The relatively intimate space compared with the other two theatre spaces of the Lowry, allows for some audience interaction. Abigoliah approaches this banter like a lively friend who is genuinely interested to hear from the crowd. Her intention is not to rip people apart but to give Brits a little injection of American confidence with laughter along the way. This leads to some hilarious observational sketches and physical comedy mimicking us oh so apologetic Brits.

Abigoliah advocates a more upfront and accepting self-love approach – getting the audience to say out loud her confidence catch-phrase: ‘Look and this face, look at this face – flawless.’ At the same time she is quick to laugh at herself as she paints us all kinds of compromising pictures, such as riding a bike through Sydney wearing a tiny bikini like a political statement, and meeting her boyfriend through a fetish site then having to share all their early texts with the Home Office in a bid to gain a partnership visa. So far, she reveals, the embarrassment has been in vain, but we hope for the comedy circuits’ sake, if nothing else, this Ohio girl gets to stay.

Like all good comic storytellers, Abigoliah weaves and interweaves her stories until punchlines pile upon punchlines. These include well-crafted routines ranging from a too much information account of butt waxing to a thought-provoking and at the same time hilarious insight into America’s gun laws.

It is not a heavily political show, but Abiogoliah winds us in slowly and then hits us with something where we can feel unclear how to react. Did she just mention Josef Mengele? Yes, she did. But the link is absurd rather than offensive. Still, it injects a sharp, shock value that jolts the audience out of their comfort zone. Later she suggests we could reclaim words like ‘faggot’ and ‘jipped’ by changing their meaning to something else – because they sound good. It’s a suggestion not a rant, but it feels like she is pushing to see how far she can keep us – doing that American thing she talked of earlier – through persistence forcing us into submission because we Brits can’t say no.

On the whole though, we don’t feel beaten by her in these routines, just a bit thrown off course. As a comedian she is likeable, clever and very funny. By the end, do we know who she thinks she is? Well – she thinks she’s pretty much flawless – and she’ll even sell you a mirror after the show so you can be too. Who do we think she is? She’s a comedian ready to take her comedy to the next level. Go see her and bask in her confidence.

Abigoliah Schamaun’s Do You Know Who I Think I Am?! was at The Lowry on 27 October 2019. She is at The Comedy Store Manchester on 16 November and 19-21 December 2019. Visit www.abigoliah.com for details.

Read our interview with Abigoliah Schamaun.

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She arrives at The Lowry following a run at Edinburgh Fringe with her latest show, Butterfly Effect, about how everyone benefits when we’re kinder to ourselves and others.

Loosely based on chaos theory of how a small butterfly flapping its wings could give rise to a tornado somewhere else, Juliette takes this idea and applies it to kindness; exploring how a small act of kindness can have huge effects we may never see or imagine.

For her this small act was a stranger offering a tissue as she sobbed and ‘snotted’ in a London train station.

Indeed, Juliette’s own journey to kindness is a chaotic one, delivered in a high-speed and frantic way. It’s a confessional style show and as with any self-depreciating comedy who knows exactly how much is really true. It’s entertaining nevertheless, and Juliette plays the vulnerable tears of a clown very well – almost like a female Johnny Vegas, ranting while downing half a bottle of rosé on stage.

Towards the end, the show becomes gentler and there are some heart-lifting moments when she shows films of her complimenting strangers.

On paper, neither mental health nor kindness seem suitable topics for comedy. But Juliette wraps them in humour and sparkle to make you laugh and care at the same time.

Before the show starts she picks the brains of her audience for ways we can all be a little bit kinder. And on leaving, audience members are encouraged to take an idea from a previous audience to do as a kindness dare.

My dare comes from Danny in Oxford – to take a lonely person out for a meal (your parent?). Given the bashing her parents take during the show, I throw back the challenge.

★ ★ ★★

Juliette Burton’s Butterfly Effect was at The Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays on 14 September 2018. For full details of the tour visit julietteburton.co.uk.

Read our interview with Juliette where she talks mental health, chaos theory and spreading a Mexican wave of kindness across the country.

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“It’s like a horror film,’ says Barbara as she races around in the dark, chasing one side of the crowd and then the other at the call of ‘Dinner Time!’

It certainly feels like we’ve stepped into an alternative world – and the rush of excitement and adrenaline has everyone leaving on a high. It’s genius.

Comedienne, Janice Connolly, known to Phoenix Night’s fans as Holy Mary, originally created her alter-ego, Barbara Nice to inject a bit more kindness into the comedy circuit. While most comics faced a rowdy crowd with an armour of choice language, blue jokes and turning their sharp wit against the audience, Barbara Nice kept it clean – winning them over with idle chit-chat, silly games and a sing-song.

Billed as an ordinary housewife, mother of five, keen Take A Break reader and occasional stage-diver, Barbara Nice is the woman who starts chatting to you on a bus and you’re quite happy to listen.

Dressed in a sleeveless leopard print dress, she tells us about her TKMaxx bargains, gives out big hugs to those who take to the stage with her, and steps back for just the right time to let an audience member take the shine of the spotlight. The effect is a party atmosphere of camaraderie that feels spontaneous and playful. At the same time this is clearly a tight and well-timed act, and for the audience the evening goes by in a flash.

At the Roundabout pop-up theatre there is a mix of ages and everyone is up for joining in from the start, with the whole theatre standing up for a mimed game of curling, before bursting into a chorus of Spandau Ballet’s ‘Gold’.

The show is called Raffle, and as it suggests there is a free raffle at the centre of it. Barbara spins us right round like a raffle and the stakes are high – the top prize is a tinned pie.

She later wields her comedy magic wand to turn us all into squirrels and asks whose seen her slide belly first down the stairs on a tea tray?

It sounds like an apocryphal tale, but when Barbara tells it, we all want to believe it’s true. At the Roundabout one audience member claims to know someone who had seen her do just that during a show at Sale Waterside. Whether she did or didn’t, it’s now the stuff of legend – and we can’t wait for Barbara Nice to stop off this way again to see what she does next.

Barbara Nice: Raffle was at Roundabout, Ordsall Park in conjunction with The Lowry, Salford Quays on 6 September 2018.

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