Glasgow-based musical comedian Amelia Bayler had a very particular way of keeping herself sane during lock down; she set up a daily morning Twitch stream of improvised songs about snacks. A few of these culinary songs have found their way into this endearing, high-energy set of her Greatest Hits! Impressively, the hyperactive Bayler has managed to keep that off-the-cuff spontaneity an integral part of her curated playlist.
Resplendent in a suit and piano key tie – an image change-up of sorts from her previous track suits – Bayler bounces her way through a succession of exuberant bangers on Tupperware, Greggs and Patisserie Valerie. The songs are simple enough to burrow directly into the auditory cortex, with a terrace-chant quality to the lyrics just to ensure they wedge there with the tenacity of a mad-for-it tick.
Bayler’s nu-rave anthems have become a familiar staple of the Scottish scene, enlivening compilation nights at the Monkey Barrel, and as part of CHUNKS experimental comedy collective. She augments her breathless music with equally breathless tales from her life. Set constantly on over-share mode, her stand-up is a stream-of-consciousness deluge on sobriety, sexuality, and relationships delivered with an earnestness often missing from young comedians.
It’s unpolished and rowdy, but also heartfelt and sweet. It’s easy to tell there’s no cultivated persona here; it’s all on show. Bayler is a frantic and exhausting presence, but she’s also highly compelling, and there’s the sense that this is just something she needs to do; like a shark she has to be in perpetual motion. She insists throughout that she’ll batter down the defenses of the sterner faces in the crowd – a gratifyingly diverse bunch – and by the end there’s no one who would be enough of an absolute monster to not comply.
Greatest Hits! is the kind of scrappy DIY show that will always draw a curious crowd at the Fringe. Like Amelia Bayler herself, it’s unpretentious, colourful, and more than a little messy. But just try getting songs like ‘What’s the Vibe?’ out of your head afterwards. ‘Are you having fun?’ she yells during another snack-themed bop. We are. Maybe in spite of ourselves, but we absolutely are.