Want to improve your life? Sharon Wanjohi has a book to sell you (results not guaranteed).
It’s this – firmly tongue-in-cheek – book that structures Wanjohi’s show, her winning mix of observation, anecdote and impersonation punctuated at convenient junctures by ‘extracts’. The wellness and personal growth industries have been done before at the Fringe and beyond, but Wanjohi doesn’t seek to break new ground here so much as riff: under the guise of selling her book she manages to cover everything from home ownership to Catholic Church services, her former pupils (she was a teacher before comedy), and the personal grooming of one particularly pained jazz singer.
In The House is Wanjohi’s debut hour of stand-up, but you wouldn’t know it – she earned her chops in comedy writing for TV and it shows. Wanjohi’s energy never falters and the laughs come thick and fast. Lots of them arise from the book readings but in truth, she doesn’t need the gimmick – Wanjohi is as comfortable as they come behind the mic, as confident in crowdwork as she is in set pieces. Audiences might not leave having reached self-actualisation, but they’ll certainly leave smiling.
Sharon Wanjohi: In The House, Pleasance Courtyard, until 24 Aug (not 12), 6.55pm