Toronto Fringe Review: No One Special

Julie Kim casually strolls on stage and announces that, much like herself, No One Special is a work in progress. New shows getting workshopped is a bit of Fringe magic — especially when it’s one of Canada’s top comedians.

With tales from her childhood, Kim offers an intimate portrait of growing up in Toronto, the child of immigrant parents. Rather than her usual standup, Kim takes on the role of a wise and wisecracking storyteller. She is upfront about the accuracy of her stories, memory is a strange beast, always morphing, often acquired through the stories of those around us. Her parents weren’t terribly forthcoming with their origins, and raising Kim and her siblings without their parent’s Korean language left further gaps and barriers. Kim is piecing her stories together with the audience, I’m left with the distinct impression she sees something different with each telling.  

Kim manages to find the balance between the brutal honesty of growing up unhappy and stressed in what today would be considered an abusive home life, and the deep love and empathy she has for her parents. They were people who bravely came to a new country to build something better and lived under profound levels of stress, of course things were going to go sideways at times. The level of forgiveness she has for her family and herself while being able to laugh their foibles feels almost Herculean. 

For an hour, Kim held the audience enrapt with her grimly funny stories. However, as it’s new and in progress, some stories had to be cut last minute in the interest of time. As she wrapped everything up into a satisfyingly sweet conclusion, I felt a bit cheated as I didn’t hear all her stories. Always leave ‘em wanting more, I guess.

No One Special is part therapy and part unromanticized celebration of those who create a new life for themselves and their families. A must see this Fringe!

No One Special is on now July 16 as part of the Toronto Fringe. Tickets and show times here.