Olga Koch

Olga Alfredovna Koch (Ольга Альфредовна Кох; born 1 September 1992) is a Russian-British stand-up comedian, writer, and actress.

Education and early life
Koch was born 1 September 1992 in Saint Petersburg, the daughter of Alfred Koch, head of the State Committee for State Property Management of the Russian Federation from 1996 to 1997.

When she was 13, her family moved to the UK, settling in Surrey, where she was educated at The American School in England. She studied computer science at New York University where she also trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

Career
Koch's first show, entitled Me, Me, Me, was in 2016. This was followed by Data Night and Good Vibes in 2017. In 2018 she was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards for her debut hour, Fight. She was named Quantum Leopard Champion of Champions for 2018, jointly with Zoë Tomalin.

Koch regularly appears in line-ups for charity shows, most notably hosting Canned Laughter's Karaoke Roulette.

She has appeared on The Now Show, Mock the Week, Pls Like, Richard Osman's House of Games, Pointless Celebrities, 7 Days, and QI, and written for Newsjack and BBC Three's A Quickie in the Office.

In 2020 Koch hosted a web series for Dave, Bad Advice with Olga Koch.

In November 2020 a recording of her show If/Then was and released as a vinyl record by Monkey Barrel Records.

In 2021, Koch and Hussein Kesvani presented Human Error, a weekly comedy-technology podcast for BBC Sounds.

In July 2021, Olga Koch: OK Computer (a pun on Radiohead album title OK Computer) debuted on BBC Radio 4, and renewed in 2023.

In 2022, her BBC Radio 4 show Olga Koch: Fight won the Best Radio Comedy category at the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain's WGGB Writers' Guild Awards.

In March 2022 she was working on a show called Just Friends (work-in-progress), and touring the work by 21 October 2022. On 2023-12-16, her show Just Friends, filmed at Soho Theatre Dean Street, was released on the 800 Pound Gorilla Media free YouTube channel.

In May 2022, her show Homecoming was released on Amazon Prime as part of Soho Theatre Live.

In September 2022, Koch and Geoff Norcott began presenting a podcast for Late Night Mash.

In 2022, Koch appeared in the third series of Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable, filming took place in July 2022.

Olga Koch: Prawn Cocktail ("how I went to Japan with a stranger I met at a wedding" ) was a work-in-progress for Edinburgh Fringe 2023.

In September 2023, it was announced she would be part of the next Live at the Apollo TV series, with Lara Ricote, Celya AB, Rachel Fairburn, Emmanuel Sonubi, Glenn Moore, Ria Lina and Lou Sanders among others.

On 23 February 2024, Koch was a guest on the British podcast No Such Thing as a Fish, No Such Thing As A Noice Computer.

In January 2024, Koch was touring Olga Koch: Prawn Cocktail ("how I went to Japan with a stranger I met at a wedding" ) in Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, as a produced show, while also touring Olga Koch Comes From Money, as a work-in-progress.

Olga currently co-hosts comedy podcast Glue Factory alongside fellow comedians Milo Edwards, Pierre Novellie and Riley Quinn.

Personal life
Out of fear of persecution by the Russian authorities, Koch's parents fled to Germany in June 2014. , they live on Lake Chiemsee in Rosenheim, Bavaria. Koch lives in Angel, London and is bisexual.