Leslie Gold: Tall Girl Energy

The diminutive New-Jersey-turned-London comedian (as seen at the Comedy Store) tackles the big problems of being a small woman in a world built for the average man - two things she definitely isn’t.

Gold’s 2024 debut garnered 4-star reviews (“Witty, engaging... the perfect mix"). Her second hour is more ambitious, finding laughs in everything from being ‘fun-sized’ to the absurd inequalities of the built environment, with a surprising amount of material about loos. She’s got tall girl energy - whatever the hell that is - and (finally) isn’t afraid to use it.

Contains reference to sexual violence.

“An assured performer with charm, charisma and very relatable.” - Esther Manito

“Massive laughs in a small package. One of my faves!” -Jordan Gray

"Charming and funny." -Sam Lake

Reviews for Leslie's debut show:

★★★★ "Snappy observational wit... a warm, inviting and affable show." -Jewish Renaissance

★★★★ “Witty, engaging and a keen eye for observation... the perfect mix." -Theatre & Art Reviews

Audience reviews:

"Captivating."

"Fantastic storyteller."

"Smart, relatable and so, so funny."

"Laughed from start to finish."

August 5, 2025    One4Review

“Not tall — but towering in presence, attitude, and sheer narrative pace.”
New Jersey’s Leslie Gold brings her new hour Tall Girl Energy to the Fringe — and the first thing you notice is, well, she’s not tall. Just over five feet, in fact. But from the second she walks onstage, dressed in a tomboy-chic ensemble that lands somewhere between Brooklyn barista and early-2000s Avril Lavigne tour manager, she owns the space. She’s got the kind of presence that suggests she could fix your WiFi and your emotional baggage in the same 10-minute window — with a YouTube tutorial on in the background, just for fun.
The title Tall Girl Energy is both a misdirect and a manifesto. Gold isn’t physically towering, but she performs with the strut of someone who’s spent years cultivating inner height — the kind you build from never quite fitting in. It’s a show about confidence, misperception, and how to occupy space in a world that’s all too happy to shrink you down.
Gold’s delivery is clipped and conversational — a kind of American-accented shorthand that loops and twists back on itself. There’s a glint of East Coast cynicism, now softened slightly by UK semantics, like she’s absorbed some of our national discomfort with feelings. She drops jokes veering from punchline to side-note to callback with enviable speed. Sometimes it’s a bit too fast — not everything lands cleanly — but there’s no doubting the intelligence powering it all.
Some of the best material comes from her life story: growing up Jewish in suburban New Jersey, and wrestling with the realities of being a woman in a world designed by and for men. Her bit about consumer products “not made with women in mind” hits particularly well — funny, sharp, and depressingly accurate.
There’s also an undercurrent of imposter syndrome that runs quietly through the show. From shoes that never quite fit to punchlines that double as confessions, Gold plays with that tension between presence and performance. One particularly smart move is the emotional drip-feed — she lets you sit with certain truths just long enough to feel them, but never long enough to derail the rhythm. It’s classy, and cleverly handled.
The show still feels like a work-in-progress in places. Not every section lands with the same clarity or polish, and the pacing occasionally sprints where it could stroll. But there’s real promise here — Gold’s voice is unique, and she’s got the chops to carve out her own space on the circuit.
She might not be tall, but the ambition? Absolutely skyscraper-level. Click Here For Review

August 4, 2025   Fringe Review

Recommended Show

Leslie Gold has an outsized presence for her petite frame. This stand-up hour, with a feminist edge, examines society’s bewilderment with female confidence.

New Jersey native-turned-Londoner Leslie Gold is back at the Fringe with an hour exploring her signature concept: Tall Girl Energy. It refers to the large presence she embodies despite standing just five feet tall. Throughout her life, people have remarked that she doesn’t seem short– a subtle way of expressing surprise that someone so small could have so much confidence. The show unpacks what is going on in that projection.

Gold uses Tall Girl Energy as a gateway into a larger feminist discussion around who we, as a society, expect- and don’t expect- to take up space. She connects this to unconscious biases that surface in everything from everyday encounters to large-scale safety measures and structural norms about who gets protected.

Gold is tapping into a vital cultural conversation, and she holds the floor using an approachable, conversational style that invites curiosity and consideration. She seamlessly blends jokes with storytelling, and infuses the hour with an observant, analytical edge.

Gold highlights how both her mother and grandmother, two other short women with tall girl energy, helped to shape both her stature and character. She talks about how her grandmother instilled in her that “words matter”, which becomes a refrain Gold smartly uses to direct our attention to important moments of the show. A bit more unpacking of what she thinks her grandmother meant by this, and how it shaped her worldview, could further anchor the theme. Gold then analyzes terms like “girl boss” and “short king” that reveal some of our unconscious biases around gender roles and expectations, and power. It’s Carlin-esque, adds extra punch, and more of this would further elevate the piece.

A great irony of the show, whether intentional or not, is that, if it were not for the subject matter, the audience may not clock how short Leslie Gold is- that’s how fully she embodies tall girl energy. It’s as if she’s creating a feminist archetype before your eyes.

If anything, the show’s one soft spot is that it feels slightly more like a concept-in-process than a fully excavated thesis. Gold sets the table beautifully, but one wonders what might happen if she took a few bigger risks- expanded her scope, dug further into her personal history, or pushed the linguistic analysis just a little sharper. The material is strong, but she has the presence and intellect to go even deeper.

This show is Recommended for its vision, cultural critique, and boldness in owning what it is. Click Here For Article