By Anga-Anganda Bushwana
Women should have the freedom to express themselves freely. Women should take up space.
In Trash Mouth, Standard Bank Ovation Award-winning comedian Kate Pinchuck presents a witty and unashamedly risque stand-up comedy set at the Graham Hotel.
Drawing on her stories from her own life, her relationships, sex, and all of the innermost things one typically wouldn’t voice aloud, Pinchuck puts together a hilarious hour-long set. Her humour is honest, unabashed, sharp, and engaging.
“Hi, I’m Kate, and I haven’t had a shower in two days. It’s day two now, and I’m curious how my husband will receive me on day five,” she says, greeting her audience. This is just one example of Pinchuck’s ability to shed light on serious matters, like the water crisis in Makhanda, and present them in a way that is both hysterical and relatable.
At times, her interactions with the audience are as entertaining as the set itself. When a drunk and noisy audience member refuses to behave, Pinchuck doesn’t skip a beat, making them leave their seat: “You’re coming to sit in the front with me; this is your last warning,” she says, assuming the role of comedian and school teacher.
Over the course of Trash Mouth, she shares personal anecdotes like moving back in with her parents, to navigating the first few years of marriage, and the proliferation of friends with babies as soon as one turns 30.
Her wit and her ability to be both entertaining and instructional resonate. Many twenty-somethings, like myself, feel the pressure to have our lives figured out by thirty. Yet Pinchuck’s set showed me how the road to success is non-linear. “Rejection, failure, and success all happen simultaneously, at once. You’ve got to take the good with the bad,” she shares.
Sure, laughter won’t solve all our problems, but it can certainly dilute them. Three cheers for you, Kate; your self-deprecation is worth every laugh.
Trash Mouth, which won a 2023 Standard Bank Ovation Award, is on at the Graham Hotel until 26 June.
