Review: Laughing All the Way to the Bank

Laughing All the Way to the Bank hit the Corpus Playroom stage on Monday evening as a one-night-only comedy sketch show, and if it wasn’t already clear enough from the show’s title and promo posters, this was a performance which centred around the question of money; or, more specifically, around the question of what it’s like to have no money.

Opinions and anecdotes surrounding poverty, class, and even civil war were touched on with a humorous and light-hearted touch throughout, making this – probably – rather unlike any other solo sketch sh0w performed here in Cambridge to date.

Image credits: Cody Knight

The Corpus Playroom was almost at full capacity, and when Chakira’s jokes hit the intended mark – which they most often seemed to – they had the entire room in stitches, creating a fantastic ambience for a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Chakira’s nifty ability to turn the most negative aspects of life into witty quips and observations shone throughout: for example, her remarks about Cambridge’s “undercover rich people” and “middle-class hummus girls” were both met with particular success on all sides.

For the most part, these brash and opinionated anecdotes were held together easily by her outgoing and sharply witty personality – although I’m not sure that the decision to repeatedly question whether “poor white people can even exist” or to announce that she was genuinely disappointed to hear that her uncle didn’t die after being shot in the bum quite hit the mark for everyone: I couldn’t help but notice an audience member get up and leave after the latter joke. Either way, it largely didn’t matter, as Chakira’s tongue-in-cheek tone kept the vast majority of the audience on her side throughout.

Audience members are brought on-stage for a short role-play. Image credits: Vidya Divakaran

It’s surely excusable that some nerves came through in the first half – a couple of lines were fumbled and at times she seemed to rush through the punchlines a little too quickly, a shame since they were usually hilarious – but these minor details were easily ironed out by the second half, in which she truly dominated the stage.

A role-play (involving some reluctant audience members) and three comedically rewritten songs (topics including “soft boys” and “yummy mummies”) were interspersed with her stories to cleverly mix up the pace, and for the most part these hit the mark too, although I wasn’t convinced she even needed them: if she thought she wouldn’t be able to capture the audience’s attention for an hour with just her stand-up alone, she was certainly wrong. Given the choice, I’m sure the entire Corpus Playroom would have stayed on listening for another hour.

All of that being said, I think that even the minor criticisms I have pointed out border on being a little harsh: it’s rather difficult to find any genuine flaws in a comedy show which kept the whole audience laughing non-stop throughout. It takes some serious confidence to take on a solo stand-up show – even for one-night-only – and it takes some serious talent to pull it off to laughs galore in front of friends, family (her parents came along), and strangers alike. Chakira Alin, then, clearly has both confidence and talent in spades.

4/5

Laughing All the Way to the Bank was performed on Monday 31st January at 9.30pm at the Corpus Playroom. The performance’s Camdram page can be found here. 

Feature image credits: Vidya Divakaran