Review by Lucy Holz
No stranger to high-profile British panel shows, Olga Koch may have Russian American origins, but here in the UK she’s a household name. An icon of the British comedy scene, her brazen style of standup pulls no punches and holds nothing back.
This show is no different, the theme of the set revolving around her immense generational wealth. Olga Koch comes from money, don’t you know. Strutting onto stage with her platinum bob dressed in a sensational power suit, Koch means business, and her business is laughs.
Her set follows life from childhood and high school bullying, through to her Carrie Bradshaw moments at university in New York and working in the world of London tech. This cohesive structure is jam packed with jokes about the money, class and power dynamics in Russia, America and the UK.
Koch deals brilliantly with the crowd, having to handle multiple hecklers throughout the performance. Instead of shutting them down, she treats their interruptions with kindness and an opportunity to insert untold jokes.
She closes the show by acknowledging her privilege and that multiple truths about wealth, hard work and talent can exist simultaneously. This material softens the bulk of the set, ensuring the audience can’t walk away thinking she’s arrogant or unaware.
The Monkey Barrel operates a ‘pay as you feel’ system, allowing a number of audience members in for free, to pay what they think the show is worth following the performance. After an hour of hearing about Koch’s exploits on yachts and her dad buying her an apartment, it would be hard for her to ask for money post set. Koch informs us any door sales will be going entirely to charity, reinforcing the feeling that even though she’s rich, she’s definitely ‘one of the good ones’.
Koch may have benefitted from intergenerational wealth, but she has earned her spot at the top of the UK comedy scene and is not to be missed this fringe.
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