Here’s a lesson in salvaging a less-than promising gig situation through sheer persistence, force of will, and confidence in one’s own ability. Eleanor Conway finds herself up against it in a way that will be sweatily familiar to most Fringe performers, playing to the most spartan crowd of her run so far. It doesn’t help that the crowd is dotted randomly around the room, which must look from the stage like the arse-end of a giant game of Guess Who. It’s to her immense credit that she leaves not only with her head high, but having made a few converts along the way.

In the times we’ve seen Eleanor over the years, we’ve been enamoured with her filthy, no-hold’s-barred approach to comedy. It’s clear within the first minute she’s lost none of her blunt, pugnacious wit and her completely unapologetic tendency to overshare in explicit details. But there’s more to her than her brashly direct approach. Eleanor’s comedy exists in contradiction; as both an ode to hedonism and a reflection on her hard-won sobriety; a celebration of her complete lack of attachments as she nears her late-40s, and her fears of the same. It’s occasionally bruising stuff, but there’s a bracing brutality to her way with a punchline.

In some ways ‘No Phones in the Hot Tub’ is a continuation of her earlier show ‘Talk Dirty to Me’ given she’s still very much miffed at the laissez faire approach some men take to their intimate hygiene. There’s a neat bit on her method of ‘blow job reconnonaissance’ during a brief dalliance with a younger man she affectionately christens, ‘Stinky Cock’. There’s also a lot of righteous fury that that laidback attitutde would rarely be acceptable on her part. In fact, there are few topics Eleanor can’t turn her particular brand of ire towards and it usually results in a highlight of the show when she does.

It’s a test of a comedian’s mettle when the specifics of a particular show aren’t in their favour, and Conway admits the circumstances aren’t ideal. Yet her interactions with the audiences give the show a strange sense of inttimacy given how often she returns to certain people, slightly sanding the rougher edges of her persona. It’s not exactly chummy per se, but shows her determination to work within the limitations of the show and do everything in her considerable powers to haul it round in her favour. With a full room this will really be something.

‘No Phones in the Hot Tub‘ is at Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Hive) – Hive 1 until Sun 24 Aug 2024 at 17:40