Olga Alfredovna Koch (; born 1 September 1992) is a Russian-British
stand-up comedian
Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...
, writer, and actress.
Early life
Koch is the daughter of
Alfred Koch
Alfred Reingoldovich Kokh (Koch) (russian: Альфред Рейнгольдович Кох, german: Alfred Reingoldowitsch Koch, born 28 February 1961) is a Russian statesman, writer, mathematician-economist, and businessman. From 12 September ...
, head of the
from 1996 to 1997.
When she was 13, her family moved to the UK, settling in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, where she was educated at
The American School in England.
She studied
computer programming
Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as ana ...
at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, and also trained at the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh.
Prior t ...
.
Career
Koch's first show was in 2016, entitled ''Me, Me, Me''. This was followed by ''Data Night'' and ''Good Vibes'' in 2017.
In 2018, she was nominated for Best Newcomer at the
Edinburgh Comedy Awards
The Dave (TV channel), Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival ...
for her debut hour, ''Fight''.
She was named
Quantum Leopard Champion of Champions for 2018, jointly with
Zoë Tomalin.
A recording of her next show ''If / Then'' was released as a vinyl record on Monkey Barrel Records in November 2020.
She has appeared on ''
The Now Show
''The Now Show'' is a British radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, which satirises the week's news. The show is a mixture of stand-up, sketches and songs hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. The show used to feature regular appearances by J ...
'', ''
Mock the Week
''Mock the Week'' is a British topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. The programme was present ...
'', ''
Pls Like
''Pls Like'' is a BBC television satirical mockumentary, produced by Left Bank Pictures and screened on BBC Three online in 2017. A second series followed in 2018 and a third in 2021. The first series starred Liam Williams as himself, in a qu ...
'', ''
Richard Osman's House of Games
''Richard Osman's House of Games'' is a British quiz show produced by Banijay (owners of Endemol Shine UK), a branch of Remarkable Television for the BBC. The show is hosted by Richard Osman. It is played on a weekly basis, with four "celebri ...
'', ''
Pointless Celebrities
''Pointless'' is a British television quiz show produced by Banijay subsidiary Remarkable Television for the BBC. It is hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but obscure answers to ...
'' and ''
QI'', and written for ''
Newsjack
''Newsjack'' was a British satirical sketch show which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra between 2009 and 2021. It was hosted by Miles Jupp (2009-Mar 2011), Justin Edwards (Sep 2011-2013), Romesh Ranganathan (2014), Nish Kumar (2015-2016), ...
'' and
BBC Three
BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...
's ''A Quickie in the Office''.
In 2020 Koch hosted a web series for
Dave Dave may refer to:
Film, television, and theater
* ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver
* ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film
* Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...
called ‘Bad Advice with Olga Koch’
Koch regularly appears in lineups for charity shows, most notably hosting Canned Laughter's Karaoke Roulette.
Her BBC Radio 4's ''Olga Koch: Fight'' won the 2022 The Best Radio Comedy Award at Writers’ Guild Awards winners.
, she is working on a show called "Just Friends" (WIP).
Her show "Homecoming" was released on Amazon Prime in May 2022 as part of Soho Theatre Live.
Olga will be appearing in the third series of ''Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable'', after filming took place in July 2022.
Personal life
She lives in
Angel, London
Angel is an area on the northern fringes of Central London within the London Borough of Islington. It is north-northeast of Charing Cross on the Inner Ring Road at a busy transport intersection. The area is identified in the London Plan as one ...
.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koch, Olga Alfredovna
British women comedians
Living people
1992 births
New York University alumni
Russian emigrants to the United Kingdom
21st-century British comedians
English expatriates in the United States