If Tamar Broadbent has noticed her YouTube hits spike dramatically over the past few weeks, then that will be have been me binge-watching the music video to her comedy song “The Tube Ride of Shame”. Tamar is a musical comedian who recently shared a bill with the excellent Four Femmes on the Thames at the Good Ship Benefit, which I was gutted to miss due to being on holiday. Delighted was I to find out that Tamar was performing at Edinburgh Fringe and I went along to see her free show at the Espionage, excited to see more material from the tube shame lady. I was a little worried that I had only heard the one song and hoped I wouldn’t be disappointed with the rest of her material. It’s fine – I wasn’t.
Tamar opened with the song I’d gone along to hear with the words slightly tweaked (yes, I know them off by heart), presumably to resonate with those who don’t dwell inside the M25, and it went down a treat. She then launched into an hour of stories and songs all about her life, living in London and some rather self-deprecating humour on the subject of her love and sex life. Audience members were called to the stage to participate in a game of “Live Tinder” using chat up lines Tamar and her friends have been subjected to in the thankless pursuit of online dating – all of which are apparently true and range from hilarious to cringey to just plain weird. My favourite song was a number about hipsters, a common pest in London, and my companion was singled out as one of them!
The room was packed out with people and raucous laughter, one guy actually couldn’t catch his breath for the tears streaming down his face. I was so pleased that going to see Tamar on the strength of one YouTube video turned out not to be a disappointment but a delight. There are sure to be great things to come from Tamar Broadbent, she is a real triple threat. She sings like a dream, is ridiculously funny and can play the piano! She also looks strikingly like Kerry Ellis’s sister .
If you are up at Edinburgh Fringe this August, do not miss this show. It’s FREE would you believe! I am looking forward to catching her next gig in London!
Reviewed by Pete Forbes-DuGreiner
Tamar Broadbent is playing at Laughing Horse @ Espionage at 5.30pm until 28 August 2016. It’s free and not ticketed so get there early as it was packed when I went!
