‘It was the first time I wasn’t obsessed with food’: comedians mine Ozempic trend for laughs at Edinburgh fringe

Female comics will confront body dysmorphia by turning the mirror on themselves and then back on society

Solo performers on Edinburgh’s fringe are jointly confronting one of the most personally undermining ailments – body dysmorphia. Next weekend a range of female comedians – from self-confessed users of weight-loss drugs, to obsessive dieters and serial cosmetic surgery customers – will be fighting back against the damage caused by the pressure to look thin. In a string of shows they will turn the mirror first on themselves and then on wider society.

“Like many people, I thought life would start when I got to the right weight. Then you lose weight and think, how come I still don’t feel right?” said Michelle Shaughnessy, 40, an acclaimed Canadian comic who has written an unflinching new show, Too Late, Baby, revealing her reliance on semaglutide, the controversial weight-loss drug. “I never wanted to talk about it at my age. I thought, people are going to think it is a younger woman’s issue, and that I should have bigger things on my mind. But I still can’t get a handle on this.”