A whole lotta Love-In

10:00am Thursday 15th May 2008

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In her latest show, Lucy Porter examines that crazy little thing called love. Miriam Craig talks to the seductive comedian about romance and the inevitable humiliation that accompanies it.

"The point is, I suppose, that love is a mental illness and it's all a waste of time," says Lucy Porter.

Yet it's clear that when it comes to love, no single comment from Porter can be taken in isolation.

"The thing about love is that your opinion on it so depends on how you're feeling at the time," she says.

Her latest show, Lucy Porter's Love-In, steals mercilessly from Porter's own love-related experiences and those of her friends, or, as she describes them, "people who used to be my friends".

This involves a certain amount of self-abasement on Porter's part. "There are some bits that I probably shouldn't say on stage. It's mostly about the humiliation I've brought on myself," she says.

It is the sixth solo show from the 35-year-old comic, who was a TV researcher as well as doing "lots and lots and lots of temping" before starting her stand-up career.

Her name comes up regularly on awards lists; in 2004 she won the Fringe Report Award for best stand up, and in 2006 she won the Radio Forth Best Comedian Award for her Edinburgh Fringe show. She has starred in The Powder Room, a six-part series for Radio 2, and is a regular panellist on Radio 4's The Personality Test.

She is also a BAFTA-nominated comedy script-writer, and has written for performers such as Jimmy Tarbuck and Griff Rhys Jones.

When it comes to courting the opposite sex, Camden-based Porter has no time for old-fashioned notions of women having to wait for men to ask them out.

"I've asked men out. I do it all the time," she says. "I guess that fear of rejection is still there, but that's what needs to change if you want to get rid of all this thrill-of-the-chase nonsense. It feeds into the general sense that women are dependent on men, which isn't a good thing."

Porter finds less-than-quirky romantic comedies in the vein of the recent 27 Dresses positively repellent. She says: "I imagine the new Sex and the City movie will make me want to cut off my face. Things like that are so awful."

Her preference is for portrayals of love that avoid cliché and have a dark twist, such as The Apartment, starring Jack Lemon and Shirley MacLaine: "It's brilliant. She's suicidal, for one thing. It's cleverly done. I liked the film Knocked Up as well - I thought it was hilarious. But the premise that the woman is the civilising influence on the man, and that women should put up with men being idiots - I'm so sick of it.

"Of course, I say all these things but in my own life it's harder to live it. Sex and the City will come on TV and I'll find myself strangely drawn to the screen."

Unlike straight-laced Hollywood formulas, in her show, Porter will visit the crashing lows and exhilerating highs of real-life love. She does worry, however, about the effect this could have on her audience.

She says: "I think it could be really awful if people are having a few problems. You know how if you're in a bad patch in a relationship then any remark can be really uncomfortable. Maybe people should only buy tickets if they're single, or if they're confident that they're in a stable relationship."

Lucy Porter will appear at artsdepot, at Tally Ho Corner, North Finchley, on May 30 at 8pm. The show contains adult material. Tickets cost £14 (concessions £12) and are available from the box office on 020 8369 5454.