During our first ever online interaction with Sofie Hagen they described us as mysterious and anonymous, which makes us sound so much cooler than we actually are but also immediately endeared us to this Danish clown.

So, when we realised that we had booked an entire day at the Monkey Barrel with a spare slot that would perfectly fit a Sophie-sized show we snapped up tickets.

Filling Monkey Barrel 3 is no easy task but this clown is definitely pulling no punches: as we filed in to the pretty much sold-out venue we were greeted by a playlist inclyding ‘Fat Bottom Girls‘ by Queen and ‘Fat Girl‘ by NWA – if the show title hadn’t given it away already, this gig had a theme.

The precursor to our clown taking to the stage is a 13-part voicemail from a ‘slightly’ obsessed Canadian uber-fan calling Sophie Hagen “not-fat” and “beautiful” and that our fan doesn’t understand why she our clown is so self-deprecating.

All well intentioned comments intended as compliments but, in the hands of this clown, they form the spine of a show that deals with fat shaming, hypocrisy and the everyday situations that their body forces them to face.

This is one confident and engaging clown who quickly gets the audience on board and you can’t help but chuckle along.

This is a positive gig extolling tolerance, understanding and breaking stereotypes… which ends with Sophie Hagen (as a call-back to an earlier anecdote about a publicly fatist Danish comic – who Hagen used to date), pulling the rug out from under us by using a stereotype to call the largely British crowd ugly. Fortunately for us we’re half French so clearly still stunning!

Clown Stars: * * * *

@Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh