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Melbourne International Comedy Festival Tour Diary: An Unexpected (Expected) Return
Above: nice little piece in Beat Magazine. If you’re mad keen – and why wouldn’t you be? (I’M TALKING TO YOU, HUBBY-WHO-NEVER-READS-MY-PUBLICITY-WHY-WON’T-YOU-LOVE-ME-LIKE-A-ROCKSTAR?!) you can read the story here.
Oh and while we’re in the plugging mood there’s also a profile piece at the moment on arts hub with me chatting about the influences of my big brother, Eddie Izzard and feeling “entitled” to success. 
The last time I was in Melbourne for last year’s Melbourne Fringe – while ultimately ending on a fantastic high and a journey which I am SOOOO glad I took! – was such hard work physically, emotionally and financially that I approached this return with a sense of…hmmm, what I can only describe as “a concerted effort to have NO expectations at all about what may or may not happen.”
Imagine my joy then at jumping off the flying plane and into the foyer (see what I did there…oh alright, I admit it, that’s not an original! I AM SUCH A HACK!) and being greeted with this:
Gorgeous Rachel!
She and her dear hubby Michael had gone all hi-tech on my greeting placard, it doesn’t show up well in this photo but it had the MICF logo with my NAME next to it, yo! The only thing that coulda made me feel more loved would be if I then turned to see Richard Gere rocking up in an open-top limo playing opera and holding flowers. But not THAT much more loved, so you know, good call, Rache.
After that rocking welcome, I settled into my wondrous abode for the next couple of weeks with my dear family friends John and Sandy. Then straight into the city for my very first festival spot this year with Titters. Twas delish! My first ever encore! A drunk guy yelled out! And most importantly, I got to see my beautiful ladeeez, the wondrous lineup of gorgeous women – inside and out – who make up the Titters cast. I heart them so heartily that I could almost shower them with heart candy. Almost. (I am cheap.)
Then off to the Festival Club where I met up with many comedy friends – old and new – and got damn well psyched for this next fortnight.
Ah, Melbourne. I adore you so much I want to mark you as my territory.
Please don’t misinterpret that.
An Unexpected Variety Show at The Butterfly Club
TIX HERE!
5 Exciting Announcements!
1. The stomach bug has left the building! Huzzah! It’s at least had the courtesy to take turns between us here family members, meaning that at least one person is okay enough to man the fort while the others lie spread-eagle on any flat surface, moaning and groaning and all the rest…plus nestled itself most conveniently between last weekend’s Powerhouse shows and my upcoming season at Melbourne International Comedy Festival – I leave Saturday (AAAGGGHH!) so you know. There’s always light at the end of the bucket.
Interpreter and performer: dig it.
2. It’s official: my first weekend of shows in Melbourne will be interpreted by my wondrous friend and Auslan comedic alter-ego, Ruth Sullivan (pictured above with me backstage last weekend)! YAY! That’s Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th shows. So tremendously excited about this, I hope it’s just the beginning of a long life of touring our hands, mouths and hearts together! Ummm…did that sound wrong? Ehem.
Sing us a song, you're the piano man...
3. Also joining me for this upcoming Melb Comedy Fest season – the WHOLE season – is my gorgeous friend and musical genius, Matthew Hadgraft (pictured above when we did our thang together recently at Woodford). He will be accompanying me on the keys in grand fashion while we take turns throwing pina coladas down each other’s throats afterwards. Rock.
4. Opening night for my Melbourne Comedy Fest season is sold out. HAPPY JOY JOY HAPPY DANCE! It’s going to be a rocker. Tix still well and truly available for the remaining 11 shows (a couple are close to sold out, I believe) so if you know anybody in Melbs who might dig my stuff, pretty please let them know? I really do rely so heavily on the kindness of strangers – and loved ones, and everybody in between – in spreading the word to share the show with as many folks as possible. I have never been so aware as in the past few months how much my supposed “solo” show is really such an incredible team effort!
5. My 7 year old has recently announced that he wants to be an actor. I have much to say on this. Which I shall. Soon.
xxx
From Standing Ovations To Stomach Viruses: An Unexpected Variety Show
Me and my siblings. Can you see the resemblance?
This weekend was personally epic on several levels.
1. It was my hubby’s and my 10th wedding anniversary.
The hubbster and I at the Powerhouse.
2. We celebrated in a last-minute hotel splurge in the city, to coincide with…
3. Closing night of my brief but delish run of “An Unexpected Variety Show” at Brisbane Powerhouse…
I do believe the first person I saw perform in this theatre was Tim Minchin, now that I think of it! Cool.
Hamming it up in the dressing room pre-show. I love having a greenroom. Even in the absence of M&Ms, champagne and Oompah Loompas, it makes me feel special.
…a show which was:
- nicely packed!
- interpreted by the INCREDIBLE Ruth Sullivan (who I adore more and more each time we work together…so much excitement is happening with this partnership, I can’t wait to spill more news soon once things get locked in!)
- attended for the very first time by my gorgeous siblings, Ang and James.
Post-show catch up with two of my favourite people on earth.
Moi, James and Angeline. LURVE.
Neither had seen the show before (you might have gotten that from the “first time” reference, however it was so significant to me having them there that I am intent on driving the point home!) “Unexpected” has a very key thread in it about my mother, OUR mother, who very sadly passed away in 1984 – James was 10, I was 5 and Ang was 2. To share her part of the story with any audience is emotional at the best of times – sometimes excruciatingly so – but to perform it last night knowing that her other two children were right there with me in the room was just…something else. I can’t even do justice to what that meant, I will simply say that it really transformed the show for me as I performed it. So incredibly special.
I felt by far the most free onstage EVER last night – pre-show as I peeked through the curtains and saw the theatre nearly full of buzzing, chatty people, I did such a happy joy dance! And I honestly think it was THE BEST performance I’ve ever done of the show; despite the projector not working at the end (bugger! But them’s the breaks…) it was just so much fun. And what a crowd…so giving, so into it, and even willing to give a girl a standing ovation. Love.
I will treasure last night’s memory for as long as I have my basic functions.
The other transformational element in the show right now is of course, having it interpreted by Ruth. Oh my word. A friend emailed me this morning – a friend, I might add, who has seen the show I believe four times now? – and told me that “the combination of the signing and your Mum’s song was magical – one of the more fascinating and touching movements of theatre I have seen on any stage.”
Oh, it moved me too!
After the show we had some fantastic times catching up with friends and family, then hubby and I hit our hotel room and lived out our rockstar fantasies: otherwise known as making 2.30am room service calls. I swear, paying $14 for a slice of pavlova sure makes it taste amazeballs.
Our utopian vision was disrupted around 7am by an early check-out call: our little boys had been sadly struck through the night by a nasty stomach bug, thus we bid adieu to our rockstar reality, dashed back home and spent the remainder of the day cleaning up bodily fluids.
Which, ten years of married life and a heck of a lot of water under the bridge later, seems strangely poetic. 
x
The Comedian and The Interpreter (or From Good Intentions to Action!)
The wonderful Ruth Sullivan interpreting the fabooshy Tripod boys at Woodford Folk Festival.
You know when you have an idea of the “that would be so cool if…” variety but then it just kinda disappears into the ether? Well, that’s kinda what happened last Woodford Folk Festival, when the fabulous Auslan interpreter Ruth Sullivan and I connected on (and off) the comedy stage.
We had so much fun doing our thing together – I absolutely LOVE what interpreting brings to the performance, indeed you can read what Adam Hills wrote about it (far more eloquently than I) over here - that we floated off into the Woodford breeze, making exclamations about how cool it would be to work together again. Soon! But as life does, it got in the way, and nothing really came of those very best intentions/wishes.
Until now!
Ruth got in touch to let me know she was coming to see my show at Brisbane Powerhouse and I was stoked. But thick as I am, it took me a good 24 hours to actually realise “Hang on! We said we were going to do this thing together again. Let’s just FREAKIN DO IT!”
And there it is.
It’s a-happening.
And I do hope that our current future wishes/intentions of conquering the world together do likewise!
So excited!
Tonight and tomorrow at Brisbane Powerhouse 8pm. Some tix still available here.
A Quick Postcard from Reality
Only a ginger, can call another ginger "Ginger". (Thanks Tim Minchin.)
Hey guys,
So reality has hit hard, as it usually does post-festival in what I’ve come to call PTSD: Post Tour Sadness Disorder/Disorientation.
Back to regular blogging shortly, I’ve really needed this week just to decompress, re-connect with the fam and of course, catch up on about five kilometres of housework. I like to measure it in distance terms. It makes me feel athletic.
In the meantime…
- Only 1 more sleep til Brisbane Powerhouse shows start! 2 shows only folks, and when I checked yesterday tix sales had doubled within a day. AGH! (Admittedly they were pretty slow to start, but if I have a chance to spin it positively, I’m gonna take that, yo!) Would love to see you there, Saturday night is also the hubby’s and my 10 year anniversary - a DECADE!!!!!!! WHAAAA??? Have I even been alive that long? – so if you care to join us at the bar afterwards for a celebratory drink and/or booty shake, we will welcome you with rabid enthusiasm. We don’t get out much, so seriously. You might be so welcomed it could get awkward.
- My guest post on MamaMia this week about me and my lovely pub legs. Yep, you read that right.
- Fantastical post from Gala Darling about creating a low-budget but awesome creative retreat without going away. I LOVE this. As some of you know I did an amazing residency at the Banff Centre a couple of years back (where I wrote much of what became “An Unexpected Variety Show”, actually) and was so inspired at the time to try to re-create the experience from home. Very cool.
See you soon!
x
Adelaide Fringe Festival Tour Diary: THE END!
Barrio, a very bizarre, cool, surreal and rocking art party destination during the Fringe. I couldn't decide if I loved it or was just spun out by it. Not that the two are mutually exclusive...
It is FINISHED!
Woohoo!
I have been busy finishing it, packing it up, digesting it and recovering from it. So here are a few pics and notes of point from the final leg.
More Fringe in the Mall giggage.
My poor little dude back home tore a ligament in his shoulder. Coulda been much worse, but still...wah.
Caught up with this lovely gent who remembered being pulled up onstage with me LAST year in Adelaide! Hehe. Magic moments.
Onstage at Shimmering West: thanks for the photo on twitter, Jade Kops!
The final gig was so bizarre…completely sold out, people standing (which I don’t really like, only because I feel sorry as I know how much I would hate standing for an hour!) and so I was so pumped…only to have one table of people up the back talking through the entire first quarter of the show. Now as a stand-up I’ve had plenty of experiences with this happening and am fine with handling it, only this show is NOT a stand-up comedy show. It’s much more theatrical, in fact I’ve had people even say that they would classify it as a solo theatre show. Point is, I felt a bit reluctant to break the theatre of the show and just address them. But then, after about 15-20 minutes in, I just couldn’t go on. “Excuse me,” I called out, “I’m sorry, but why would you come to a show like this and talk through the entire thing?” The rest of the audience murmured agreement and some of them even clapped. “Please,” I said to the shadows at the back, “if you want to stay and watch, I will welcome you, I will even hug you at the end, but if you would rather talk to each other then PLEASE JUST LEAVE!”
The crowd clapped which made me feel so much better…I was so mad at myself for letting it get to me, but it just did. They did shut up for the rest of the show, though I could still see their heads moving up the back (apparently over a rather impressive number of wine glasses) the whole time. Finally around the 45 minute mark they left the building. Phew! I believe at the end of the show I may have even uttered a very loud and public thank you to them for doing so by way of expletive. Ah, rude people. You may suck, but you really can have a knack for drawing an audience and a performer even closer together.
Bless.
Taking the leap!
The whole trip – indeed, any performing undertaking – has been a total leap into the unknown, or the semi-known or the known-enough-to-hope-for-the-best-but-with-no-guarantees and luckily, it seems to have come up pretty damn beautifully.
Ah.
And now we are back home, decompressing, reuniting and drawing breath before the next big leap.
Thanks for playing along.
xxx
Adelaide Tour Diary: Hahndorf, Toddler Tantrums & Standing Room Only
His royal highness, moments before the lightning struck.
Yesterday we took the troops up to Hahndorf, a super cute German town just outside of Adelaide. We’ve been averaging one excursion out of the house each day which thus far, has been perfect.
On this particular day however, Mister Three – and in all honesty, Mummy too – hit a wall of “fringe fest fatigue” and it all went downhill pretty damn quickly. What ensued was a full limbs-flailing, lungs peeling, strangers smiling in bemusement (at least I hope it was bemusement and not schadenfreude: DAMN I got to use that word in an actual legit German context!) and a brisk walk back to the car, where the little dude promptly put himself straight to sleep.
But not before we snapped some pretty Hahndorf thangs!
Ah well. We are only days away from the finish line and I guess one or two epic tantrums is kinda inevitable. That makes me feel better. Especially when I say it in a Schwarzenegger accent. INEVITABLE.
Works, huh?
The gigs have been going beautifully; Tuesday was so sold out it was kinda ridiculous, some folks had to stand up for the whole show! Such a wonderful feeling; I feel almost guilty about it as I know so many amazingly talented folks who are struggling for audience numbers this year. As those of you who’ve followed since my Melbourne Fringe escapades last year well know, I know exactly what it is to be performing your heart out to three, four or five people (some nights 100% of my audience were staff of the venue!) so I certainly don’t feel like I’ve been on easy street my whole career. But this season, I have had a great one. And I am GREATLY GRATEFUL. Full of grate!
Last night’s Titters saw an improv song about a beautiful couple together for 33 years (!) who met when she cut his hair at a salon. Agh, I love hearing snippets of people’s stories! The song that followed was all “let me cut my way into your heart” and something like:
“after I’ve cut your hair,
I’ll cut off other things just so,
because it’s called marriage baby,
don’t you know?”
Ah, bless.
Then when one of the line-up comics couldn’t make the show due to hers running late, I came back onstage to finish off the show with another improv song. This time we found the couple who’d been together for the least amount of time…a lovely couple called Debbie and Dave. (Well in fairness, Dave wasn’t there so I am assuming on his part a degree of loveliness). Turns out Dave is a wharfie and they met online. Again, the song is so fuzzy in my head – as all improv stuff I ever do always is, it’s almost like a dream I can’t quite remember – but it seemed to go well and ooooh yes, last night’s show was videoed! So will share that with you if and when I can. Unless, in the words of Shrek, “I can’t find you or I forget.”
With some of my fave Adelaide ladeeez at the Fringe Artists Bar after Eurowision the other night!
Tonight is my second-last show of “Unexpected” – Saturday’s is sold out so if you’re in Radelaide and want to come, tonight is your last chance to come! Tix here.
Also the show is getting some beautiful audience reviews over at talkfringe if you care to check em out.
Oh and finally, if you’re in Brisbane and wanna win some tix to my upcoming Brisbane Powerhouse shows, you can do so with the lovely crew over at BrisStyle here!
Love, light and tantrum-free bliss-balls.
xx
Adelaide Fringe Festival Tour Diary: A Quick Snap-Happy Update!
This amazing woman was hilarious onboard the Tour of the Unexpected Bus. I love her!
Crazy times, dear Tour Diary, crazy times.
Highlights?
Helmut and Jenny. The J is now silent.
- Representing Germany in the most fabulously funny and trash-tacular “EUROWISION!” alongside luminaries such as the Axis of Awesome (where I told them about my very own parody of their parody), Dave Callan (who I met by almost literally falling into his arms upon leaving the stage), Jason Chong and umpteen other cheese-tacular talents. SOO SOO fun! My mate Leon – rechristened “Helmut” for the festivities” joined me in a little Deutsch duo. And it was filmed! Will share it for sure once I’ve got my hands on the footage. Best crowd ever, definitely a brilliant note to finish Sunday night on!
L-R Funny felines Urzila Carlson, Juliet Meyers, Sally-Anne Hayward, Jen Brister and moi.
Juliet, me and Urzila having some quality time in the Artists' Bar.
- Finally enjoying the wonders of the Artists Bar at Fringe. I’ve been so good looking after myself this past few weeks (early to bed – well, as early as late night gigs can accommodate – having my multivitamins, eating well, drinking tons of water) that I haven’t done the socialising thing, well, at all really. So this week as I am seeing the light at the end of the highly enjoyable tunnel, I have finally let loose a little. This particular night saw some of the funniest ladies I know carving it up together on the dance floor big-time – in between cries of “oh, my back!” “ow, I have a stitch!” We aren’t 19 anymore, clearly.
BEACH! YAAAHHH!!! I'd also like to take this opportunity to point out that this is likely to be the only photo of me in my swimmers you are EVER likely to see. Online or otherwise.
- Beaching it up at Glenelg. So beautiful, my first time there ever. If Adelaide is cementing its place in my heart, then Glenelg is the blow-torch speeding up the drying process.
Ella has turned into my permanent hair and makeup consultant.
- Ella-time. So loving having more time with her, she’s begged me and begged me to come see the show again so will be there (hopefully not front and centre again!) tonight. Which, as a bonus, is SOLD OUT! I have a good feeling about this one…
Only 3 shows left! AGH! How did this happen?
Adelaide Fringe Festival Tour Diary: Approaching The Final Strait
Taking Mister 3 to the playground just pre-show, while my daughter and Keli, our fab au-pair, did Zumba! I just pretended that all mummies wear cowboy boots and quiffs.
I got up yesterday and looked at my ticket sales and it hit me: only FIVE SHOWS LEFT?! What?! How on earth did that happen? I suppose the gazillion or so guest spots have distracted me from the reality that this roller coaster I’m on is actually coming to an end soon. I will not go quietly.
This week has felt a lot more settled. Somebody told me yesterday that until you’ve done a month-long festival, you can’t really understand the rhythm of it. I guess the marathon comparison continues. Though in the spirit of full disclosure, I shouldn’t even utter phrases that imply there is any possibility of me ever actually running an actual marathon. Never. It’s in writing. NEVER!
But I HAVE found my rhythm. As have the kids. To the point where it now feels like this is not a novelty chapter of life at all, but just our life. Ella (who is being home schooled this month) is rocking it, getting her work done at a most impressive pace so that we can then venture out and explore Adelaide, Cassidy is becoming an avid fan of street theatre as well as becoming stunningly accident prone – the poor little guy got his first black eye this week, not even from any exciting travel tale, just from catching the corner of my bed with his cheekbone. Poor dear. Okay, so perhaps it’s not a rhythm that is particularly painless for him, but he is consistently injuring himself, and I did read in a parenting book once that consistency is paramount. So there’s that.
In brief:
Can anybody spy a metaphor here?
- We have explored playgrounds, playgroups and play-(insert something here…) a-plenty!
- We sadly missed my hubby’s birthday, as he missed mine due to the Fringe. Sigh. We are gonna make up for it when we are back together with our own homemade double b’day party of sorts, but in the meantime, the kids did what they had to do: they made a cake anyway.
And then proved their love by eating the shizz out of it.
- the gigs have been going really beautifully. I have improvised many, MANY songs. I have failed myself in actually documenting these properly so as to remember them…let’s see, there was:
a) the musician/artist couple who met while working in an organic food shop who inspired a ditty called “Organic Romance”;
b) the musician husband and primary school teacher wife, married 43 years, who, when I asked them what the secret of staying together was, the husband, Brenton, without even blinking an eyelid yelled out “Regular sex!” Such a beautiful crowd at this one; I do recall one line that went something like:
“If you were real estate, I’d want to buy and not be rentin,
Come on baby be my wife, come over here to Brenton.”
I can get shamefully proud of myself for rhyming sometimes.
c) in last night’s show something happened that has never happened before…I like to find out from the crowd which couple has been together the longest. Well for the first time ever, we had two couples battling it out, both had been together 33 years! When it came to the crunch, one couple pipped the other by three measly months, so the improv song was all theirs. A chemist and a materials consultant (still don’t understand what that even means!); at the end of the show the runner-up couple told me that they wished they had just said they’d been together for 33 years and 11 months so they could hear their song. She even offered me some suggestions on angles to take…hehe. I love it!
- have also been a little freaked out by realising how quickly my upcoming shows at Brisbane Powerhouse and Melbourne International Comedy Festival are approaching. AGH! I have been so Fringe-ified down here that I’ve been a little laxer than normal on getting the word out. So in the name of being onto it, Brissie and/or Melbourne peeps, if you would like to come, PLEASE DO! Wow, that was surprisingly simple.
No, okay, here are the deets…
Brisbane Powerhouse, March 30-31st, 2 shows only! You can buy tickets here.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival, The Butterfly Club, April 10-22! You can buy tickets here.
And of course, Adelaide, you’ve still got 5 chances left to come to my show here at the Fringe! Tickets available here.
Hope you are well wherever you are and whatever you’re doing. Unless you’re doing something mean, in which case, I hope you come down with at least a mild head cold.
Salada!
x
Adelaide Fringe Festival Tour Diary: Amazing Women You Should See This Fringe
I’m a little late in coming to the party on International Women’s Day Celebrations, but hey, I’ve been busy being a woman, yo!
As I type this I have my 3-year-old crawling over me, ripping off my necklace and chanting “Playground! Playground!” so shall keep it brief, but I thought I’d take this opportunity to point out some pretty rocking women who are performing at the Fringe Fest who you should come see…there are only a few days left to see them so hop to it!
In no particular order…
Titters: An Award Winning Line Up of Funny Women (full disclosure: of which I am a part!)
Urzila Carlson in The Truth According to Urzila Carlson.
Francesca Martinez in What the F is Normal (Reloaded).
