The stage, radio, screenwriter and comedian makes her India debut.
Olga Koch: Top Of The Kochs sees Olga bringing her Greatest Hits (well, Greatest Comedy Bits) to Mumbai, combining all four of her award-nominated hours into one mega-show for Indian audiences only. Prepare to hear about what it’s like to be the only woman on a computer science course, the only Russian in an American school, and the only person who finds sex and dating kinda weird. This show from a rising star on the international comedy circuit will surely have something for everyone and maybe a few short bits only for you.
Olga will be joined at The Habitat on the first evening by one of India’s most sought after young talents, Urooj Ashfaq, and on the second evening by the host and creator of the Amazon Prime Original show One Mic Stand, Sapan Verma.
Mark Godfrey, Executive Director of Soho Theatre, said: “We’re thrilled to be bringing Olga to Mumbai for the first time, and to be working with great venues G5A and The Habitat to do so. This is part of Soho Theatre’s wider programme bringing some of the best Indian comedy to the UK, and UK and international comedy to India. This has included Mumbai runs for Shaparak Khorsandi, Nina Conti, Lauren Pattison and Ahir Shah. We’ve been delighted to host a huge range of Indian performers at Soho Theatre, London – shows coming soon include Zakir Khan, Suhani Shah and Aditi Mittal. We’re also thrilled to be working with Sumit Naganath, Soho Theatre’s Comedy Producer based at our partner G5A, Mumbai. Sumit will be with us at this year’s 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival as we again present some of the best Indian comedy talents at the world’s largest international arts festival.”
Sumit Naganath, Soho Theatre Comedy Producer in Mumbai, said: “We’re very excited to present Olga’s work here in Mumbai. I’ve watched her live at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last year and instantly thought that she is a global act. I’m thrilled for her to play in the hub of Indian comedy, Mumbai, and I’m sure that Indian audiences will get to see a new style of comedy from this talented comedian.”
Soho Theatre and Olga first met in 2015 when she applied to take part in Soho Theatre Labs – our artist and talent development programme. Starting with the Stand-Up Lab, this was followed by the Sketch Lab, Plus Lab and Edinburgh Lab. Her first performance at our Dean Street venue was in 2016 as part of the Soho Rising Mixed Bill Gala.
Since then, Olga has performed all four of her solo shows at Soho Theatre including Homecoming, which was also filmed for Soho Theatre Live, and is available on Amazon Prime UK. In 2019, we co-presented the Comedy Fortress Festival in Croatia, a three-day festival which took place in a medieval fortress in Šibenik, in which Olga was part of the line-up including Nish Kumar, Rose Matafeo and Dylan Moran.
Olga was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018, Best Show at Leicester Comedy Festival in 2020, long-listed for Best Stand Up Show at the National Comedy Awards in 2021 and her show Fight won the 2022 Writer’s Guild Award for Best Radio Comedy. She has also appeared on Mock the Week (BBC Two), QI (BBC Two), Frankie Boyle’s New World Order (BBC Two), Late Night Mash (Dave), Richard Osman’s House of Games (BBC Two), Guessable (Comedy Central), and Question Team (Dave).
Meanwhile in London, Soho Theatre continues to be the leading producer of Indian comedy, working with artists of South Asian heritage from around the world. This spring alone sees Zakir Khan, Suhani Shah, Sunil Patel, Brown Girls Do It too and Rajiv Karia perform on Soho’s three stages.
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