Review: Abby Wambaugh Has Only Just Begun

The easiest part of writing something is often the initial idea.

How about doing an impression of a vacuum cleaner by humming into a mic and swivelling around on an office chair? Oh — ohh! — a basketball match, but it's done entirely in mime.

This is the premise of The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows — the endearing comedian Abby Wambaugh flipping through a Rolodex of openings to one-hour shows that'll never have to go through the malarkey of being fleshed out. It's a neat twist on the sketch format, and some of the material — the concept of brunch as a 'non-binary meal'; a gorgeously poetic passage leading to a punchline about the previous sketch — is belting.

But there's more to this show than first meets the eye. It was a late miscarriage that led to Wambaugh's foray into live comedy — and a Halloween bout of 'Scare the Banana' with neighbourhood kids that ignited their creative flame. A lump-in-the-throat essay on the miscarriage itself is followed with a flurry of the 'audience's thoughts': 'Hang on, was this whole show about miscarriages? What did the vacuum cleaner represent? And that talking orange?' This is very clever indeed.

Despite the ebb and flow of exquisite comedic flashes bumping up against lesser gags which outstay their welcome (looking at you, Old Guys Doing Parkour), The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows is a formidable debut from a comedian promising great things. Abby Wambaugh has only just begun.

Abby Wambaugh: The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows, Soho Theatre, until 18 January 2025.