Words: Michael Whitham

This is stand up but, like, not as you know it. Get On Your Knees is an oral (ahem) inquiry into the blowjob by way of Foucault, Freud and Baudrillard. In less skilled hands the show’s intellectual timbre could feel a little trying, but Novak’s artfully honed academic allusions are perfectly pitched; her literary throughline squarely matched by her charm and killer instinct for a punchline. The show weaves a vivid and unexpected tapestry of feminism and structural critique which vollies gracefully back and forth with Novak’s ear for bawdiness, absurdity and camp. As warm and witty as she is righteous and rigorous, Novak is truly a comic of considerable gift. It is thoroughly enjoyable to spend 90 minutes inside her unique mind. 

5 Stars.

Jacqueline Novak: Get On Your Knees
Pleasance Courtyard
August 11th – 14th