She won our very own Funny Women Stage Award in 2023, and has now fed that into the title of her Edinburgh Fringe show: a title that, as this smart and vibrant hour unfolds, becomes multi-faceted. Cheka has taken the crown and run with it during this high-energy, headily confessional hour – no mean feat when you’re also eight months pregnant. Managing to look achingly cool in a jumpsuit as she grows a tiny human (which she says technically gives her the role of ‘landlord’), she easily wins over the audience with vivid tales of global hook-ups, friendships, politics, and vitally honest comedy industry revelations.
Kate Cheka is a whirlwind of NSFW travel tales and pithy observations – think of her like the effortlessly cool girl you’ve met at a bar, who can hold her own in everything from politics to partying. Yet she hadn’t originally planned to be at the Edinburgh Fringe, having said ‘never again’ after her 2024 run, when she was a nominee for Chortle’s Best Newcomer.
The Fringe is famously brutal financially, mentally and physically, yet Kate’s not the only self-described ‘glutton for punishment’ who came back for another round. It’s just that she’s a particularly welcome returning act, holding the audience in the palm of her hand, whether she’s talking about a sex act on a Barcelona street, trad wife influencers, the rampant colonialism of the British Museum, or her call to defund the police. She’s 50% confessional chatter, 50% acerbic socio-political commentator, and it’s a winning combination.
As someone who’s very into travel, I loved that Kate’s adventures in Katmandu, Berlin and beyond aren’t the stuff of typical guidebooks (and she also skewers the ridiculousness of recommendations for visiting the UK, too). She hangs out and hooks up with locals, and really gets to know the destination – in the case of Berlin, living there for years. Glossy travelogue this is not, thank God, and I’d rather watch a whole series of Kate exploring new cities than yet another faux-friendly adventure documentary with the usual bland and palatable presenters that TV producers foist upon us.
By cleverly adding an outro as she leaves the stage, with overlapping voice notes and music, we feel surrounded by some of the people Cheka brought to life in her anecdotes. It’s like we’re part of the group. However, in the closing moments of the show, we’ve also learned of several bombshells – the only one I’ll spoil here, because it’s important for the context of the hour and its title, is that she’s quitting comedy. This will be her last show.
It’s a sad day for comedy when someone as talented as Cheka doesn’t feel safe and welcome in the industry, and (as is well within her right) chooses to walk away. It’s up to everyone in the system, but especially the straight, white, able-bodied men who’ve benefitted from being the comedic majority for so long, to make this a healthy career path and platform.
Women of colour, LGBTQ+ folk and people with disabilities remain underrepresented on our stages, in our clubs and in our panel shows, quiz shows and podcasts, and this will continue for as long as they are marginalised, sanitised, or told to gloss over harmful incidents.
If and when Cheka should ever choose to return, whether it be on a stage in Marseilles, Katmandu or Edinburgh, I’ll be among the many queueing up to see her. And if this proves to be her swan song, we know she’s blazed a trail for many future funny women.
Catch The Last Funny Woman at PBH’s Free Fringe @ Voodoo Rooms (Carte Blanche!), 17:55, running until Sunday 30th August. Get tickets here!
To support her further, you can follow Kate Cheka on Instagram.
