Frankie McNair is new to Edinburgh, arriving from Australia with a show that comes highly recommended by reviews, oversees awards nominations, and word of mouth. The actual performance lived up to the hype: high energy, consistently funny, relentlessly irreverent, and tough subject matter handled brilliantly.
I’ve seen comedians make the introduction into part of their show before, adding a joke in the “Please welcome [name] to the stage” bit. Frankie McNair might be the first comedian I’ve seen make the trigger warning into part of the show – at least, they’re the first I’ve seen do this with a real trigger warning, rather than a joke trigger warning that mocks the whole concept.
McNair strikes this balance expertly, joking about the trauma without the trauma itself becoming a joke. They make derisive light of very serious subjects, while showing real care for the well-being of any audience members who may be affected and/or upset by it. There’s a promise that we can step out of the room at any time without being mocked, there are QR codes at the end with real-world resources. We are in the safest possible hands, as McNair guides us through dangerous ground.
It’s hardly a spoiler to say this is a show about sexual assault and mental health issues – that’s in the trigger warning on the ticket, not a 45-minute mark reveal. Comedy shows about sexual assault are unfortunately nothing new, given the prevalence of the problem, but Huge Ass Mindset will shock even veteran comedy fans with how frankly it jokes about the darkest stuff. There’s something Rachel Kaly-esque in that, though McNair’s delivery is far closer to someone like Lou Wall, with the way they dance around and punch the air and cry out for the audience to get on board.
There’s a very dark central narrative to the show, but also a very positive central theme: we all need to gather the vibes and confidence of someone who has a huge ass. McNair shares various stories of times when they’ve succeeded, failed, and struggled to achieve this. Their presentation is so high-energy that the existence of the show is in itself a light within the dark topics; it’s a triumph of what is, by McNair’s definition, the huge ass mindset.
For all its levity, this show builds to something powerful, and after making us laugh so hard for an hour, it left more than one audience member in tears by the end. You can’t ask much more from a stand-up hour than that.
Alex Finch
Dave Baillie