Wilson shares stories of being chased by her ‘blind’ brother as a kid, breastfeeding accidents and a particularly mortifying birthday she spent in Venice. Her show works on a choose-your-own-adventure basis, allowing the audience to pick which topics are discussed. Unsurprisingly, the first choice of topic on this particular evening is Sex, followed by ‘People who Love their Pets Too Much’. Wilson interjects these segments with her own experiences, before while asking the audience to contribute.
Wilson’s wittiness proves that comedy is at its best when it is partially improvised, and perhaps the most entertaining part of the show is her labelling and recording the stories shared by the audience. On this particular evening we had ‘Emma-magination’ – a girl with an imaginary dog; ‘The world’s smallest drag queen’ – a guy who was dressed up in girl’s clothes by his siblings; ‘The corpse magnet’ – a girl who has seen dead bodies while travelling on more than one occasion. Other stories involved being sprung in bed by one’s mother, going out in public with different shoes on, and thinking out loud, that dogs indeed do not actually wear shoes.
With a big stage presence, Wilson is entertaining without being too boisterous or offensive, and her confidence and snappy comebacks are what really make the show, rather than the audience’s input. Cal Wilson is All Ears is seamlessly constructed and provides laughs from start to finish, while coming across as a piece of improv. Whether it’s hearing her impersonate her cats (if they could talk), or discussing eavesdropping techniques (in the name of research, of course), it’s unlikely you’ll be disappointed.
