From the Classroom to the Comedy Stage – What inspired you to transition from being a high school teacher to stand-up comedy? Was there a particular moment that made you think, “I need to turn this into a joke”?
I was a highschool teacher for a decade and I found myself contemplating the next 30 years of my life teaching alliteration and dodging spit balls. I looked at myself in the mirror in the staff toilets and said aloud, “This cannot be it.” And thankfully, it wasn’t. Serendipitously, my eldest daughter started school and I met another mum at the school gates who would go on to change my life in the best way possible. Her name is Claire Hooper, Australian comedy royalty, and I’d managed to make her laugh enough times for her to casually suggest I start comedy myself, and I never looked back.
Mum Life vs. Comedy Life – Being a mum and a comedian both require patience, quick thinking, and a great sense of humor. Which one is harder, and do your kids think you’re funny?
Definitely being a mum. In comedy you make an audience laugh, and then you go home and never think about them ever again. In motherhood, I have three small people that I need to feed, teach endless life lessons to, wipe away their tears, explain how the internet works, and navigate my guilt when I get absolutely all of the above a bit wrong.
My kids are 3, 9 and 11, so they’re still young enough to think I’m funny. I’m a very silly woman, so it is as easy as doing a ridiculous walk to get them laughing. They’re the easiest audience I’ve ever had (this answer will change when they’re teenagers, so ask me again in a few years!)
Classroom Comedian – Were you always the funny teacher, or did your students ever take you too seriously? Did any of them predict your future in stand-up?
I always considered myself a funny teacher, but the turd kids (HELLO YEAR 8 BOYS!) didn’t always agree. Teaching truly set me up perfectly for standup comedy because even the hardest audiences cannot compare with trying to wrangle 13 year-old boys who want to see you cry. Thankfully I spent the last five years of my career teaching only Year 11 and 12 students, so it was easier to have a joke with them. I can’t remember a single thing I taught them, but a lot of them come to my shows now so the learning side of things is irrelevant.
Parenting Material – Does being a mum give you an endless supply of comedy material? What’s one parenting moment that felt like a disaster at the time but turned into a great joke?
Comedy is just a comedian’s trauma turned into fodder for an audience’s consumption, so parenting is basically a comedy material machine. My three kids provide me with new levels of humiliation every single day, and I’ve lost count of how many parenting fails have transformed into comedy gold.
One specific moment that I’ve been enjoying telling on stage lately is how my son’s daycare educator wrote on the daycare app for all the other mums to read that my son said in his show and tell: “My mum drives a red car and she doesn’t play with me”. I was so stunned, but I had to respond so I wrote, “That’s a lie, I drive a blue car.”
The Art of Bombing – Every comedian has a story about a joke that completely flopped. What’s been your most memorable on-stage bomb, and how did you recover?
Like all comedians, I bombed quite a bit at the start of my comedy career, but unlike most comedians, I was a mum in my mid-30s with a fire in my belly stoked by my desire to get the hell out of teaching. Recently though, I had a bit of a gig that almost went completely tits up when I flippantly named my least favourite student I ever taught (he brought bullets to my class) and a woman stood up and said, “That’s my son!” Time stopped and I asked, “And is he enjoying prison?” Thankfully she laughed and the gig was a huge hit. Honestly, it could have been a huge car crash though.
About The Festival – Can you tell us about the comedy festival you’re performing in? What drew you to be part of it, and how many sets will you be doing—and where?
I absolutely love Sydney Comedy Festival! It’s a time where hundreds of comedians come from all over the world and we set the city on fire! If you keep an eye out, you’ll notice us sprint around the city between gigs with our mouths full of jokes. It’s thrilling!
I’ll be doing my solo show, ‘Who’s Talking?!’ for one night at The Comedy Store on the 10th of May and The Concourse on the 11th of May. Both rooms are iconic Sydney institutions, so I am bloody excited to bring my show there. Expect candid stories about parenting and my decade-long stint as a high school teacher. I’ll really be blowing the top off what teachers actually want to say in those hairy moments, so come along!
What’s Next? – What’s on the horizon for you? More stand-up, writing, or maybe a show about the hilarious reality of being a mum, teacher, and comedian all in one?
This year I am focussing on touring my stand-up show around the country. It’s SUCH a fun show full of unbridled energy and some stories that will either have you thinking, “I have a new appreciation for my teachers” or “Maybe I should homeschool my kids”. Either way, you’ll have a great time!
Oh, and raising my many, many kids. I guess will be doing that too.