London-based comedian Kate Cheka, winner of the Funny Women Award 2023, and nominee for Chortle Best Newcomer 2024 and DIVA Magazine Queer Comedian of the Year 2025, is performing her new work-in-progress show The Last Funny Woman for one night only at the Barcelona Fringe Festival.
She is touchingly surprised to find that she has an audience. Apparently she performed her debut solo in Barcelona last year to around six people. No doubt her recent visit to the city to headline some showcases here at The Comedy Clubhouse secured her some new local fans, and there’s a decent audience tonight.
Kate opens with a bit of crowd work, which is amiable and genuine, before moving into a little locally themed material with a story about a racy recent trip to Madrid. It includes a wonderfully silly play-on-words joke that makes me honk.
The rest of the show progresses through hilarious stories about Kate’s current living situation, the farmer she could have married, an awards ceremony after party, appearing on BBC Radio 4, telling abortion jokes in Texas, and Berlin STI tests. These are interspersed with razor-sharp jokes about colonialism, fascist protests in the UK, and a brilliant take on who the real threat to Brexit-voting little Englanders may be…
This is a work in progress, and maybe its third or fourth outing, and Kate deftly creates a mood of good will, warmth and camaraderie which allows the material plenty of space to stretch its legs. She is a supremely likeable and charismatic performer, and a natural storyteller, and frequently checks in with her rapt audience with a “Yes!” or an “I know!” which is such a simple but endearing way of maintaining the cosy, friends-chatting-in-the-pub atmosphere. This easygoing vibe also allows for a pleasing comedic version of a jump scare, whenever Kate delivers a whip-smart political zinger or a deliciously dark punchline.
The Last Funny Woman is a hugely enjoyable hour of comedy from a unique voice and a highly accomplished performer. It’s a skillful mix of raunchy, raconteurial energy and cutting social commentary, which seems to reflect the delicate modern balancing act of fighting the good fight whilst having a bloody good time before the whole thing goes up in flames.
All I know is, Kate Cheka will be shouting “WROOOOONG!” in my head as the ship goes down.
