Sindhu Vee: Swanky review – from the perils of parenting to the glories of self-pleasure
Reading Town Hall The standup’s new tour covers cross-cultural identity, Hollywood mix-ups and exactly how honest to be about your children’s arts and crafts output How British is Sindhu Vee? And how Indian? That’s what her new standup show Swanky addresses in a wonderfully self-possessed opening that sees her give account of herself to an old duffer at a party. It’s a subject well suited to Vee’s beady and…
Key points
- Sindhu Vee's new standup tour Swanky opened at Reading Town Hall.
- The show's opening addresses how British and how Indian Vee is, a theme the review says suits her sceptical style.
- Parenting material dominates the show, and a final section on female masturbation is described as seeming to come from another show.
Sindhu Vee's new standup tour, Swanky, has been reviewed after a performance at Reading Town Hall. The review describes a self-possessed opening in which Vee gives an account of herself to an old duffer at a party, asking how British and how Indian she is.
The review says the cross-cultural subject suits Vee's beady and sceptical style, citing a tart gag about India-Pakistan relations and a later routine about a micro-aggressing mum at the school gate.
Parenting takes centre stage
Parenting material dominates the show, ranging from the generic to the specific. Vee has a big age gap between her first two children and her third, and many jokes concern how differently the youngest has been raised.
The review notes routines on teens and their mobile phones and on the rubbishness of her child's arts and craft output, and says her over-it mum shtick has the ring of hard-won truth at its best. It cites a parental Zoom call in which she subliminally works life advice into a conversation with a daughter who would not otherwise listen.
if they 'air' you, gaslight them!
— Sindhu Vee
Digressions and an added ending
The review calls the central section diverting, with lively digressions including one on the uniquely British use of the word kindly. It says Vee returns belatedly to the cross-cultural theme, which feels like the show's natural ending point.
Instead, the review says, she adds one anecdote too many about a misunderstanding on a Hollywood film set, then appends a whole new section on the glories of female masturbation. The review says that part hits the audience's G-spot even if it seems to come from another show entirely.
