The Edinburgh Fringe Archive – Kate Smurthwaite (The News At Kate: Leftie Cockwomble, 2014)

The Edinburgh Fringe Show, with Ewan Spence

Kate Smurthwaite’s TV writing credits include ‘Have I Got News For You’ and ‘The Revolution Will Be Televised’ her words have appeared in The Guardian, New Statesman, Cosmopolitan, and more; and she has made countless appearances discussing politics over the years. 2022 saw the award-winning Smurthwaite bring “The News At Kate: Humanity’s Last Hope” to the Edinburgh Fringe.

“The News At Kate” is a lynchpin of the Fringe, and it’s been part of August for as long as I can remember. 2014 saw “The News” with the delightful tagline of “Lefty Cockwomble”.

The tag came about following her appearance on the BBC’s Question Time. With so many people asking her about her experience, this highly visible foray into the political debate was the starting point for that year’s show that examined the definitions of freedom of speech.

“The theme that emerges is words, freedom of speech, and where that becomes hate speech. From Frankie Boyle’s freedom to make certain gags, to Comic Relief’s freedom to edit; her freedom to comment on that, to the freedom Twitter fans apparently have to send death threats in her direction.”

One4Review / * * * * *

There have been countless political whirlwinds since 2014. Yet some of the points raised remain just as pertinent, if not more, in 2022’s devastating landscape.

• Find out more from PBH’s Free Fringe here. Follow Kate Smurthwaite on Twitter, @Cruella1 and at her website www.katesmurthwaite.co.uk. You can also support Kate through Patreon.

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