Kemah Bob’s Miss Fortunate is a romantic’s journey into reality, that plays with different established norms and tropes to create a completely unique experience for us as an audience. This is also just a very fun – if slightly concerning- high-energy show where Bob uses different forms of comedy in order to craft this wild narrative.
Aided by a yellow wash, Bob opens up about their own mental health diagnosis, using a trip to Thailand as a vignette of how it affects their perception of the world. Even though stand-up is a form of direct speech, Bob takes this to another level to the point where it becomes like an uncensored stream of consciousness that is just funny because that is the kind of person that they are. There are so many different threads and themes woven in that the story does become bigger than what we see onstage, a lot is unspoken and left for us to fill in the gaps.
”an uncensored stream of consciousness”
Miss Fortunate would be a curious work of character comedy if we didn’t fully whole-heartedly believe in Bob’s story and representation of themselves. They’re such an enigmatic storyteller to the point where they’re not just telling a story, they’re completely living it onstage and we’re living it with them. Although rationally we know the ending, we’re just so completely hooked that we’re leaning forward in our seats and asking, “And then what happened?!” There’s a heightened sense of anticipation creates throughout because Bob releases each detail and event really slowly, savouring in the description and setting the scene. And it really pays-off, because we’re at the edge of our seats, emotionally involved in the outcome and doing our hardest not to voice our frustration at the ingenue-like approach that Bob takes at least in their presentation of themselves. And the constant self-aware commentary helps with this, in that because of our inability to express anything other than laughter – Bob voices all of our other thoughts on everything else for us. Despite this, the comedy does come first so at no point does our concern or frustration supersede our ability to laugh at the antics onstage.
The laughs come easily and involuntarily. It’s stylistically interesting to see how much stand-up comedy can be pushed to incorporate additional elements. Miss Fortunate really is an exercise in creativity and how other art forms can supplement and inform a stand-up routine. It’s that extra step, extra effort to really draw us into this story that serves Bob well in that a lot of the humour is based on our genuine reaction – outside of laughter – to Bob’s story. It’s the “why are we laughing?” question and a lot of the time it’s because of the character, it’s Bob’s narration, but it’s that in addition to being able to imagine each scene so incredibly clearly. And it’s just something a little new, a little different, which is always welcome.
This is a larger than life performance, Bob truly has an astonishing stage presence that lights up the room – both figuratively and literally. It’s truly astonishing what they are able to achieve in terms of comedy pay-off in the short space of time.
By Katerina Partolina Schwartz
Photo Credit: Sarah Harry-Isaacs
Pepper & Salt 
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