COMEDIAN Esther Manito says she cannot wait to bring her brilliant new show to Chester on Wednesday.
Born in Essex, Esther is half-Lebanese on her father’s side – utilised more than once for her comedy – and has been on a meteoric rise since making her comedy debut in 2016.
She will be at the Storyhouse for her show Slagbomb – a phrase given to the show from the pure joy of seeing it written down – where she will discuss her view of ‘the obsession of being dignified as a mother of a certain age’.
She is a handful of dates into the Slagbomb tour, with an unplanned hiatus because of quite nasty flu, and says she is looking forward to making her Chester debut.
Though, Esther thinks she might have been here before.
“I’ve done five shows now – it’s been lovely and I’ve really enjoyed it,” she added.
“I’m surprised that people are coming and I’m always so happy when I go somewhere new and people book tickets.
“It leaves me so happy – thank you.
“I love going to places to find out about them – you rock up and find the nicest crowd and the nicest time because you get to go to areas where you never, ever gig and meet lovely people.
“I have been to Chester but not for a gig, but I have been there.
“I remember thinking that it was very beautiful, but I can’t remember what I came for.
“I’m really looking forward to coming to the Storyhouse.”
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As for the show’s name, she said: “Slagbomb comes from a shot drink that I saw when I was on holiday – I thought it was just a brilliant thing.
“I love the word slag, it’s the Essex upbringing and it needs to be reclaimed by women as it’s such a term of endearment and mocking.
“It’s a great word and then combined with bomb I thought ‘yes please, I’m having that’.
“When I did my first show, that was all of my club material into one tour show but I wanted to follow that with a linear narrative.
“My next show was about raising a boy and what I had to think regarding masculinity.
“After that, I did Hell Hath No Fury asking why can’t women be angry because reviewers kept saying I was angry.
“Why is that such a bad thing? Why can’t I be angry in a safe space like the stage and why is it so shocking that we might be?
“And this show is about the pressure of carrying everything with dignity and I’ve hit the phase in my life where both my parents and kids are getting older and you’re sandwiched in between them.
“It’s a s**t phase of life and there’s no dignity to it.”
With appearances on Live at the Apollo and The News Quiz, among many other credits, Esther’s Slagbomb will ‘embrace the chaos’.
The show says: “From failed attempts at being sexy, sudden hearing loss, and awkward encounters with dodgy drug dealers, to the brutal realities of a waxing session gone sideways – nothing’s off limits.
“Because when there’s war in the world and family back in Lebanon, there are bigger things to worry about than being a ‘Slagbomb’.”
Tickets are available at storyhouse.com/whats-on/esther-manito-slagbomb/ and are £19 for non-members and £17.10 to members on October 21.
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