REVIEW: Steve Bugeja: Single Mum features a good handful of laugh-out-loud gags, as well as some well-managed momen… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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The Prickle (@ThePrickle) August 10, 2019

Steve Bugeja’s new show offers classic, strong, self-deprecating comedy. Bugeja’s voice is so high-pitched and taut that you may initially think you’ll be too stressed out to enjoy the full hour. But soon enough, we can feel the build in Bugeja’s voice — a safe undercurrent of self-confidence and optimism that lets the audience relax, even when he’s charmingly winding himself up.

The show is nicely structured, yet still fresh and conversational, with perfectly judged ad-libbing and jokes that build over time with little throwbacks.

There are a good handful of laugh-out-loud gags, and the audience are chuckling and wide-smiling throughout, even at those well-managed moments when Bugeja’s sincerity makes you feel like you might cry. These more serious moments will particularly hit home for people raised by a single mum.

But even if you don’t have first-hand experience of a conveyor belt of men auditioning to be your step-dad, there are plenty of real characters and observations in here for all audiences to relate to, laugh at and eventually love, not least Steve Bugeja himself.

Playing 7:30pm at the Just The Tonic at The Caves until 26 August 2019.