Athena Kugblenu // The NextUp Comedy Festival - Show 28

She’s a member of the BBC Comedy Room 2019/20 and was awarded the BBC Felix Dexter Bursary for BAME up-and-coming comedy writers in 2020.

She has written for Radio 4’s News Quiz, Newsjack, The Now Show and is a lead writer for multi cultural sketch show Sketchtopia. In she 2017 she performed at the Johannesburg international Comedy Festival and followed that with her debut hour, KMT, at the Edinburgh Fringe. Her second celebrated hour was Follow the Leader, a political show with a personal twist. She’s supported Daliso Chaponda, Nish Kumar and Fern Brady on tour.

A regular co-host of The Guilty Feminist, she’s made panel appearances on Radio 4 staples such as Comedy Club, Museum of Curiosity, Loose Ends and Arts Club. She’s also a regular on BBC Scotland’s Breaking the News.

She’s the host of podcast Keeping Athena Company, interviewing interesting people whilst eating fried plantain. It’s a great excuse for her to eat fried plantain for work.

★★★★-Edinburgh49, ★★★★-Funny Women, ★★★★-Theatre Weekly