Wandering in just prior to Joanne McNally’s arrival on stage – audience upstanding, dancing and shouting along to We Are Your Friends by Justice – one could be forgiven for presuming the Athenaeum was hosting a rave this evening.
McNally, whose self-described demographic is “women who wine” (later, she even confesses she’s not averse to nuking wine in the microwave), explodes onto the stage wearing a leopard-print onesie. ”You’re from my fucking cul-de-sac at home!” she jests, poking fun at the predominantly Irish punters in attendance, who call her reputation as “an international act” into question.
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McNally’s success is largely due to My Therapist Ghosted Me – the twice-weekly podcast she co-hosts with her long-time mate Vogue Williams – and we immediately feel like welcome members of her tribe. Much comedy gold oozes from McNally’s personal situation: she’s pushing 40, perennially “single and unfertilised”. Her “baby brides” marrying God (aka Holy Communion) bit brings the LOLs as does McNally’s personal belief that “getting married before you’re 50 is an act of self-harm”. It’s a rowdy crowd, but McNally expertly shushes Chatty Cathys with occasional sharp admonishments: “Girls! Girls!” – like a cool teacher.
Sex positive, irreverent, unapologetic, Botox-embracing, self-deprecating, fearless, empowering – for all her side-splitting anecdotes and casual piss-takery, our main takeaway from The Prosecco Express is: thank fuck “the younger generation” are across issues such as consent and mental health, and are therefore wise enough to insist on “conscious” sex at the very least, which is something McNally herself openly applauds.
Post-show music: Dancing On My Own by Robyn.
Best bit: Impersonating her “mad for death” mum, who McNally reckons (literally) gets off on others dying because it makes her feel alive.
Audience participation: An endless stream of punters require toilet breaks throughout this one-and-a-quarter-hour performance. Noticing a disruption down front, McNally quips, “Just give her the bag of coke so she can go to the toilet!”
Number of legit LOLs: At times we struggle to hear McNally over the crowd’s guffawing.
