Frankie McNair: Huge Ass Mindset review – a stellar comic finds laughs in the darkest places

Gilded Balloon Teviot, EdinburghWith charisma and craft, the Australian standup discusses childhood sexual abuse in a show with a healing quality If fringe audiences know Frankie McNair’s work at all, it’s as a purveyor of vaporously insubstantial nonsense-comedy – see her 2023 show Relax Your Knees, which made a brief London visit. So it’s quite the pivot to Huge Ass Mindset, nominated for best show at the Melbourne comedy festival, which addresses the least frivolous topic possible: child sexual abuse. That’s no spoiler. While trauma-comedy convention would require McNair to withhold that bombshell until 20 minutes from the end, she makes it known – expansively, with heartfelt content warnings and astringent punchlines attached – from the get-go. For some time, McNair’s show toggles between material on her experience, and a commentary on how shocking she acknowledges that material to be. But it’s an urgent matter for the Canberra native, not only because (according to recent research) one in four Australians experience child sexual abuse, but because of a recent incident that brought her face to face with her abuser in the most extraordinary circumstances. Thatâ