Pam Ford: 24 and Counting!

Laughing Horse @ City Café (Venue 85), until 28 August

Pam Ford is a force of nature. And, as we learn, a force of nurture. She works, when not making rooms rock with laughter, as an activities coordinator in a care home, and her warm, wonderful hour is filled with fascinating characters sharing the kind of incredible life stories you only discover when you give people time and respect. There are so many layers to this sweet’n’sour Pavlova of a show, and each one is moreish.

We meet Frank, who actually SAW the Beatles’ rooftop concert; Penny, who, Pam learns, worked at Bletchley Park; Joanne, obsessed with The Chase and in love with Paul Sinha; and Charlie the excabbie who drove the Princess of Wales. We even meet a chap who played trombone with Louis Armstrong. All fake names and absolutely true stories. We are, as a room, entertained, delighted, amazed and more than a little in love with this exuberant Aussie, so when she takes us through lockdown and loss, foodbanks and debts, the words carry an emotional punch that would knock out any Dead Dad show.

You have to have your whole audience with you for this level of deeply personal material to work. Pam has, and it does.

We forgive her for having dreadful taste in men and do not even mind being pressed into some (seated) Move It or Lose It exercises.

But she’s not done with us yet. Listening to her talk about the appallingly underpaid and overworked health care assistants is a workout for your angry bits, and Pam’s.

By the time she’s jumping out of a plane strapped to friendly instructor we are all applauding. This is an extraordinary hour of searing honesty, huge laughs and fascinating characters, some of whom work 12-hour shifts for 9.75 an hour.