2019’s Best Newcomer nominee Helen Bauer has announced her first UK tour starting on Wednesday 28th September at the Edinburgh Stand culminating with five nights at London’s Soho Theatre from Tuesday1st – Saturday 5th November. This follows a month long run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s Pleasance Courtyard.
Her new show, ‘Madam Good Tit’, is about self-confidence, self-esteem and self-care. After the sell-out success of her debut hour, ‘Little Miss Baby Angel Face’, at the Fringe and a prestigious Soho Theatre run that followed, the past year has seen Helen’s star truly risen with laugh out loud appearances on Live at The Apollo (BBC 2) and The Stand-Up Sketch Show (ITV2).
This comedy powerhouse also had her own BBC Three show, ‘Small Doses’, released at the end of March on BBCiPlayer, made by the producers of ‘Feel Good’. Helen also co-hosts two critically acclaimed hit podcasts: ‘Trusty Hogs’ with Catherine Bohart and ‘Daddy Look At Me’ with Rosie Jones.
Taking care of yourself has never been more ‘in’. Inspirational quotes and facemasks are a big industry, and, like all her friends, Helen is trying to ‘be the change she wants to see’. However, like everything else, self-care is a money-making business filled with influencers that get you when you are down and you are truly stuck. Helen has lost so many hours watching ‘Yoga With Adrienne’ instead of going out for a walk…
She grew up watching the ‘damaging’ reality diet TV shows that ran the noughties. But was it really worse than what is supposed to help us now? In 2002 a famous cereal advertised to young girls that they needed to stop having lunch and just have another bowl of cereal. Helen Bauer was 11 and living in Fleet, Hampshire, and her friends also fell into the same trap of addictively watching these shows. Body image issues will never end. Our mothers, our grandmothers - it’s a wonderful tradition passed through generations ‘Here darling, you have my eyes and my unhealthy relationship with food.’ Just like two peas in a pod.
Self-care, like anything to do with ‘self’, isn’t about how you feel, it’s about how other people feel about you, their perceptions affect your brain. Now we are living with COVID, who is watching out for others? Who looks after No.1? Statistically, men survive because they save themselves, where women hold back to help and gather things. We will gather anything apart from the self-esteem to save ourselves.
After a childhood spent in museums riding the earthquake simulators and going into museum trench and blitz experiences, Helen believes she can take on these challenges with no real-world training. Helen explores her own self-esteem and experiences with secret eating, reality tv shows and, of course, her mother being thinner than her.
Other TV credits include Stand Up For Live Comedy: BBC Presents (BBC 1 & 3), judging the BBC New Comedy Awards 2021 (BBC 1 & 3), Edinburgh Nights (BBC 2), Period Dramas (BBC 3), CelebAbility, The Emily Attack Show, Hey Tracey (ITV2), The Dog Ate My Homework (CBBC), Pep Talk, Fat Chat and Comedy Central’s Digital Fringe (Comedy Central) and Hypothetical (Dave).
Radio appearances include Unexpected Fluids, Wheel Of Misfortune and Scarlett Moffat Wants To Believe (BBC Radio 1), Radio 4’s Comedy Club and Newsjack Unplugged (BBC Radio 4).
