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The National
11-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Five of the best things I've seen at the Edinburgh Fringe so far
The Fringe is incredible for taking you on a journey through the full spectrum of the human experience, from cringe-inducing low to euphoric highs. These five picks can be placed in the latter category. Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes Catherine Cohen is performing at the Fringe (Image: Dev Bowman) Cat Cohen is an absolute whirlwind of a woman. She comes on stage in silhouette, before the lights reveal a fantastically glamorous sequinned get-up and she bursts into song. The diva energy is palpable from the outset. Cohen's hour-long show focuses on her experience of having a stroke in her early 30s – combining themes of self-doubt, millennial self-interest and showbiz ambitions with her health journey. Her ability to coin a phrase is incredible (I can't stop thinking about describing hospital lighting as "giving cellulite), and almost as impressive as her extremely catchy cabaret songs (which I hummed on the train all the way home). This is an incredibly tight hour of comedy and music from a young woman absolutely bursting with talent. The future is incredibly bright for Miss Cohen. Rating: 5/5 Find out more here Kieran Hodgson: Voice of America Kieran Hodgson is probably most recognisable to Scottish audiences from his role as Gordon in Two Doors Down. What you might not know is that Kieran had a minor role as "Sandwich Guy" in DC film The Flash. The team behind the film required that he perform with an American accent – prompting the English-born, Glasgow-based comedian to reckon with his understanding of what it really means to be American in 2025. This is a seriously smart hour of stand-up, which also manages to showcase Hodgson's exceptional impression skills. He is also just a seriously likeable guy. Note: I am slightly cheating here, as I saw a preview of this show in Glasgow rather than at its actual Edinburgh run. Rating: 4/5 Find out more here The Fit Prince (who gets switched on the square in the frosty castle the night before (insert public holiday here)) The Fit Prince has maybe the longest title of any Fringe show this year (Image: Awkward Productions) Having already seen Awkward Productions' brilliant Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story, this was one of my must-sees going into Fringe 2025. It more than lived up to expectation. The Fit Prince is an extremely funny, extremely silly take on the sorts of cookie-cutter Netflix Christmas films and Hallmark movies that get pumped out of the Content Factory every year and inexplicably make massive amounts of money. With low-budget props and clever use of pre-filmed segments from LGBT+ cult favourites, the talented team behind the show create a lot out of a little. The highlight is the mini-concert from Swedonian favourites BAAB (obviously a play on ABBA), with creators Linus Karp and Joseph Martin donning their sparkly dresses for renditions of everyone's favourite pop hits – including Movement King. As ever, the latest production from this team includes lots of hilarious audience interaction ... so be prepared to take to the stage and become a part of the cast if you head to this one. Rating: 4/5 Find out more here Mark Jennings: Bread and Circuses Marc Jennings is seriously funny. I first came across him years ago online as he was doing a pitch-perfect impression of former Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross. I've followed his career ever since. The stand-up comedian and podcaster is an underrated talent who deserves a lot more attention. Maybe this latest show will do the trick. Discussing everything from modern dating to the mess of UK and Scottish politics, Jennings darts easily from one topic to another with the ease of your mate at the pub. This one has some seriously quotable punchlines too. Rating: 4/5 Find out more here Body Count Issy Knowles is the writer and performer behind Body Count (Image: Body Count) Body Count, a new one-woman show from Issy Knowles, explores the horrifying world of competitive sex. Based loosely on the infamous escapades of women like Bonnie Blue and Lily Phillips, this show imagines the inner life of those who participate in increasingly extreme sexual activities. With only a smartphone, a bed and a whole lot of condoms, Knowles brings together a thought-provoking, well-structured performance. I would have liked more exploration of how social media led us here, rather than some of the more cliched and one-dimensional depictions of the men in the story, but overall this show is a real talker. Go with your friends, and discuss it over a pint afterwards. Is the line between empowerment and degradation really so thin? Rating: 3.5/5 Find out more here Let us know what your favourite shows have been in the comments.
Metro
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Netflix's Cat Cohen had a stroke age 30 and it's a surprisingly hilarious story
Cat Cohen is a force of comedy nature. Only she can perform a whole show about having a stroke without allowing the audience a moment to draw breath between laughs. Broad Strokes marks the 33-year-old US comedian's triumphant and beautifully unhinged return to the Edinburgh Fringe, with sold-out nights up to her eyeballs and a show that fully deserves every star. The Only Murders in the Building star's cabaret-style hour is jam-packed with belly laughs and intentionally navel-gazing gags about the need to be the brightest, most interesting woman in the world. 'It's giving coastal grandmother aesthetic,' Cat says of her stroke, which happened just as she was about to travel to (demure French accent incoming) 'Eurrrropppe' in 2023 for her cancelled Fringe run. Netflix special star Cat's on-stage persona is far more preoccupied with the image of having a stroke than the stroke itself: is the physical hole in her heart a manifestation of her need for validation? Isn't it 'creative' to have a stroke at the age of 30? Not only is Cat one of the most impressive stand-up comedians to grace the Pleasance Courtyard, but she also sings hilariously penned songs which explore important topics like, 'Are you mad at me?!?!?!' in a silky-smooth voice and ample glitz, primed for the West End. But there isn't a whiff of musical cheese here: just radical frankness and deft comedy that scratches the bones of the zeitgeist before we realise we're in it. Describing her stroke, Cat doesn't take a serious turn but amps up the comedy by 100 decibels. She's watching Selling Sunset and tries to turn it off, but her arm won't move. 'Okay, Chrishell…' she panics. This is typical of Cat's humour: irreverent and unapologetic. The idea of being a normal girl makes Cat's skin crawl. As do 'adult blondes' who no one should trust . Another recurring joke is that Cat still identifies as 'young for her grade' which means she can't reasonably be expected to buy a house or grow up any time soon. But Cat isn't just a relatable queen. She's also an incredibly skilled joke writer, crafting multi-layered and surprising gags just when the audience thinks they've got the measure of her. Like when the Uber arrives to take a distressed Cat to the hospital, and she sees a female driver. 'What is this, the f***ing Barbie movie?' she jokes. More Trending Somehow, Cat provides maximum laughs and minimum trauma-dumping in a show exclusively about her hitting rock bottom. Well, she's picked herself up from the floor and created one of the Fringe's most exciting shows this year. It's a, ahem, stroke of genius. I'm left wondering: what can't Cat Cohen do? Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes is showing at the Edinburgh Fringe until 24 August. Tickets here. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Alan Davies 'moved' by audience during his harrowing show detailing childhood abuse MORE: TV star's harrowing show detailing abuse is a must-watch for all fat people MORE: Record-breaking TV series hailed 'funniest in ages' launches on free UK streamer
Evening Standard
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Evening Standard
Edinburgh Fringe Round Up
Sometimes the stories come completely out of the blue. New Yorker Cat Cohen, winner of the 2019 Best Newcomer Award here, had a major tour planned for 2023 which she abruptly cancelled. In her latest show Broad Strokes – don't call it a comeback – Cohen (Pleasance, five stars) reveals how she had a stroke at the age of 30. It was totally unexpected, though looking back there may have been a link to the migraines that she had suffered from since childhood. She thought she was a hypochondriac but an MRI scan revealed a hole in her heart. Though of course she could still be a hypochondriac.
The Guardian
06-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes review – unmissable return of the egomaniacal millennial
Everything was going right for cabaret comic Cat Cohen two years ago: Netflix special under her belt, European tour imminent. Then the New Yorker had, in her words, 'a stroke at 30: isn't that so creative?' Diagnosed with a PFO, or (could it be more perfect for her comedy?) a 'hole in the heart', she underwent surgery, cancelling her 2023 fringe run. Now she's back, with the show telling that sorry tale – although in the 33-year-old's account, nothing could be further from the 'trauma comedy' with which the festival's arteries sometimes feel clotted. The dance with sincerity Broad Strokes performs is in fact part of its considerable charm. We know Cohen for her deranged self-consciousness, splaying across the stage, in song and standup, the babbling inner voice of the self-obsessed millennial. How would such a persona process this medical emergency? As an opportunity to advertise their uniqueness, of course! And so Cohen considers her stroke in relation to once being labelled (horror of horrors!) 'a normal girl' by a casting director, and as a vindication of a lifetime's health anxiety. 'I wasn't a hypochondriac,' she trills, 'I was a prophet!' In a beautifully constructed hour, we're led from Cohen's experience of suffering her stroke, via flashbacks to her 'migraines with a visual aura' in childhood, to her stint in hospital ('honey, we're gonna need a gayer nurse!'). With Frazer Hadfield on piano, an array of songs (about her need for 'complete control'; about the many foibles for which a stroke might be divine punishment) suggest how Cohen is processing this event emotionally. Not that the spoken parts of Broad Strokes are emotionally guarded. Far from it: Cohen conceals precisely nothing of her attention-seeking inner life, the whole misadventure being rendered in her usual cascade of overshares, sassy asides, and glamorous or goofy voices – none funnier than the sultry femme fatale she becomes when addressing her surgeon Dr Love. Two final songs, meanwhile, both minister to and subvert our expectation that some learning might arise from this odyssey. This is such a rich, perfectly formed show from one of the most can't-take-your-eyes-off-them acts in comedy. At Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until 24 August All our Edinburgh festival reviews
