Wally Baram: My Snake’s Quinceañera

★★★★½

Having watched countless hours of comedy at this year’s Fringe, it is with confidence that I say that comedy is not pitched on a level playing field. In fact, a select few of this year’s comedians have taken the stage with immense privilege: the privilege of having been a weird kid. As a teenage snake breeder, Wally Baram is certifiably part of this privileged set. 

On Friday I was lucky enough to catch the tail end of Baram’s short Fringe run, My Snake’s Quinceañera, which will make its way to London in September. With a puppet of her snake, the female “Jersey Mike” (exemplified by the fact that the puppet has boobs), Baram spends the hour relaying her teenage hopes, dreams, and reptilian friendship.

Baram, who many will recognise from the hit Amazon Prime show “Overcompensating”, quickly proved her comic abilities on a solo stage. She adeptly slithered from one topic to the next, moving from snake trading to Jesus fucking before you have time to say anaconda.

Baram is undeniably confident onstage, and she should be. Amid the chaos of the Fringe this summer, her set is truly unique. While many comics seem to obtain their material by applying a fresh spin to age-old tales, Baram’s experiences are uniquely unimaginable. 

As Baram proves, being a strange kid is a virtue, and by the end of her set you’ll wonder why you weren’t weirder in your teenage years.

Muna Mir

Cover image via Kit McCarthy