Kate Smurthwaite is no ordinary comedian. She’s an utterly fearless firebrand with a hell of a lot to say. In her one-hour show, Severe Lacerations to the Head, the British comedian takes hilarious pot shots at Trump, calls out racism and Islamophobia in Perth, speaks passionately about the genocide in Gaza, tells us the story behind the show’s title, and titillates the audience with hysterical tales of polyamory and naturism.
Her best story is about her recent run at the Edinburgh Fringe, where Oasis decided to perform at a 68,000-seat venue, sending hotel and BnB prices skyrocketing and deterring many visitors from attending the festival.
For the first time in her two-decade career (including television and radio), Smurthwaite had to cancel a show when zero audience members turned up. She blogged about it on her website. Next minute, the British right-wing tabloids seized on it and had a field day slagging her off: “Furious feminist comedian blames Oasis…” (The Daily Mail).
Even Noel Gallagher weighed in, shaking his head in disgust and sarcastically dedicating a song to “that left-wing lesbian atheist.”
“Hang on,” Kate quips. “First of all, he doesn’t seem to know the difference between a lesbian and a feminist. Secondly, he sold out a 68,000-seat stadium, and I got sod‑all audience — and he’s whingeing about me?”
One of Smurthwaite’s many strengths as a performer is her ability to shrug off public humiliation and turn it into comedy gold. She excels at exposing the misogyny inherent in tabloid media, calling out the attacks on her character and making the audience pee themselves laughing in the process.
It’s an admirable trait, especially when you consider that the nastiness she’s endured online and in the press would crush most of us mere mortals. Smurthwaite just takes it on the chin and strides off to her next gig.
Last night, she played to a full house, and after the show, many audience members were eagerly enquiring about her one-off poetry show about grief (Slight) and her children’s show Evolution Revolution, which won Fringe World’s Best Children’s Show last year.
Smurthwaite is one of a kind. She speaks truth to power, lives life entirely on her own terms, and calls out the bullshit with skill, flair, and a terrific sense of humour. The audience was lapping her up; the women in particular responded strongly to her fearless, take-no-prisoners stance on misogyny and her brazen ownership of her sexual autonomy and adventurousness.
With only one more show before she flies off to Adelaide Fringe, this is your last chance to catch a performer who is not just funny but fiercely alive onstage. You don’t want to miss her.
Severe Lacerations To The Head is presented by Kate Smurthwaite and runs on 28 January and 5 February at The Flaming Galah as part of Fringe World Perth. 19B Essex Street Fremantle WA 6160.
Tickets: https://fringeworld.com.au/whats-on/severe-lacerations-to-head-fw2026
Website: https://www.katesmurthwaite.co.uk/slh
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/kate_smurthwaite/ and https://www.instagram.com/theflaminggalahfreo/
Kate is also performing her other shows in Perth, Evolution Revolution from 29 – 31 January, get tickets here, and in Slight on 8 February. Get tickets here.
Images supplied.
