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Jellyfish stars relative newcomer Liv Hill (Three Girls) as Sarah, a schoolgirl whose occasional quips could blossom into a promising stand-up comedy career, and that’s aside from her other little sideline while she’s being a cleaner at the local arcade. I can’t go into details here, but when money’s too tight to mention, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Her drama teacher, Adam Hale (Cyril Nri), makes recommendations about which comedians she should check out, but I’d say yes to some, but no to some others. I definitely think Frankie Boyle’s long since run out of ideas, but George Carlin is timeless.
Meanwhile, jobless mum Karen (Ideal‘s Sinead Matthews) has been putting the family home in jeopardy, and with everything going on, Sarah’s only solace, away from the rest of the family, is to escape to the bathroom.
Personally, I think stand-up comedy is the hardest profession in the world, and reacting to what other people say is a whole different kettle of fish to coming up with your own material 100% of the time.
A comedian constantly has to think of new, hilarious jokes that will (hopefully) appeal to as many people as possible. Could you imagine them going on stage and telling a joke they came up with decades earlier? No, but as we’ve seen in the past week, Mick Jagger can go on stage with the rest of the Rolling Stones and bash out classic tunes from yesteryear, and the crowd will still lap them up.
Also, songs are easier to memorise, mainly due to their repetitive nature.
I briefly tried stand-up for a while and although I got some decent laughs for my first ever gig, I could see how difficult it was to maintain this because to be good, you have to practice, which means gigging several times a week – and while I was okay standing up in front of a crowd if I got a good reaction, the hardest gigs were those where there were just a handful in the room, and if barely any of them were making any sort of reaction.
I also have a bobbins memory, so now, I’d rather make vlogs than do stand-up again, but if anyone’s thinking of trying it, then please do. It’s one of those things where you can only find out what it’s like by trying it. Don’t concern yourself with what others in the audience think, because most of them are either playing on their phones or thinking about that meeting in work, tomorrow.
Overall, Jellyfish is good, and it’s certainly worth a watch, and Liv Hill is definitely one to watch, but there’s something about the film as a whole which didn’t engage with me fully.
However, I have no idea why it’s called Jellyfish, even after watching it.
Jellyfish is released today on Amazon Video, but there should really at least be a DVD of this as well.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 101 minutes
Release date: June 24th 2019
Studio: Signature Entertainment
Format: 1.85:1
Rating: 6/10
Director: James Gardner
Producer: James Gardner
Screenplay: James Gardner, Simon Lord
Music: Victor Hugo Fumagalli
Cast:
Sarah Taylor: Liv Hill
Karen Taylor: Sinead Matthews
Adam Hale: Cyril Nri
Vince: Angus Barnett
Martin: Tomos Eames
Council Office Manager: Victoria Alcock
Martin’s Wife: Helen Kennedy
Marcus Taylor: Henry Lile
Lucy Taylor: Jemima Newman
Daryl: Connor Mills
Malik: Jay Sajjid
Nicole: Lauran Taylor-Griffin
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.