By Renée Santos
There is a cohesive through line woven throughout Alice Cutler’s one-hour stand-up show that elevates the evening from a sequence of jokes into a vibrant storytelling piece. Rather than relying on a traditional setup-punch rhythm, Cutler constructs a narrative arc that reels you in slowly, then holds you there with disarming honesty and emotional precision.
She opens with a razor-sharp premise: her husband once told her she didn’t have enough trauma to be a stand-up comic. What follows is a masterclass in the art of the callback. As the hour unfolds, Cutler returns to that line with devastating vulnerability, revealing the loss of her daughter at 19 weeks into pregnancy and her journey through IVF. It is here that her comedic voice reveals its depth — she approaches unimaginable grief with a levity that never diminishes the pain, only illuminates her humanity. In doing so, she captures that peculiar caricature of human folly: our instinct to laugh even while our hearts are breaking. The result is playful, honest, and profoundly connective.
What becomes clear over the course of the hour is that Cutler is not only a stand-up comic but a seasoned solo show performer whose instincts lean naturally toward theatrical storytelling. Her acclaimed solo show INCONCEIVABLE — a deeply personal exploration of the fertility process and the loss of her daughter — informs the emotional architecture of her comedy. This dual identity makes her an eclectic performer who moves fluidly between genres, equally at home in a comedy club or on a dramatic stage. The craftsmanship of a solo storyteller is present in every beat: she allows the precision of her callbacks and the intentional pacing to do the work. It is stand-up shaped by the discipline of long-form narrative performance.
Cutler’s comedy thrives in the space between confession and absurdity. Her transparency about aging and womanhood becomes an empowering through thread, particularly in her material on perimenopause. She personifies the experience as a kind of accidental superhero origin story, dubbing herself “Hot Flash,” a Marvel-style character whose power is spontaneously bursting into flames. The metaphor lands because it is both ridiculous and deeply familiar.
In one of the show’s most polished sequences, Cutler demonstrates her command of form through repetition and alliteration. Joking about perimenopause-induced memory lapses, she fixates on not wanting a “Live, Laugh, Love” pillow — then repeats the sentiment again and again, circling back to it as though forgetting she already said it. The bit becomes a circuitous illustration of short-term memory loss without ever explicitly naming it. It’s an absurdist technique deployed in service of relatability, and the audience — men and women alike — recognizes the truth embedded in the silliness.
What makes Cutler’s perspective especially compelling is her ability to give visibility to women’s lived experiences without alienating anyone else in the room. Her feminism is not accusatory; it is invitational. By framing the stages of womanhood as a shared human journey rather than a gendered battleground, she creates space for collective recognition. We are not being lectured — we are being welcomed into the story.
Ultimately, Alice Cutler delivers more than a stand-up set; she offers a cohesive theatrical hour that feels literary in its construction and universal in its reach. It is comedy as storytelling, vulnerability as strength, and laughter as a bridge between strangers. By the final callback, the audience understands that the opening line about trauma was never just a joke — it was the thesis statement for an hour that proves humor can hold both heartbreak and hope at the same time.
Audiences can experience the full depth of Cutler’s storytelling in her solo show INCONCEIVABLE, appearing at the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival on March 27, with Hollywood Fringe Festival dates to be announced. To follow her work and upcoming performances, visit Instagram and YouTube: @alicercutler.
