Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

This is an impressive debut for a bright comic making her  Fringe debut, especially given she’s doing so under her own steam, no agent nor producer backup. 

Kate Cheka is charismatic, eloquent, frank and witty and serves up a well-put together show with a rare political element and plenty of amusing personal yarns. With the world in such a parlous state, it might be considered remarkable how many comics use their stand-up to analyse themselves rather than society’s wider problems, but Cheka combines both.

Maybe an interest in politics was inevitable. Her father was a government minister in Tanzania, and her mother has strong socialist and feminist values, which have clearly been inherited. This might be what gave her a Messiah Complex – which would have been the title of this show had Russell Brand not got there first – convinced she could save the planet.

Although she makes her points, Cheka’s main philosophy comes from the anarchist motto: ‘If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution’. A good time is more important than sermonising. So while she might be one of the few comics to address Gaza, she does so with light, punny, cheeky gags, not angry polemic.

Cheka has the ability to talk about anything and make it feel fresh (even the occasionally hack subject such as waxing pubic hair) as well as the butter-wouldn’t-melt charm that allows her to say the most horrible thing about white men, and those of us who fit the bill all laugh along. Likewise, her joke about the billionaires who died in the submarine disaster certainly isn’t kind – but it is brilliant: edgily funny while getting a strong point across.

This pacy show features a surfeit of fun and frank stories.  Cheka is flirty, sex-positive and spontaneous – a dangerous combination that’s got her into some troubling situations as she ‘travels the world for dick’. She might not be the Messiah but she’s a very naughty woman…

Being so disarmingly open makes Cheka – last year’s Funny Women winner and Chortle best newcomer nominee – thoroughly engaging. She’s a natural at being the centre of attention and fizzes with verve as she shares her stories and opinions freely and indiscreetly.  It’s a delight to be in her company for an hour.

Review date: 11 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Hoots @ Potterow