Cat Cohen's Off-Broadway debut is just what the doctor ordered

In her latest solo show, Broad Strokes, the NYC-based comedian turns a medical nightmare into a musical comedy at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

Summary

• Cat Cohen's solo show Broad Strokes is a musical stand-up act about her experience having a stroke at age 30
• The comedian discusses her comic and musical influences; how Broad Strokes has evolved on its road to NYC; and what she wants to tell new audiences about her work

When comedian Cat Cohen suffered a stroke at age 30, she knew from "the second [she] got to the hospital" that the experience would make for an "amazing" stand-up show.

"That's just the silver lining of [...] anything bad that happens to me," Cohen told New York Theatre Guide. "It's great material. Nora Ephron said it best: 'Everything is copy.'"

Now less than a month from her 35th birthday, Cohen has recovered and is making her Off-Broadway debut with that very show, Broad Strokes, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre from July 14 to September 5. Turning trauma into humor is well-trod comic ground, but Cohen deviates from the formula by using original songs to drive the storytelling among the spoken segments. That makes the show, by definition, more than a standup set. It's a proper musical.

If that combination of form and content sounds unusual to you, welcome to Cohen's world. She "was raised on a combination of musical theatre and '90s pop stars," citing the taped original Broadway production of Into the Woods as formative and describing her own musical influences as "Bette Midler meets the Spice Girls." She also grew up performing in theatre, and all this shaped her trademark brand of "cabaret comedy."

"When I moved to New York, I started doing stand-up, but I really missed singing," she said. "And so I thought, 'What if I could incorporate songs into my act in a way that wasn't totally horrible?'"

She's honed that craft at iconic NYC cabaret venues like Joe's Pub and Club Cumming, and in her 2022 Netflix special The Twist...? She's Gorgeous. A full-blown stage production remained on her wish list as she amassed a cult following on the city's comedy scene and raised her profile with TV roles on shows like Only Murders in the Building and Search Party.

Now that Broad Strokes off Broadway is a reality, she's rising to the occasion and expanding on the resources available for its past iterations at Scotland's Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Boston's Huntington Theatre Company. The music has never been mere window dressing in Broad Strokes, but it's more robust than ever: Cohen's now backed by a full band and a more elaborate set under director Alex Timbers, and she's added more songs.

One other change she hopes to make this time around? "[In Edinburgh], we had people who kept passing out during the show because they were hearing about medical things," she recalled. "Hopefully that won't happen in New York!"

Consider yourself warned, but Cohen wants to reassure unfamiliar audiences not to be afraid. "They're late to the party," she wryly said of people just discovering her work, "but they're welcome, and I can't wait to meet them. I'd want them to know the show is going to be a blast, and it's for everyone."

Get Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes tickets now.

Photo credit: Cat Cohen. (Photo by Dev Bowman)