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Tamsyn Kelly – Hot Titty Bungalow 4**** - One4Review

one4review | On 12, Aug 2025
Tamsyn Kelly strolls on stage to a full-throated blast of Bryan Adams’ Baby When You’re Gone and belts it out with unflinching karaoke commitment — and very limited vocal finesse. It’s not a bit, not an ironic opener. And it’s glorious. In fact, it’s the perfect metaphor for the hour ahead: life is full of imperfect decisions, but if you commit with enough gusto and a wink of mischief, you can turn them into something wonderful.
Kelly is not the sort of comic who needs to barrel into your face, nor is she the studied, laid-back type. She occupies that sweet, chaotic middle ground — a likeable ID given human form — and it’s instantly clear she has the room in the palm of her hand.
Her stories tumble out with warmth and the occasional barbed edge: swapping the Cornish coast of Penzance for the rain-lashed streets of Glasgow, following love for a fellow comedian (is there a rule somewhere that comics can only date within their own clan?). Her assimilation into Glasgow life is described as joining “a unit” — more Borg collective than bohemian commune.
The centrepiece is arguably the Fringe’s richest “People Make Glasgow” routine this year. She skewers New Age friends who drift into full-time witchhood, the crushing realities of mental load, the choice between being haunted or ghosted, family apathy, and the peculiar economics of Vinted. There’s also a brilliant riff on the minefield of making new friends as an adult — a task, she suggests, every bit as daunting as moving cities or changing careers.
Her delivery is playful but never flimsy, with enough bite to stop the sweetness from turning saccharine. She’s an absolute delight, the kind of performer with hawk-like peripheral vision — clocking the tiniest audience twitch and folding it into the moment without missing a beat.
And in a small but telling twist, instead of the usual Fringe merch table, she’s brought a clothes rail of her own wardrobe — a kind of comedy Vinted. It’s a glorious, original, and classy touch, just like her act.
Hot Titty Bungalow is sharp, warm, and sneakily clever — proof that sometimes the wrong note, hit with total conviction, can ring truer than the right one. One to definitely watch.
****
Reviewed by Steve H
Monkey Barrel – Cabaret Voltaire
16.20 (1hr)
Until 24 Aug
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