Spotlight Comedy presents Comedians of Europe

On the evening of 3 September, Spotlight Comedy took over the stage of Ratas&Kohv to present Comedians of Europe, a showcase of comics living and working across the continent. Hosted by the keenly observational Ann Vaida, it offered an excellent chance to catch a quick bite of several who have shows during the Tallinn Fringe Festival this year. Vaida’s characteristic charm and bonhomie kept the flow of the evening smooth as she introduced and sent off each of the performers’ sets.

First on stage was Estonian Olga Loitsenko, bringing her inquisitive crowdwork and posture-as-punctuation to an audience comprised of friends, lovers, and potential relatives. Offering insights from her travels as well as delving into local knowledge and Baltic rivalries, she showed off a solid sense of when to push, when to retreat, and when to bring in an anecdote to keep the mood light.

Jordan Thomas Gray came next, an apologetic American working in Poland, and clearly a dog person in a room full of cat people. With quips, wordplay, and a perhaps Oedipal perspective on his love life, he discussed the pitfalls of dating models and attempts to evade responsibility for others’ misfortunes. Hot on his heels was Anshita Koul, a queer Berlin-based comedian whose own mother understood that you can’t spell Germany without g-a-y. Pointing out the value of culturally-competent therapy for culturally-sourced traumas, Koul had the audience gasping and giggling at the tribulations of millennial transplants looking for love and friendship, or at least a new set of expectations.

The night rounded out with a pair of locally-based performers, starting with Paolo Fiducia, who stepped back from the host’s beef with Italians by standing firmly with Tommy Cash’s Eurovision performance, before outlining several cultural distinctions and mishaps between his native land and his now-home. Playing gleefully with language and taboos throughout Europe, Fiducia happily skewered everything from cross-cultural Catholicism to MMA fighting to his own willingness to indulge conspiracy theories. 

Our final act of the evening was local cabaret accompanist and piano-playing comedian Rene Paul, who kept a tight, punny set elaborately deconstructing the dangers of his chosen field. With original songs that had him leaning into the audience’s initially-unprompted desire to sing along, Paul brought us on a wellness journey that reminded us that even if we linger on past romances, we shouldn’t romanticise the past.

Spotlight Comedy and the comedians of Europe can be found at solo sets as well as showcases throughout the Tallinn Fringe Festival, which runs through 18 September.

Author: Laurie

Laurie likes alliteration, ambiance, and lists with three things.