by ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
For all of the talk in American entertainment about the emergence of the Los Angeles clown scene, few in L.A. or anywhere else are taking clown to the heights and across genres quite like the British comedian Elf Lyons.
Lyons’s 2017 show, Swans, received a Best Show nomination at the Fringe (the year Nanette won), and I gave her five stars for her 2024 production of Horses.
And yet, Lyons describes herself as “a cult classic” or “an A24 film” in terms of her own status. She may have questioned her value or self-worth because, as it turned out, she was still touring Horses around the world last year when her fiancé called off their impending nuptials, and throwing herself into a rebound fling with an Australian clown didn’t help matters or her mental or emotional health. Perhaps this cathartic stand-up show about finding love externally and internally will help.
As in past productions, Lyons uses recorded audio to aid and abet her narrative. We hear her own voice (in an interview or therapy session, which frankly sometimes can be both) questioning her place in the comedy industry. We hear the voice of her sister, heartbreakingly document how she watched Elf diminish after having to cancel her wedding. We also hear an audience member read some of Elf’s dialogue. And we hear scenes from the movie Apollo 13. To all of which Lyons lip syncs.
Partly, these choices are thematic. The 1970 NASA mission to the moon may have been a “successful failure,” for at least it showed how men in their late 30s and early 40s could work out how to bring those astronauts home safely. In stark contrast to the men in Lyons’s orbit who let her down because they’re still lost on Earth. Partly, too, her choices demonstrate how she’s reclaiming her voice. Lyons may have felt lost last year, but no longer. And while Lyons is hitting the ages of the men of Apollo 13, she somehow remains timeless, simultaneously inhabiting the soul of a drunken femme fatale, reliving the 1970 space odyssey, and processing the events of 2025. You might say Lyons is Everything Everywhere All At Once. Which just happens to be one of two A24 films to win the Best Picture Oscar.
Elf Lyons is no cult classic. Just classic. Delivering another masterpiece in comedic theater.
Elf Lyons is The Woman on the Edge plays Beyond at Pleasance Courtyard during the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe.
