Olga Koch is coming to the Edinburgh Fringe with her debut hour, Fight, in which she tells the story of a surreal episode in her family’s life with a bonus Russian history lesson thrown in for good measure, all with just a shellsuit and a projector to aid her. Funny Women editor Kate Stone caught up with Olga to talk about her show and her favourite term for penises…
Kate Stone: Tell us about your show Fight.
Olga Koch: Fight is a show with the gritty historical storyline of a Vice doc, the heart of a golden age Garry Marshall film, the gags of a more risqué Broadway musical, the twists and turns of the maze from The Shining, the impeccable production value of Berk’s Nest and the direction of the most talented person I know, Charlie Dinkin.
KS: A lot of comedians use autobiographical detail in their show, however, I think yours might be the first to feature espionage, do you have any concerns about telling audiences about it?
OK: Well, when you put it that way, it does sound terribly irresponsible of me.
KS: How does it feel to be doing your debut hour at Edinburgh?
OK: It’s so scary and it feels so important, but then I keep thinking about how my kids are probably not gonna care that I did it at all and for them it’s just gonna be another dumb thing I did before they were born and then I can’t believe that I’m losing all this hair and gaining all this weight for something they aren’t even going to brag about to their friends.
KS: You’ve lived in Russia, America and the UK, how do the comedy scenes compare?
OK: I can’t say I know much about the Russian comedy scene, as when I left it was limited mostly university sketch comedy and a late-night stand-up show with a rotating cast of stand-ups that had been there forever (and dash cam videos, can’t forget those). Both the US and UK scenes are lovely and vast and intimidating – the UK scene is arguably more straightforward career-wise with the presence of prestigious competitions and, crucially, the Edinburgh Fringe. However, I also don’t know what I’m talking about.
KS: You studied computer science and now you perform comedy, both are quite male-dominated areas, why do you think they’re so gender-imbalanced?
OK: Because men are dicks and only a really self-centred person like me would voluntarily spend so much time in their company to learn how a computer works or what the funniest word for penis is. It’s peenus-weenus.
KS: Who are your favourite funny women?
OK: Charlie Dinkin and Catherine Brinkworth and Sophie Duker and Chloe Petts and Issa Rae and Patti Harrison and Tash and Ellie and Maria Bamford and Thanyia Moore and Egg and Evelyn Mok and Jodie Mitchell and Shelf and Britney and Helen Bauer and Chloe Green and Micky Overman and Lulu Popplewell and Brodi Snook and Siân and Zoë and Kemah Bob and Jen Wakefield and Phoebe Walsh and Bisha K Ali and Mindy Kaling and Jenny Slate and Miranda July and I could genuinely go on forever and I tried writing the names as a poem, but not enough of them rhymed…
Olga Koch, Fight is at Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance This at 19:15 from 1st August – 26th August, for tickets and more information click here!
