Do you ever feel like you’re barrelling down whatever road your life is on and it’s just not working? Nothing is going right, you keep hearing ‘no’ and you want to bash your head against a bloody wall?

I’ve got a cautionary tale for you – Edinburgh Fringe 2011 was probably one of the worst months of my life. I  broke both feet and was in a lot of pain, I had to cancel shows, I didn’t get reviewed, someone I thought of as a good friend majorly let me down souring the Ed experience even more. Then to top it off I couldn’t find a cheapo package holiday to recover for love nor money.

Apparently every package holiday from the North of England was sold out that week – I was about ready to kill someone frankly.

In a very roundabout way I ended up in NYC with my best friend, where in the space of 4 days  I found a great place to live, a company to sponsor me for a work visa, a theatre has given me 2 nights to perform whenever I choose AND have offered me a regularly monthly ‘sex-themed’ night to present – which makes the work visa waaaay easier to achieve.

What’s my day job again? Oh yeah teaching people how to walk – and what do I do? Fall over walking to bloody Tescos last week!

I wasn’t even drunk, just a twisted broken ankle and 3 broken bones in my left foot and all my hopes of getting laid at Fringe went up in a puff of smoke!

CAPE TIMES – May 2010

SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL – A ROMP THROUGH JO’S LARGE BLACK BOOK

Astrid Stark reviews:

Today’s lesson is not for children. Buckle up for a wild no holds-barred lesson about sex and all things sexy in comedienne .Joanne Wharmby’s one-woman show. Armed with only a flipchart filled with dirty pictures and an extrovert personality, Wharmby takes us on a saucy sex-fuelled roller-coaster ride.

It is not always a pretty story but it sure is funny

The camp and slightly Vaudevillian atmosphere of Beefcakes Burger Bar is an ideal venue for a show that will have you squirming in your seat.

When Wharmby was in her 20s, she was run over by a double- decker bus. She decided to turn this devastating experience to good fortune. “Seeing as they pay you for getting run over in England,” Wharmby says, “I got to travel and live all over the world throughout my 20s, generally having a wonderful time and shagging a United Nations’ worth of men while l was at it.”

At this point you may want to dismiss her as a bimbo, but there is more to her than that.

Ten years after the accident she was living in Sydney still in pain and walking badly when she met a Hellerwork practitioner who helped turn her life around. Hellerwork assists with the realignment of the body’s posture and teaches people to move more gracefully. Wharmby has since been helping other woman restore their body confidence and sensuality.

“My own interests in Tantra, the fact that I’ve shagged over 50 men, along with my knowledge of body mechanics -oh, and the complete lack of an embarrassment gene -meant that friends and clients have always come to me to talk about sex,” says Wharmby. She began writing a book about her experiences, but soon realized that she wanted to speak to people directly and mostly she wanted to make people laugh.

As this is a family paper I will not go into the technicalities, so suffice it for me to say that Wharmby takes no prisoners and leaves no single taboo unexposed. And, yes, she is relating her personal sexual experiences, which lends a brutal, eye-popping reality to the performance.

Every aspect of sex and its accompanying and sometimes embarrassing bodily functions are dissected, turned inside out, and often ridiculed. One cringes, between gulps of laughter, and flushes of embarrassment. It’s not exactly a sexual revolution, but Wharmby does remind us how funny sex can be and how important and cathartic a good sense of humour between the sheets can be.

Wharmby also gently explores the non-sexual aspects of what makes a relationship tick. Add to all this that she bravely chooses to wear a short skirt that shows off her damaged legs. The actress is neither afraid nor embarrassed to show and tell all; her main point being that everyone has sex, yet bizarrely there is such reluctance to talk about it. The show is probably not for the fainthearted or the squeamish.

Funnyman Rob van Vuuren’s direction is fast-paced and edgy and it ensures that the laughter is neatly interspersed with moments of seriousness. Let’s Talk about Sex has just been accepted for the Edinburgh Fringe 2010, where Wharmby will perform on August 5-29.

The Scotsman – 14 August 2010

At the end of Jo Wharmby’s show ‘Lets Talk about Sex’, people thanked her which in itself is a pretty fine review. So thanks again Jo, for the explicit scientific data, clearly and humorously explained, and those true-life confessions, delivered with gemutlich charm.

Wharmby was hit by a bus and received a big payout. With it she traveled the world, sampling from an international menu of lovers. Experience has taught her a lot about bodies, lust and pleasure and she has distilled it into a show that ought to be required viewing for all teenagers, since it answers questions their parents wont or cant, such as what is a g-spot (you’ll be surprised) how you can prolong the male orgasm (step-by-step instructions) and why girth matters.

Without euphemism, without shame Wharmby has the delivery of an evangelist who just happens to be preaching about enjoyment. I was won over by her confident way with biology, her indiscreet tales and her message that once we get over our shame, we’ll have a great time getting on.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk96ddupVXQ

A little snippet of the new show - The truth about ‘dirty talk’

www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5YMGuU_HVg

Why we should let our teenagers wank in peace!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAu6hIc0qV8

Because sometimes size DOES matter… what happened when Jo encountered a MONSTER!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5KLvvF1smA

Some of the reasons that we avoid giving head!