This Russian comedian grew up super rich - and she's not afraid to laugh about it

Sydney Morning Herald

22-04-2025

Many comedians squeeze material from hard-luck origin stories. Not Olga Koch. She grew up wealthy and privileged and, instead of avoiding the issue, she leans right into it.
In fact, the title of the show she is bringing to the Sydney Comedy Festival, which began this week, gives it away – Olga Koch Comes From Money.
'The fact we don't talk about privilege only works for the powerful and the privileged … the only people forced to talk about it are the working class,' she says.
'I wanted to write about privilege and confront it in a way that was unemotional, it wasn't an endorsement but wasn't bragging or even self-flaggelation, I wanted to discuss it in a neutral way … it's not about having privilege but what you do with it.
'[The show is] an examination of privilege and culture in three different countries.'
That's another thing. Koch, 31, was born in Russia but educated in London – at an American international school, so she speaks with an American accent. Then she went to New York for university, and studied computer science. And, she notes, she has lived through pretty interesting times.
'How they lived in Russia at a specific time in the early 2000s was this neoliberal golden egg era, where everyone was really excited about what we could be, but then it took such a dark turn,' she says.
'And also I was in the US when Obama got elected. I have lived at some very specific times.'