CAT COHEN: BROAD STROKES OFF-BROADWAY
Contributor - Jack Bartholet | Head of Events & Experiences • 8/20/26
Matthew Murphy
There are performers you admire, and then there are performers who have been making you laugh for years before you realize quite how much of a fan you've become.
For me, Cat Cohen is firmly in the second category.
I first became familiar with her work around 2019 at Club Cumming, when she was already one of the most singular voices in New York's downtown comedy and cabaret scene. She had the gowns, the songs, the elaborate self-regard, the neuroses and, most importantly, the jokes. I have been keeling over with laughter ever since.
Now, Cohen has taken that sensibility to a much bigger stage with Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes, her Off-Broadway debut at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.
The show, directed by Broadway heavyweight Alex Timbers, is a one-woman musical comedy about the stroke Cohen suffered at 30, which led to the discovery of a hole in her heart. It is a medical emergency turned into stand-up, cabaret, original music and theatrical spectacle, with Cohen examining mortality, hypochondria, recovery and her lifelong conviction that she is, naturally, the main character.
The premise sounds darker than the evening itself.
Cohen has always been interested in the uncomfortable space between confession and performance. Her stage persona is glamorous and self-absorbed but also unusually honest. In Broad Strokes, she takes something genuinely frightening and filters it through the same comic machinery she has spent years perfecting.
She has described the process as a kind of exposure therapy, which strikes me as both brave and completely on brand. Rather than hiding from the experience, Cohen has decided to stare directly at it, dress it up, sing about it and make an audience laugh along the way.
The result is also a significant evolution for her.
Cohen's earlier shows were built around a collection of songs, observations and the heightened cabaret character that made her a downtown favorite. Broad Strokes gives her a single story to tell from beginning to end. In conversations about the production, she has talked about how working with Timbers changed the way she thought about structure, pacing and theatricality. The production also brings a larger visual world, elaborate scenic and costume design, and a live three-piece band.
Matthew Murphy
That collaboration with Timbers is a particularly fun part of the story.
His résumé includes Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Beetlejuice, Here Lies Love and countless other productions defined by an appetite for spectacle. Pairing him with Cohen, whose entire comedic persona revolves around the performance of glamour, feels almost inevitable. The result is a show that looks and behaves more like a musical than a conventional stand-up set, while remaining unmistakably hers.
The creative team is stacked. Cohen and David Dabbon wrote the music, with Dabbon also serving as music supervisor.
If you've followed Cohen for a while, the leap to Off-Broadway feels significant, but also: finally!
She won Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards in 2019 for The Twist...? She's Gorgeous, the show that later became her first Netflix special. She has since toured internationally, released her 2024 album Overdressed, published the poetry collection God I Feel Modern Tonight, and built a devoted following around Seek Treatment, the hilarious podcast she co-hosts with Pat Regan. Regan, one of the writers behind Hacks.
Cohen emerged from the same downtown ecosystem that has produced so much of New York's most interesting comedy, cabaret and performance art. Now she is standing in an Off-Broadway theater with a major director, a full creative team and a band behind her, telling the story she has spent the past several years turning into material.
Matthew Murphy
Broad Strokes sold out its 2025 Edinburgh Fringe run and earned strong reviews before arriving in New York. The New York Times praised the show's comic premise while noting the tension between Cohen's exaggerated persona and the more vulnerable story underneath it.
For Four Hundred members, this is exactly the sort of New York evening I love recommending: something with genuine cultural currency, a serious creative pedigree and enough personality to make the night feel distinctive.
The Lucille Lortel is tucked into Christopher Street, making Broad Strokes an easy addition to a West Village evening. Dinner beforehand, a proper cocktail afterward, or both. Cohen's show runs approximately 70 minutes, so there is plenty of room to build the rest of the night around it.
Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes is playing the Lucille Lortel Theatre through September 25, 2026, following an extension of the original engagement.
I have been watching Cat Cohen make people laugh in increasingly bigger rooms for years. Seeing her take this particular leap feels incredibly exciting.
Matthew Murphy
Contributor — Jack Bartholet | Head of Events & Experiences
Jack effortlessly transitions from the entertainment industry to the world of luxury hospitality and travel, bringing a rich background of collaboration with celebrated artists and extensive personal travel experiences. When not consulting, he can be seen onstage with cabaret and theatre performances. Jack's enduring passion centers on fostering a sense of belonging for LGBTQ travelers wherever their journey takes them.
