Lucy Porter in the Family Way

I’ll admit, I side-eyed the idea of a comedy audiobook with *original songs*—until Lucy Porter’s opening number about her ‘disappointing but lovable’ clan had me snort-laughing in a coffee shop. This isn’t just stand-up; it’s a love letter to the messy, infuriating, and occasionally heroic act of being part of a family. Porter’s strength lies in her ability to mine humor from the universal (we’ve all had *that* relative) while making it feel intimately hers. Her narration is a live-wire act: conversational yet polished, with a comedian’s impeccable timing and a songwriter’s ear for a hook. When she pivots from a rant about her dad’s DIY disasters to a power ballad about inheritance squabbles, the transition feels organic, not jarring. That said, the production isn’t flawless. Kempner’s impressions, while clever, occasionally veer into *too* broad territory—his ‘angry uncle’ voice borders on pantomime, which clashes with Porter’s more grounded style. And at just under three hours, the pacing drags slightly in the middle; a tighter edit could’ve trimmed a few repetitive callbacks. But these are quibbles. What lingers is Porter’s ability to turn familial exasperation into something joyful, even cathartic. By the finale—a surprisingly tender ode to her nan—I found myself grinning like I’d just left a great dinner party: full, a little tipsy on nostalgia, and already plotting to invite the host back.