Gorgeous? Maybe, but she’s just not funny
Catherine Cohen: The Twist? She’s Gorgeous
I’m angry. After making it to the end of the Netflix comedy special Catherine Cohen: The Twist? She’s Gorgeous I was merely mildly miffed. But after subsequently reading that this same show won the ever depreciatingly prestigious Best Newcomer Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2019, and then gawping in disbelief at some of the glowing reviews from people who’s job it is to review comedy, I’m now a ball of bitter bile.
I’ve got to admit to some skin in the game here; I’m a standup myself, closely missing out on a nomination for that same prize many years ago, who’s been badly reviewed by those same critics. What I’m saying is, when giving you the lowdown as to what’s exactly wrong with this show, I can remain utterly impartial.
Kicking off with a video montage of Catherine as a toddler, we see how she was loved, precocious, and fascinated by herself. We then meet adult Catherine, who spends the next hour being loved, precocious, and fascinated by herself. That’s the joke.
It’s deliberate, it’s knowing, it’s just not enough to build an entire comedy special around. That’s not to say that there are gaps. Every moment here is accounted for, 60 minutes chockablock with asides, hair flicks, silly posturing, pouting, character exaggerations, and shout outs. In this manufactured stream of consciousness onslaught, every gesture is assiduously scripted, every silly movement choreographed. Set amongst the songs and observations, they’re meticulously designed to stop you noticing the one thing that’s missing: jokes. There’s a DVD extra, wow I’m dating myself, on a Dom Joly compilation (I did it again), where he goes onstage at the Comedy Store and just asks the audience nonsequitur questions. “Any smokers in?” “Yes.” Then he moves straight on to the next question. What’s amazing about the clip is he doesn’t get heckled or booed off. The audience goes along with it. Why? Conviction. He looks and sounds like a comic, and thus the audience are tricked into thinking he’s a comic. That’s the true secret of comedy, confidence. Funniness be damned.
If Netflix here had made a prank, a way to illustrate how attitude alone can dupe the audience and reviewers into thinking they’d just seen some actual content, and funny content at that, I’d give it five stars. Alas it gets two, and one is for the poor piano player mugging away in the background, forced to grin along whilst dead inside. The other is for Catherine Cohen herself, who I have no doubt will be a star. Whilst this entire exercise lays bare the concept of what I call “in the room funny”, she got those reviews and won that award because they wanted to back a winner, and a winner she will be. If Cohen can power an hour essentially on charisma alone, surely television and film beckons, with someone else writing the script. In the meantime, if you want jokes, laughter, and insight, with a twinge of Jew, I’ve got two words for you: Sarah. Silverman.