Danish comedian Sofie Hagen identifies as queer, non-binary, feminist and fat. The last term is one that she deconstructs gleefully; she’s the ‘before’ poster at the gym, the person who won’t fit in chairs at the hairdressers, and often the butt of many comedian’s jokes. She’s on a mission to proudly reclaim fatness as an identity that needs not only accepted but embraced, and she wants fat people to feel safe in her audience. 

^{Pictures: Matt Crockett}

Her opening section is glorious, where she sidesteps the ‘f word’ briefly and disappears into a smooth, long-winded fantasy about her dream girlfriend and their rescue dogs. She’s a confident and charming performer so it jars a bit when she begins describing herself as a misfit, as if there is still an anxious, self-hating fat person trapped inside the body of a successful, relaxed comedian. Hagen tries to unpack that paradox; she now has obsessive fans that are in love with her, plus trolls that hate her, relating more with her trolls as they have a mutual enemy.

The internalised fatphobia is clearly something she’s wrestling with in her material, but it also gives the body positive show a slightly confused identity. And although fat people can feel safe in her crowd, Brits and Scots in the room may find themselves at the end of a few punchlines. 

Reviewed at Monkey Barrel as part of Edinburgh Fringe.