Charismatic Jess Fuchs performed her very funny routine as part of the Sydney Comedy Festival 2022 to a full house in one of the Laneway rooms at the Enmore theatre. She pointed out that her father was sitting in the front row and streaming the show to her mother who was ill and could not attend. She waved and said “Hi Mum.” There was no reply and Jessie turned to the audience, relieved that her Mum was on mute.

 I immediately thought of the scene in the excellent Apple TV series, The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, where her father inadvertently attended one of her shows. This was to the respective horrors of her father and to Mrs Maisel. Fortunately, the uncomfortable scenario portrayed in The Marvellous Mrs Maisel was not present in Jess Fuchs’ performance. The similarities between WISDUMB and The Marvellous Mrs Maisel did not end there as both performers are from Jewish backgrounds, they both reference sexual matters and tell many jokes involving their parents in their routines. 

Jess told us about her dyslexia and how it was dealt with when she was a child as opposed to approaches now for dealing with neuro-diverse children. Parents now are overloaded with information regarding neuro-diversity, unlike when Jessie was a child and virtually nothing was explained. This sparse approach of the previous generation can be mined for serious comic potential now, which Jessie does with audacious charm. Jess talked about the emotional recognition card, with its sad, happy and other faces to help people who struggle to recognise emotions conveyed by different expressions. She cleverly returned to these cards throughout the show and used them as an amusing, recurring motif.

The audience was very engaged and responded to questions posed by Jess. There was a good atmosphere in the intimate Enmore Laneway room, and as Jess said it had a last day of Year 12 vibe and energy. Jess has previously worked in New York City, where she performed with the likes of Ronny Chieng, David Cross, and Aparna Nancherla.

Sunday night’s very funny and sold-out performance of WISDUMB was written and performed by Jess Fuchs and was her last show before she flies out to America.

Featured image : Kween of comedy Jess Fuchs