality comedy entertainment.