The infamous opening notes of Shania Twain’s Man! I Feel Like a Woman! blast out across Monkey Barrel Comedy as Olga Koch appears in a cowboy hat, clapping along. Her introduction sets the high camp tone for a sparkling show about “hoe culture”.
But what is hoe culture? It’s feather boas, ordering rounds of shots but never paying, trying to seduce a rockstar just to see if you can, Koch tells us. And you’re not always going to like it: “Nadine Dorries is hoe culture,” she warns.
Koch’s 2018 fringe debut Fight was nominated for best newcomer at the Edinburgh comedy awards, and her subsequent shows have attracted nominations from other festivals. She’s a familiar voice on UK radio, too, thanks to BBC versions of her standup shows and her fun mini-series Human Error. Here, she is an assured and charismatic host, steering us through tales of sex and sexuality with a knowing cheekiness and the occasional slice of black humour.
The story starts with Koch facing a break-up. Embracing hoe culture is going to get her through. She decides to engineer the perfect threesome. There’s lots of fun material about bisexuality (“we spent hundreds of years objectifying women, it’s OK if it worked”), Abba, straight men’s fear of sexualising themselves (straight-guy dick pics are so bad, she says, they could all be captioned “Is this normal?”), The Bachelorette, and even a segue about Captain Tom. A couple of jokes threaten to discuss consent and power in the industry, but just skim the surface.
As a romantic interest comes into focus, we live the confusing dance that plays out when you have just met someone attractive, as an onstage phone receives messages that are read out by an audience member. It’s a fun device that allows Koch to temporarily puncture her own unwavering confidence.
“I make comedy for 15-year-old girls who got left on read and think the world’s going to end,” Koch says. After two years of relentless bleakness, where the world felt close to ending for all of us, this is a refreshing hour of sexually charged fun and tongue-in-cheek punchlines, with a sweet and unexpected twist.
At Monkey Barrel Comedy, Edinburgh, until 28 August.
