Over the years we have seen some truly epic clowns performing comedy in their second language – shout out to Ari Eldjarn and Yuriko Kotani – so when we heard that Finland’s reigning “Comedian of The Year” was in town we just had to grab some tickets. In fact, there were six of us heading to this show including a Spanish pal of mine who hadn’t really seen a lot of stand up. The pressure was on.

We have been to gigs at The Walrus before, and it’s a very smart pub venue just up from the beach, but on this occasion the doorman made a curious request. I had put on a baseball cap earlier in the day as it was incredibly sunny, when we reached the pub, I was asked to either remove it (fine) or turn it round and wear it backwards (wtf?).  I’d love to know the thinking behind this because I can’t imagine a greater turn off as a punter than seeing a bunch of grown men channelling their inner Vanilla Ice whilst downing pints! Anyway…

Things did not start well for our clown, the tech thoroughly let her down, the feedback from the speakers was occasionally painful and the venue had left her to try and solve the problem on her own. When someone did finally come to help, he suggested that she try standing in different spots on the stage (cheers Steve Jobs!). This was when our clown had enough, she binned the mic and decided to perform the rest of the show unplugged.

All of this drama had meant that the show had a very shaky start, Kaisa was clearly distracted, and it had affected her delivery. Now she had to perform unaided for the rest of the gig… and it may well have been the best thing that could have happened. The subject matter is the usual fare, relationships, politics, cultural differences etc but having the twist of a Finnish perspective gives it a fresh new beat. 

One particular anecdote, where she used the audience to reenact a Catholic wedding in Mexico between her twice divorced Norwegian pal and a local girl, is one that will live long in the memory. This was towards the end of the set with Kaisa confident and in full flow, and once she found her feet with the conditions, we started to clearly see why she was Finland’s number one.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable show, our friends were still laughing when we left, and I honestly don’t think you can ask for a better reaction than that. We’d definitely catch this clown again.

Clown Stars * * * *

@The Walrus, Brighton