Meka Mo wastes little time establishing her perspective. As an African American woman performing for a largely British audience, she immediately turns her attention to the British obsession with history, tradition and, perhaps most amusingly, Americans themselves. From there, New York City Dreams becomes a lively exploration of cultural differences, identity and the often ridiculous ways people behave towards one another. There is plenty of serious subject matter beneath the jokes, but Mo has a knack for finding the absurdity in it.
Relationships and attraction form another strong thread throughout the show. Mo explores dating, confidence and the sometimes-baffling ways men respond when a woman makes the first move. These observations then broaden into stories about travelling across America and the culture shock of moving between very different parts of the country.
Much of the comedy comes from Mo’s own experiences and identity. She is entirely comfortable drawing on her upbringing as a black New Yorker and her Liberian heritage, using both as material without ever losing the conversational quality of her delivery. Her dry, understated style gives even her more cutting observations a friendly edge. She can take aim at the Irish, Utah’s white population, Asian women, interracial dating and the white man who is curious about dating outside his usual experience, but the humour rarely feels malicious. Instead, there is usually a knowing wink that suggests Mo is inviting the audience to recognise something familiar in the behaviour she is describing.
Her time at college in predominantly white West Virginia provides some particularly entertaining material, with Confederate flags and her blunt observations about the people she encountered providing a sharp contrast to her New York upbringing. These stories work because Mo does not simply present herself as an outsider. She examines what it means to move between cultures and communities and to constantly reassess where you fit.
Towards the end, the show widens its focus to toxic masculinity, social media, self-confidence and the importance of stepping outside your comfort zone. In a satisfying callback to an earlier story about not wanting to visit Syracuse, Mo turns the idea of avoiding unfamiliar places into something much broader: sometimes the experiences we resist are precisely the ones that teach us something.
Ultimately, the show’s greatest strength is its perspective. Mo asks, sometimes explicitly and sometimes through the joke itself, what makes someone American, what makes someone British, and why so many of us are trying to make sense of a world that increasingly refuses to make sense. It is an enjoyable, candid and often very funny Fringe debut from a comedian with plenty to say.
New York City Dreams, 18:40, Just Out of The Box at Just The Tonic at The Caves
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/new-york-city-dreams
