Urooj Ashfaq returns to Edinburgh Fringe with her award-winning stand up show, Oh No!, which previously won Best Newcomer last year at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. It’s much deserved hype surrounding an exciting international comic, and that’s why it surprised me when the Assembly Roxy Central was not even half full, even if there was a sudden downpour in a mostly dry fringe.
Ashfaq didn’t skip a beat though, coming out in a plastic crown holding a children’s scepter and using a posh English accent. It leads into a heartwarming and funny self-deprecating bit about now producing ‘award-winning’ comedy. She soon loses the props and the accent and explains that we should level our expectations for the rest of the show, but that’s not entirely possible when she’s already made the audience laugh many times in the first few minutes of taking to the stage.
The show details Ashfaq’s parents’ divorce at 13, and her relationship with her therapist as a young adult. She makes a quick jab that in India these themes are more shocking to discuss than in Scotland where divorce is more common than the more conservative Muslim Indian community she was raised in: “Okay, so your parents are divorced… and? What else?” Ashfaq has the rare ability to laugh at herself, and poke fun at the audience without teetering into uncomfortable territory, which can often happen with comics worldwide. Another hilarious line that comes to mind here is, “I can’t alienate the men because… well, I can’t afford to,” referring to the (perplexing) empty seats behind us.
The show rounds out when at the end she whips out two childhood journals. One pink with a fur heart in the middle and another with Taylor Lautner from his Twilight days on both the front and back covers. She reads out hilarious entries detailing a brief relationship with an older high school student, each entry finishing off with “xoxo, peace, Urooj”. It’s full of 2000’s teen girl angst and riddles with similes I’m sure I would’ve either written or read on many a Tumblr blog. This final section is utterly hilarious and left me in stitches.
Urooj Ashfaq is one of the leading comedic lights in this year’s fringe.
Urooj Ashfaq: Oh No! has now finished its run.
Image provided by Assembly Press Release.