Olga Koch
Olga Koch

There are not many comedians in the venn diagram that accompanies a Russian heritage and a background in computer programming, but Olga Koch is one of them.

Olga Koch
Olga Koch

In a packed hour-long show as part of Lichfield Festival 2019 she unpacked the full bag of her experiences.

Touching on the deeply personal and the general, the show took in computing programming and internet dating, how it feels to see an ex-partner talk about their wedding on social media, and many other topics.

With career choices in male dominated environments (computing and stand-up comedy) and being a Russian in America and England, this was very much comedy from an outsider’s point of view, but it shone illumination on how different people view different cultures.

We also saw how it was possible for people to make three dimensional assumptions about people, from the two-dimensional aspects of their social media presence.

The show was fast paced, at times of a strictly adult nature – which felt out of place in environs of St Mary’s – but this was comedy that was timely, incisive, sharp, and all-too human.