Olga Koch: Fat Tom Cruise review – surefire standup pirouettes through the punchlines

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe fast-talking comic considers fraternity culture, gender discrimination and an unrequited crush in a cleverly engineered show From the outset, Olga Koch’s show Fat Tom Cruise looks like it’s got something meaningful to say. It’s not just the screens and sleek stage furniture, on to which details of several US legal cases are projected (alongside many a glib punchline, admittedly). It’s also our host’s swaggering authority: Koch powers through her show like a woman on a mission. So what’s its agenda, this new set that professes to tell a story that really isn’t Koch’s own? Well, to begin with, it’s that men’s self-esteem issues are laughable and that “teenage girls are more emotionally intelligent than any man”. Hmm, I thought. Until, in due course, Koch is revealed to be engaging in a good old-fashioned bait-and-switch. But first, the story in question, which traces the young Koch’s journey from school senior, avenging herself on an unrequited crush, to college student in the US. Here, our host is drawn into fraternity culture – first at a hazing ritual in which she reluctantly participates, and later when buddying up at