Edinburgh Festival Fringe Review: News at Kate (****)

The beauty of the Fringe is that sometimes you can go into a free show on impulse and discover a very funny stand-up comedienne such as Kate Smurthwaite. Her material is well structured, up to date, with a wry observation of life and a lot is based on her experiences as a professional arguer for the BBC. The audience loved her show and at times were falling about laughing.

Kate was very approachable and worked well talking to the audience but she did not pick on one particular person and then proceed to ‘make fun of them for the entire show’ like some comedians. The show has one or two adult themes with a little swearing, however this should not put you off what is a very fluid show. Some of her views are left wing and potentially controversial, but then it seems that sailing close to the wind is one of her specialties! Gags such as: “Dear bus users, can we all carry our bus passes in our front pockets and get them out before boarding? This will save 6 years of my life!” are typical of her craft.

Go see News at Kate in Ciao Roma daily at 8.20pm until 29th Aug.