Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Hammer by name and hammer by nature – Kate is a force of nature who pummels the audience through the power of her exuberant personality… in the nicest possible way.

It’s clear that the Canadian goat farm where she grew up was never going to contain her larger-than-life presence, which is why she decided to come to the UK. That required getting a visa, which is the nominal bedrock of this show. Yes, this is an hour about filling in Home Office paperwork!

Mirroring her attempts to remain in the UK under a Global Talent Visa, she picks an audience member to go through a pantomime of the same process to remain in the show. That requires getting references, evidence... and, most importantly, cold hard cash.

The procedure – both the real one and the show version – provides relatively thin pickings. Countless comedians have already made easy jokes about whether immigration forms ever catch anyone out by asking ‘Are you a terrorist?’, which Hammer retreads here.

Luckily, then, this is only a contrivance to hold together what’s essentially an hour of robust club-style stand-up routines on topics ranging from the everyday –  Zoom calls, cycling, Vinted – to the more personal, like masturbation or medical issues, all of which confirm that the initialism TMI is not in her dictionary.

On the writing alone, little of this is gold, but it’s sold expertly well by Hammer’s relentless, boisterous energy. She has an erratic ‘What, am I crazy?’ intensity, which could be hugely irritating, were it not for the warmth and authenticity that underpin it. In that, she's reminiscent of fellow Canadian Phil Nichol doing one of his crackpot act-outs. Her interactions with the crowd – and the unwitting visa ‘applicant’ – are similarly both natural and dynamic.

Underpinning the hour is the consideration of what it’s like to be an immigrant, while acknowledging that being a white-skinned English-speaking one comes with just a small fraction of the issues others face. The theme is not explored especially deeply – to do so would probably play against Hammer’s instincts to be a wild, wide-eyed attention-seeker here purely for the shits and giggles – but sets up a conclusion that the show would otherwise lack, given we already know she landed that talent visa.

Review date: 6 Aug 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Monkey Barrel Comedy (Niddry Street)