Kemah Bob review: Smart, energetic debut is a Moment
Edinburgh Fringe
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Edinburgh Fringe 〰️
by Zoe Paskett
Kemah Bob’s debut is a moment. A long-awaited moment at that, particularly for the queers who have been following their comedy journey so far, but even with that existing familiarity, I was not prepared for the raft of surprises coming my way in Miss Fortunate.
At ease around plenty of fellow Pisceans (the objectively best star sign, the most intuitive, creative, sensitive, and psychic), Kemah’s debut focuses around fun facts about animal penises and an Eat Pray Love trip to Thailand in a state of bipolar mania that doesn’t go to plan (to put it mildly).
This material in someone else’s hands would take a very different route. But everything about this is Kemah through and through. The uniqueness of the storytelling is that the audience gets to sit there and feel like we’ve figured it all out before Kemah has, as they waltz through this memory behind a sunnily naïve facade. It’s not that we can sense a fall-out on the way, but that we’re witnessing it taking place in real time. (This is why I’m being purposefully vague about the content of that journey.)
Because that’s what it’s like: you can’t see it when you’re in it. This is what is so smart about Miss Fortunate: the rollercoaster ride through Kemah’s extended manic episode allows us to feel like we’re simultaneously inside that goldfish bowl with them, and watching it from a distance but with no power to change anything.
Kemah is in a league of their own as a narrative storyteller. Taking something this frightening and weaving it into a light-hearted ride that never really darkens is quite something – and yet this approach doesn’t diminish the weight of the subject matter.
Kemah’s completely unbeatable energy and a bunch of little treats along the way carry everything through to an ecstatic climax that sends you out into the night walking on air.
Kemah Bob: Miss Fortunate is a Pleasance Courtyard (Baby Grand) until Aug 25th, 19:05. Tickets here
