Album Review: Katie-Ellen Humphries, Ladyfinger

The cover of Katie-Ellen Humphries most recent album, Ladyfinger, features the charismatic Katie-Ellen dressed as a 1950s housewife, presumably to teach us how to throw the perfect post war domestic cocktail hour. It serves as the perfect contrast (and somehow parallel) to Katie's incredible set. Katie is more like the cool summer camp counsellor you wish you had to actually teach you about real life, rather than just favour the popular girl and steal your chips. While she may be here to dismantle the patriarchy, she does so with the observational wit of someone at a party who just called you on the point you were trying to bullshit your way through.

Katie-Ellen hilariously and brilliantly points out the absurdities of our modern daily isms (she knew, before fires and COVID, that GENDER REVEAL PARTIES ARE STUPID), while never putting herself too high above the common ground. She highlights the irony of being a smart progressive woman and still being obsessed with Say Yes To the Dress, or being an outspoken feminist, but when asked by a border security person to define her relationship with the man she is visiting, freezing up. Katie-Ellen somehow manages to discuss toxic masculinity and sexism without antagonizing anyone to the point that they'd stop listening.

For anyone who still uses the phrase "female" comedian and assumes those gals will "only talk about periods" (every male comic Katie-Ellen has ever seen talks about his prostate exam), I would lovingly nudge them to listen to Katie-Ellen Humphries, to point them in the right direction while letting them think it was their idea all along.

Ladyfinger was released October 20, 2020 on 800 Pound Gorilla Records.
Listen to it here.