Kitty Flanagan is leading the way for the World Premier Comedy S.O.S Series which will bring you unreleased live specials from our favourite Aussie comedians every Saturday night through August and September. We caught up with the hilarious Kitty to find out the bizarre activities she’s been up to during lockdown, the positive COVID outcomes and what we can expect from her world premiere performance this Saturday, Smashing.
What have you been doing with yourself during lockdown?
Making bad choices. When you sit around your house all day, you suddenly think, “hey you know what would make this room better? A turquoise feature wall!” I was wrong. It doesn’t look better. It looks like a kindergarten classroom.
Have you found yourself doing any bizarre activities during lockdown?
I kept my house tidy – which is pretty bizarre for me. I also thought about making sourdough bread, then I read about how you have to throw half your “starter” away and “feed” it flour every day and blah blah blah and then I remembered you could buy amazing sourdough bread from a bakery called Iggys, so why bother making it when you can just buy it and eat it.
What are you most looking forward to about performing live again?
Doing shows and going to comedy clubs and theatres was the main reason I went out at night. If I’m not working, I tend to stay home. So, it’ll be nice to go out. But more importantly, you need an audience to tell you if what you’re doing is funny or not. It’s fine to sit around for six months writing new stuff but you only find out if what you’ve written is comedy or more of a TED talk when you try it in front of an audience.
Have there been any positives to come out of this period for you or the industry?
Well, my pets have certainly been happy to have me at home and not away on tour every other weekend. I guess it was a bit like taking long service leave which you don’t usually get to do in the performing arts. So, it was nice to recharge but I’m charged now, I’m ready for my long service leave to be over.
With the restrictions on international travel set for some time, will 2021 be the year of celebrating great Aussie talent?
Suits me. I’ll be quite happy to just get back on the road and tour Australia. We have so many fantastic theatres and art centres in the regions as well as our capital cities, it’s important to get out there and use them.
What can we expect to see from your show Smashing?
Smashing was one of my favourite shows to perform. There’s a lot of fun “big bits” in it like when I act out some circus or talk about the time I was told I was bad at sex. And I also get to shoot my mouth off and say what I reckon about porn and the unrealistic expectations it places on women, especially young women. So that’s always enjoyable, getting on your high horse and riding it around the stage for a while. And best of all, it’s so nice to watch a show filmed in a theatre in front of a live audience and remember the good times! Let’s hope we can get back there soon.
If you have a question of your own for Kitty Flanagan, make sure you tune in to Smashing, this Saturday, August 8th as she will be live, answering all your questions at the end of the show.
