Toronto Fringe Review: Lesbihonest

Laura Piccinin. Photo by Jennifer Moore

A one-person stand up/storytelling show 35 years in the making, Lesbihonest is the telling of performer and writer Laura Piccinin’s life through the multiple comings out as she diagnoses herself through the queer spectrum like a hypochondriac on WebMD.

Delivered with a dry sense of humour, Piccinin has the rhythms and cadence of a joke nailed down to a tee. Lamenting on less-than-supportive parents, the rejection of traditional labels and an ill-advised trip to Rome with a new romantic partner, the stories and musings in this show are well-paced and a deeply personal highlight of her life and journey of self-discovery. 

The writing was well crafted, and the performance of the material was expertly rehearsed, with the story and joke structures of a seasoned pro. Piccinin understands her comedic brand and how to leverage her persona to her advantage to make her jokes pop.

But, as someone who has absorbed a lot of queer comedy and storytelling, this show wasn’t for me. It lacks a certain awareness of where it fits within a pantheon of similarly themed queer one-person shows and doesn’t really provide any new insights about queerness or coming out.

It's material I’ve seen before time and again, and there are other performers out there that touch on coming out/queer self-discovery narratives in fresher, more interesting ways. This show was essentially the Love, Simon of the Fringe — for better and for worse.

While I believe shows like this can be important for people to see, and the core message of breaking out of labels to love yourself for who you are is sweet, Lesbihonest, for me, isn’t anything exceptional or innovative.

Lesbihonest is on now until July 17 as part of the 2022 Toronto Fringe Festival.
Find show times and tickets here.