Maureen Lipman is at the Edinburgh Fringe after a 50-year hiatus, and, judging by this show, her comedy has not progressed much in the intervening decades. With a title like ‘Up For It,’ and reports of her not-so-PC views on the #metoo movement, one would expect more saucy scandal and less stunted sketches.

Up For It is a night of old-school entertainment. There’s Lipman’s wry wit, there’s a grand entrance, there’s dancing, there are impressions and stand up and then there’s some of the smoothest jazz at the fringe.

The band is wonderful, with Charlie Woods on the piano, a surprising Harry Shearer strumming the bass, and Jacqui Dankworth, who knocks the audience back with her buttery vocals. But between the jokes, the band is not given enough time to shine.

While the hour is full of content, it lacks continuity. Lipman struggles to keep up between anecdotes, old jokes and rants. The script, followed as if there was a teleprompter, does not help the pace, as punchlines are stumbled over and names forgotten.

   Lipman sprinkles in some political satire, but a brief impression of Theresa May was poorly executed and an odd comment on Germaine Greer left me wondering what exactly Lipman was trying to suggest. She proclaims that women have achieved so much, but whether she thinks that is a good thing is strangely ambiguous.

Never one to take herself seriously, Lipman is most comfortable in her stereotypical sketches, which switch between a despairing mother, a café proprietor and a medic examining a woman’s breasts. Although funny, these were too long in an hour that felt rushed.

Die-hard Lipman fans will go home satisfied with her predictability, but the show lacks originality, and, against such a crowded comic field, Lipman’s trivial stories, sketches and songs fall flat.
 

Maureen Lipman:  Up for It is at the Assembly George Square Theatre, August 1-12