Daisy Earl strolls on with a grin, antennae up and tuned in from the start. She has nothing to prove. The only woman ever to win Scottish Comedian of the Year — which looks impressive on a poster — but in the basement heat of the Fringe it translates simply as: here’s someone who knows how to work a crowd without breaking a sweat.

The opener is a beauty: hecklers down south versus hecklers in Glasgow (her mother’s city). From there she rattles — pun intended — through life’s oddities with a voice that’s half-confessional, half-dagger.

A passive-aggressive Amazon account shared with her husband is an early hit, all side-glances and silent fury. ADHD quirks send her skidding into tangents and landing punchlines in the afterburn. Then comes the righteous hatred of TV chefs — or at least one in particular — and the room loves it.

The second half shifts gears into something deeper: the weird politics of female friendship, the vendettas that refuse to die, the grudges that age better than wine. It’s honest stuff — the kind that makes you nod as much as laugh. Threaded through is her fierce affection for her husband, who she circles on stage like part guard dog, part romantic poet.

What makes Daisy Earl stand out isn’t just the jokes — though they’re plentiful and sharp — but the feel of being in the room with her. It’s not theatre, it’s not therapy. It’s Daisy, chatty and cutting, like being just outside the room where it happens — where all the good gossip and revelations live.

Rattle is exactly what you want at the Fringe: funny, heartfelt, sharp-edged, and delivered by a comedian who makes it all look effortlessly easy.

****

Reviewed by Steve H

Venue : Just the Tonic – Mash House

Time 11.30

Until date 24th Aug.