Being a comedian means living a life defined by both unbridled creativity and strict logistical admin, as you have complete artistic freedom but also have to run a small business. These two facets collide when deadlines for the titles of shows to be featured in a comedy festival hit far earlier than the show itself is written, which is why Fern Brady called her show Autistic Bikini Queen.
She'd just received a diagnosis of autism, which she says brought an enormous amount of relief. She decided to write a show about having an autism diagnosis, particularly why "hot women are underrepresented in the autistic community". But when it came time to write the show itself, not a lot of neurodivergent material presented itself. So while there is a small section on her diagnosis, including a fear that audiences wouldn't believe that she had autism ("I wouldn't worry about that," a fellow comedian told her. "I don't mean to offend you, but it's pretty obvious that you do"), most of the show is about other topics, from her father's fear that she's going to be murdered to her utter revulsion at the concept of marriage.
Some of Brady's material, such as her aversion to marriage, her past job working as a stripper and a single abortion joke, would have seemed boundary-pushing a decade ago but is relatively tame in today's comedic landscape. Her delivery is comfortable, but rehearsed. She has a script and she's clearly sticking to it, lacking the natural ease some comedians have on stage. Most jokes land, though it's often more chuckles than howls.
