Review: Courtney Büchner – One of the Girls, Fringe 2027

South African-born comedian Courtney Büchner returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe following previous sold-out runs with One of the Girls, a sharp, energetic, and candid exploration of female friendship.

Performing in the intimate underground space of the Pleasance Cellar at 18:55, Büchner tackles the deep, intense, and often surprisingly fleeting nature of friendships between women, using her recent wedding as the catalyst for shifting social circles.

The show builds directly on her reputation for high-energy stand-up, blending personal anecdotes with dynamic crowd work. While Büchner takes clear aim at social dynamics and modern relationships, her warmth and charm ensure the room remains fully engaged throughout the hour.

Navigating the Fragile World of Modern Friendships

Büchner attacks the stage with dynamic vigour, immediately establishing a raw, direct rapport with the room. The narrative arc moves through the stages of making and maintaining friends, contrasting the deep intimacy of close female connections with the awkward reality of drifting apart. She uses real-life shenanigans to anchor her comedy, extrapolating personal stories about marriage, social media, and shifting priorities into universally relatable truths.

The performance requires a reasonable degree of audience participation. Büchner aggressively and endearingly attempts to make friends with the crowd, using interactive elements to push the narrative forward. While the material pokes fun at specific demographics and modern social tropes, the delivery is grounded in keen observation rather than malice. Those with thinner skin might feel briefly targeted during the riffing, but the vast majority of the audience will find the commentary hilariously accurate.

Sharp Crowd Work and Cross-Demographic Appeal

A core strength of the show is Büchner’s fluid crowd work. Rather than using audience interaction as a fallback, she positions it as the engine of the set, allowing the specific energy of the room to dictate the pacing. While she focuses on female-coded experiences, her observations on how men and women navigate social circles hit the mark with remarkable precision, resonating across the room regardless of gender.

Büchner demonstrates the polished control of a comedian who is now supporting major acts like Mark Watson and Stevie Martin. Her ability to pivot from scripted anecdotes to spontaneous riffing is seamless, ensuring the narrative arc never falters. It is a confident, well-crafted hour from a performer whose online reach, with over 100 million views, is now translating effectively to the live stage.

Overall

One of the Girls delivers a funny, relatable, and energetic hour of stand-up that consolidates Courtney Büchner’s position as a rising talent at the Fringe. It is an ideal early evening show to kick off a night out with friends, offering plenty of laugh-out-loud moments alongside genuinely perceptive observations on adult relationships. Highly recommended.