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Jamie Loftus: Boss, Whom is Girl

Keynote speech handles important issues in a wonderfully surreal way
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Jamie Loftus: Boss, Whom is Girl

Keynote speech handles important issues in a wonderfully surreal way

If you like your comedy weird then make an appointment to see Jamie Loftus as soon as possible. The Los Angeles native has nailed her first visit to Edinburgh with a hilariously bizarre show that's occasionally challenging but never at the expense of humour.

Loftus is Silicon Valley tech guru Shell Gasoline-Sandwich, the founder of Pee-Pee Smarthomes. She is a feminist and capitalist, though not strictly in that order, has a not-so-loyal digital assistant called Patricia and a 14-year-old Instagram influencer daughter called Carmaline. Also, Shell has written a smash-hit book called Sluts for Big Pharma.

Boss, Whom is Girl is styled as Gasoline-Sandwich's keynote speech at the annual 'girl boss conference', an hour of empowerment for which the take-home lessons include finding 'prohibitively expensive self-care'. Rip-roaringly funny, highly intelligent and deeply surreal, it asks big questions in strange ways. It explores the alarming role of all-seeing tech in our lives, and asks whether feminism can be called that in situations when it's justifying highly unethical business decisions and enabling genocide. Some brilliantly realised moments of audience participation and a wild, rambling non-disclosure agreement are all part of the fun. A weird and wonderful triumph.

Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 12), 10.45pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

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