ohhh, now i love wahaca, me. the first time i ever went, i panicked. she of both the onion and lactose intolerance probably had reason to worry, but... carefully, over time, i have perfected my order to be (mostly) onion and dairy-free (pork pibil taco and grilled chicken tostada), giving me ultimate food-feels and taste fiesta. the mums both hadn't been before, and i was happy to show them the way of the wahaca. we were nice and early, so weren't left waiting too long before being shown to our table and allowed the deliciousness to ensue. (the mums did make a rookie error despite being warned to order more than two things. they'll know better next time. there will be a next time)
after our meals, the mums headed off home after their tiring first day in london (their tiring day? what about meeee!), and the girls and i headed back to udderbelly to collect our tickets for that night's showing of luisa omielan's debut stand up show, what would beyonce do?
we were first introduced to luisa way back in march, at our second musical bingo attempt. she was the lady compere for the show, and was bleeting hilarious (the more so the more we drank, funnily enough) in our opinion...she was loud, hilarious, and didn't have two shits to rub together about what people thought of her. which... we kinda hated and loved at the same time. who was this loudmouth babe pulling out the funnies and acting like she was one of the lads? i wanted to find out more.
throughout the night she kept uttering the phrase "what would beyonce do", and after a while it became apparent why; she'd just returned from new york city, where she'd sold out her debut stand up show "#wwbd", and she was clearly still on a high. well, a few weeks later i saw her chums over at @musicalbingo share the good news that she'd almost sold out her run at london's udderbelly festival too - that's pretty much all it took for becks, ani and i to snap up some of the last remaining tickets and head along for ourselves to see what all the fuss was about.
in the line for the show we caught up with some girls that becks knew, who had been to see luisa's stand up elsewhere, and who couldn't stop raving about it. the usher at the door was announcing the sold out show, and gave us our five minute warning, so we headed in and took our seats. music was blaring already, and there we saw her -- centre stage, gyrating and busting a move all by herself like nobody was watching. i was already sold. this girl was sensational. all the honies makin' money, throw your hands up at me.
other than that, she had us in stitches throughout the entire show. what did it have to do with beyonce? not a lot, sadly, except for that ever-burning curiosity when life gives you lemons and you find yourself wondering... well, what would beyonce do? add to that a rich queen bey and her destiny's children soundtrack, some epic dance moves (both luisa and the crowd participants!), and so many beyonce layers that would make an onion jealous, and it was truly a hilarious show! i'm a survivor, i'm gonna make it, i will survive, keep on survivin'.
we definitely had an incredible time, with the laughter-sobs only ever slowing when we were faced with the awkward and incredibly drawn out lows, but once the pressure was off, we were back to being in stitches. miss thing certainly has a way with words - and a way of totally connecting with her audience in a way i've never known a male comedian to do. some girl comics resort almost instantly to slut shaming, or period jokes, or fat girl topics. it's obvious. it's desperate. luisa's gags were different; so well presented, all you could do was laugh at how well she knew your problems. she knowssss meeeee! you must not know 'bout me, you must not know 'bout me.
so, if you get the chance, and you like a bit of r&b and a good old laugh, and aren't easily offended by cuss words, strong women, and some deviant dance moves, then you should definitely get along to see this show. word is she's just booked a west end run over christmas too, so check out her website for more info on that.
who run the world? girls.
