Content warning for extensive discussion of sexual assault
Almost five years ago, Kelly Bachman walked into a New York comedy club and found the now-convicted serial rapist Harvey Weinstein in her audience. She called him out as a rapist and quickly became a viral sensation as part of the #MeToo movement. In doing so, Bachman was also ‘coming out’ to her friends, family, and the Internet as a rape survivor.
Bachman’s debut Fringe set, Patron Saint, circulates around this moment and the trauma which compelled her call out Weinstein that evening on the Lower East Side. Bachman discusses how being raped multiple times has impacted her mental health, her psyche, and her approach to comedy. Along the way she discusses her Catholic upbringing, her childhood career ambitions of becoming the Pope, and her (not irrefutable) childhood prediction of 9/11.
Bachman is quiet and disarmingly witty. Her comedy requires a level of vulnerability from both comic and audience. She’s incredibly self-aware and never afraid to poke fun at herself. Some of Bachman’s jokes could require more exposition to fit into a broader overarching narrative. Significant time is spent discussing Bachman’s early childhood through to middle school, before jumping to the 2019 viral moment and back and forth again, with little discussion of the intervening years. A joke about her menstrual cycles doesn’t quite make sense (or hold humour) until she explains the background fully. Her boyfriend is mentioned several times, but never by name. Minimal set-up prevents Bachman from truly developing a rapport with her audience or create a sense of familiarity.
Yet Bachman is bold and courageous in her approach to humour, clearly not afraid to try new bits and see what lands. She’s a bit wacky, in a good way, and this show is a bit wacky, in a good way, although it might not be for everyone. Above all, Bachman illustrates how we carry our traumas within ourselves and how these traumas inform everything else we do: even or maybe especially our humour. Her set is commendable in its bravery.
Kelly Bachman: Patron Saint runs daily at 19:45 through 25 August at Assembly Rooms.
Tickets are available for purchase here.
Image via Assembly Press Office.
