Kate Cheka @ Hoots at Potterrow
Politically sharp newcomer Kate Cheka riffs on Mary, mental health, and meeting Bob Geldof
As Kate Cheka leads the audience through a rousing rendition of her musical finale, a song entitled 'Eat The Rich' set to the tune of ‘Do They Know It's Christmas?’, it's impossible not to root for her. With a winning smile, Barbie-glo outfit and eccentric merch (Kate Cheka candles, anyone?), she has a warmth which belies some of her darker lines around mental health and self harm.
But first, there's a slightly hesitant start; the crowd not fully relaxed into Fringe mode, and reluctant to comply with some of Cheka's opening questions. You sense that she might be better just cracking on with her set rather than asking what Barry and Sally have been up to that morning, which may be just as much to settle her nerves as the audience’s. However, when Cheka gets into her flow, she's unstoppable. Her enthusiastic delivery cracks along at such a pace that you wonder whether she's remembering to breathe, careering between topics as diverse as orca revolutionaries, fancying the policemen on demos, and her unorthodox family history.
Cheka's central theme is that she was born to achieve greatness, and her struggles to date to fulfil this destiny. She may not be the messiah, but her smart one-liners reveal a political instinct that clearly influences her style and approach, never afraid to highlight the issues she faces as a female POC comic in what is still a jarringly white field.
Although Cheka is sometimes hindered by her venue – waves of background noise, her blackout drape being dislodged by high winds – her off-the-cuff responses to these occasional hiccups show off a sharp comedic brain with an answer for anything.
Kate Cheka: A Messiah Comes, Hoots @ Potterrow (Wee Yurt), until 25 Aug, 12.25pm, £5