Thao Thanh Cao: “Marmalade”

Thao Thanh Cao’s Marmalade provided food for thought to a jam-packed room on Monday, 19 August, at Heldeke!. Originally a one-night-only engagement, she has added a second performance of both of her shows on 24 August, in case you were unlucky enough to miss Monday’s show.

Cao’s opener was comic Vivek Ravi, who can be caught elsewhere at Fringe and beyond as part of Tallinn’s growing English-language stand-up scene. Ravi’s jokes flitted between serious and silly, personal and universal. Whether addressing the true purpose of airline seat belts (and how one’s parents might haggle a related discount) to the red flags carried by the Estonian cadre of Kadris, his familiarity with his material and the country that inspires much of it was evident, and heartily appreciated by the crowd.

As a main course, Cao’s approach to identity politics means no one is safe from criticism and taking the piss as an equal opportunity prospect. From the stamplickers of Australia to the madmen on German train platforms, Cao carves out a space where gender, race, and sexuality are a part of the conversation, rather than the sole punchlines. Her show is really just scenes from a life, as similar and as different as it might be to yours. It’s just funnier when she’s telling it.

Edgy without being mean, provocative without being malicious, Cao takes us from her warfare-plagued infancy in Vietnam to her work in Australian aged care homes to the perils she faces as an international comedian. Cao weaves in lesser-known histories and tragedies, leaving room for her audience to sit in their discomfort and reconsider their understanding of the world. She never lingers long on any one theme, though, and she excels at combining a mixture of family, food, immigration, pop culture, bodily functions, religion, and racism into a tricky, sticky delight of a show. 

Her delivery is calm and deliberate, a manifestation of the “I’m fine” energy she both embodies and lampoons. Cao has an exceptional grasp of tension, and at points, she leaves laughter behind to acknowledge the darkness of the human experience, though she’s quick to recapture energy with a spin toward the absurd. Her storytelling was full of clever set-ups and call-backs, without overdoing any single theme or punchline. 

Even though some topics were a bit harder to connect with an Estonian crowd (student debt and religious diversity are not so really hot topics here), she managed to weave a self-deprecating tale without feeling sorry for herself, delivering laughs on topics from body hair to abortion, plus useful advice on how to handle couples who are a little too absorbed in public displays of affection.

Cao offers two shows at Fringe this year, Marmalade and Confessions of a Comedian, and has added a second performance of each. You can go see one (or both!) on Saturday, 24 August, at Heldeke!. And don’t forget to check out the rest of this year’s Tallinn Fringe Festival! 

Author: Laurie