<p>Becky’s show is like a light-hearted, insightful water-cooler type conversation with the girl that works at your office that shares just a little too much about their sex life.</p>
Becky, unlike her name-sake of the girl that would “fall off a balcony in the Gold Coast after having too many glasses of white,” has been crushing the Australian comedy circuit for the past few years. During the 2018 Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) she has appeared on the Gala, has sold out all her shows and extra shows.
Her take on the comedian in her “late twenties that doesn’t quite have their shit together” holds up a mirror to the small part of the audience who are still waiting to become a proper adult. For everyone else she plays on the common tropes of Millennials—snarky, sarcastic and self-absorbed alcoholics—but in a way which still manages to be endearing.
Becky’s bubbly conversational tone jumps between anecdotes about dick size and slacktivism to irrational daydreams about being kidnapped and popping out of a wedding cake. She occupies that unique modern duality of opinions and behaviour—venting about social justice warriors who are more concerned with seeming concerned than fixing the problem, while also being unable to stop getting into arguments with trolls and feminists alike on Twitter.
Her girl-next-door personae has prompted reviewers to call her style of comedy superficial. I myself was feeling very sheepish (it seems obvious, but never sit in a front row of a comedy show). The centre-piece of the show however is far more authentic and brave than acts that she has tried in the past.
Becky points out that the superficiality of her comedy comes from a deeply ingrained superficiality in our culture, one which sexualises women to the point that they see their looks and body as the only important thing that they can offer up for attention. From The Simpsons, guys on the street and advertising at the tram stop: everyone is culpable. She then lets the audience sit in that real and uncomfortable space for a minute or two. Just enough time for the couples that are out on date-night to begin to squirm in their seats.
Before releasing it again…
Her control over tone displays not only that Becky Lucas is a fucking funny voice in comedy but has the making of a serious Australian comedian. Though her shows for the MICF have now finished, if you can get the chance to see her live, jump at it.
Becky’s show is like a light-hearted, insightful water-cooler type conversation with the girl that works at your office that shares just a little too much about their sex life.