Norwegian comedian Hanna Kanon navigates life’s trickier moments in this great stand-up hour…
The Wee Room is, ironically, somewhat uncomfortable, but Hanna immediately makes us feel at home by handing out Norwegian chocolate. Her homeland has its fair share of the jokes in the set, especially the food where Norway ‘imports 100% of its flavour’ and the horrors that lurk in old cookbooks for a straitlaced person’s idea of ‘party’ snacks.
Hanna covers health issues that many feel too embarrassed to talk about, mainly ‘bumhole’ problems as she calls them. The audience laugh more than squirm at the gory details, though; I think a few could sympathise with seeing an attractive doctor about a cringeworthy condition! There’s a lighter touch on her mother’s dementia, noting the reversal of the parent-child relationship when chaos erupts at the care home.
Coming from an ‘old money’ Swedish father and a Norwegian politician mother who hates the rich is another fertile source of humour, and despite social class and money both being uncomfortable topics for Brits it’s a hit in the tiny venue. Norway being a small country means knowing every other stand-up comic, which can lead to even more awkward encounters. Kanon tackles them with cheeky enthusiasm, and I was certainly glad to escape the Fringe rain to see her; but as she reminds us, if we don’t like it, she can afford to replace us!
Comfortable is a confident, fun slice of Scandi stand-up.
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