2021 The Guardian’s Top 50 Funny Podcasts
2020 VAULT Festival After Dark Award Nominee
2019 Buxton Fringe Best Comedy Winner
2017 Buxton Fringe Best Comedy Winner
AWARDS
Three Weeks
****
review 2022
It’s always hard being the only one on stage… the constant attention! However, Kate Butch appears to revel in it. This drag show celebrates her favourite singer Kate Bush, lip syncing the songs and dancing, and – as well as looking absolutely fabulous in her outfit – Kate Butch brings an incredible energy to the stage. The relentless comedy leaves the audience in hysterics throughout, and her undeniably clever humour is especially well demonstrated in the rewording of these iconic songs. In this intimate venue, the audience can truly appreciate every fantastic element, so whether you like Kate Bush’s songs or not, or even don’t really know who she is, Kate Butch is guaranteed to provide a night full of hilarious fun.
REVIEW 2019
In 2017, Kate Butch made her Buxton Fringe debut and – seemingly out of nowhere – became the hottest ticket in town. In 2019, she returns, facing a full house and high expectations. This, as she wryly comments, is ‘the difficult second album’. Luckily, though, Kate is no one-hit wonder, as her latest show proves.
Faced with the task of following up her first hit show, Kate is putting together a jukebox musical based around the songs of her idol and almost namesake, Kate Bush. A student of the jukebox musical, Butch is determined to shoehorn as many hits into Bush! The Musical as she can, no matter how tangential their lyrics may appear. This leads to an hour of hilarious audience interaction (I was brought up on stage to play James, the central character’s faithless husband), comically honest observations on Butch’s life and stunning musical interludes.
As with An Audience with Yasmine Day earlier this Fringe, the art of doing comedy that includes songs is to be really able to sing – and Kate really can sing. Equally crucial is to pick the right songs, and Kate’s knowledge of the Kate Bush back catalogue is brilliant. As any Kate Bush fan knows, for all her genius, there’s also plenty of eccentricity that is ripe for affectionately humorous comment. As well as the hits, she interjects a trippy sequence of excerpts from the extremely difficult fourth album, The Dreaming, and references songs including Hammer Horror, Kashka in Baghdad and James and the Cold Gun. But, just as in her first show, Kate isn’t afraid to play some songs straight, with a beautiful and touching rendition of And Dream of Sheep.
The packed Clubhouse audience came expecting something special, and they got it. This is a joyous, life-affirming, very funny show. Whether you’re a Kate Bush fan or not, you will love this show, the work of a genuine Buxton star who continues to amaze. As Kate Bush would sing, ‘Wow! Unbelievable!’
Robbie Carnegie
BUXTON FRINGE
Kiera michaelis
(MERVYN STUTTER’S PICK OF THE FRINGE)
review 2017
If you want a true “fringe experience” go to this show. It’s hidden away in the bottom of a nightclub in a venue that might fall apart. It has gimmicks and gadgets galore. It’s a stand-up-drag-act with a moving musical number and jokes about sex, rejection and sassy puns. It’s an incredibly enjoyable and genuinely hilarious way to spend an hour. Oh, and it’s free – so if you hate it you can leave. But you won’t. Because you’ll be laughing too hard or wondering what on earth could come next. In front of you stands “Kate Butch” an attractive and talented drag persona. In this debut hour of comedy Kate talks, sings and lip-syncs as a gay man, negotiating life in a charmingly sassy way. No topic is safe; loneliness, bowel movements, love, religion and fruit all come into the fray. Yet it never feels inaccessible or full of “shock factor” humour. It is well written and excellently delivered, with perfect prop use and startling facial expressions. Although a proper “fringe experience”, this is a hugely clever and funny-making remarkable debut hour. Watch out for Kate Butch.
Kiera Michaelis: Reviewer, Awards Assessor and Content Specialist for “Pick of the Fringe”
Buxton Fringe
Review 2017
The Underground Venues bar was packed for the first performance by Kate Butch and I was in the mood to be indulgent. After all, this was a local performer making their debut, someone we’ve got to know and like over the years in a different context. So far, so patronising.
I hold up my hand to this because this show was a complete revelation. Kate Butch is such a fully-formed creation and her performance is spot-on: intimate, confessional, and very funny. She stalks around the stage, lip-synching to outrageous mash-ups, confiding about coming-out experiences, triggering Powerpoint montages, effortlessly working the audience, suddenly not afraid to wring out the tear ducts of the audience with a beautiful, heart-wrenching show tune. It’s a bravura showing, so assured and well-judged that you can’t quite believe this is a debut.
Obviously it’s rude in places, but Kate is such a warm character, so aware of the audience that she doesn’t put a foot wrong. If you see a more joyous and genuinely funny show this year, I’d be very surprised.
Robbie Carnegie
fringe guru
BUXTON FRINGE PICK OF THE DAY - 20/07/2017
This can't, surely, be the first-ever drag act to use the "Kate Butch" moniker, but it's certainly the first to be home-grown in Buxton. The alter ego of an Underground Venues staff regular, Kate enjoys strong local support – and as she sings, lip-synchs and PowerPoints her way through an hour-long confessional, she gives the crowd plenty both to laugh and cry about. There's a genuine buzz developing around this show, and reports from the premiere last week suggest it's one of the highlights of this year's Fringe.
stephen walker
"It's a hit!"
I saw the long anticipated (since Tuesday) Kate If You Wanna Go Butcher last night and it was a triumph. If you were thinking “he’s a local lad, that nice chap from Underground, yes, that one, it’ll be fun”, well bollocks to that, this is a proper stand out show. I never laugh out loud, maybe snigger, but I was straying dangerously into guffaw territory. And a note to gladden the hearts of Buxton Fringe comedy aficionados, it’s a well rehearsed, well put together show, better prepared than virtually all the comedy we usually see.
Great moments outside after, real joy among the audience, but my favourite overheard conversation:
"Would you bring your mother? "
"Yes"
"Really? What about Auntie Nicky?"
Great show. Possibly too strong for Auntie Nicky though.
MISC.
“Utterly hilarious” The Guardian
"A great comedian" - WhatsOnStage
"Had the audience in stitches" - The Reviews Hub
"A clear showstealer" - SGFringe
"What utter rubbish...it was a really bad experience' - JimmyMack5 on TripAdvisor