Kitty Flanagan - Charming and Alarming

13 Aug 2010-21 Aug 2010 ,

Stand Up

Improved image coming soon!

First published on 16 Feb 2010. Updated on 5 Apr 2011.

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"I'm helping an old lady paint this morning."

When you've been in the comedian-interviewing game for a while you learn that most performers aren't really morning people. So the fact that Kitty Flanagan is not just up for an interview on a weekday morning but is actually doing stuff is something of a surprise. But what is she helping paint? Landscapes? Portraiture? Murals?

Review: Eagerly trying to re-enact some of Kitty Flanagan's performance while walking out after the show, my cousin explained "it's funnier when she does it". While it's often said that delivery is everything, Kitty's stage manner was genuinely powerful and brimming with self-assuredness.

And then there were the observations themselves, the incessant stream of delicious observations. The voice and persona of each of her subjects was affected with perfect cadence. Inept child psychology-reading late-life "mummies", taking their kids to cafes provided especially gratifying shtick with their obsessive "to hit, or to shake?" silliness. "MUM-MEEY SAID N-O-O-O-O Rupert... Mummy is grown-up talking... now go over there and play with Elouise-Dora and Lucinda – but stay away from that white-trash Juliane-Frances".

The affectations were so effortlessly real and-content rich that the audience couldn't help but be taken along. The potentially-clichéd ‘different kinds of drunks' segment was made surprising and fresh with new categories, (the "deaf and blind drunk", aggressively screaming "what did you say!? What are you looking at?" at passing strangers was a highlight). Then there was er Australian accent tutorial which suggested "affecting the face of a stroke victim", demonstrated to hilarious effect.

Emphatic, thoroughly gratifying swear-filled punch lines, hilarious imitations, and a great stage presence. I'll take Kitty's cue: "Tell your friends if you enjoyed the show – and if you didn't, a little shush never hurt anyone".

Well, it was funnier when she said it. Daniel Nour

"I wish it was something as exciting as murals but no: it's just a wall," she laughs. "Nothing artistic I'm afraid."

Well, it's nice of you to help out.

"I know: I'm magnanimous, offering my community service – all those things people don't expect of comedians. I think it's impressive enough that I'm even up at 9.30 in the morning for a comedian. I've never been able to get past the guilt thing of not being up about by 9. Even if I work late I tend to feel like I have to get up anyway."

That's impressive dedication to the craft, applying oneself to the noble process of…

"Oh, I don't do anything," she clarifies. "I just get up and get coffee. Don't get the impression that I get up and go to the computer and start beavering away. I just get up: that's as far as the guilt gets me. I then procrastinate for the rest of the day going ‘oh I might just have another coffee'. Or I might just ring my friend to see whether they're around to get a coffee."

The reason for Ms Flanagan's paint/coffee situation being interrupted is her upcoming run of Charming and Alarming at the Opera House, which is both the return season of the show (it debuted there in August 2009) and the final season after jaunts through most of the nation's comedy festivals: "But we only did a small venue during the Sydney Comedy Festival so we thought ‘let's give it one more go – surely there's more people out there that haven't seen this masterpiece, we mustn't rob the community of the chance to see this show.'"

Again, it's that generosity of spirit that marks Flanagan out from the comedic herd. "Oh yes. It's not about me, it's about the people – I'm thinking about the people! And it's developed a bit since the version we did last year. It's a slicker show now – my sister [Penny Flanagan, of 90s indie band Club Hoy] does a few bits in it, which is really fun."

She's also very much looking forward to being back at the Opera House: "To be honest, especially as a comedian, you can't believe that they're going to let you on there. And when you are on there, all the staff treat you as if you're a real act. I know essentially you are, but they treat you like proper theatre people and they do all the theatrey things that you're not used to. We're used to being shoved in the back room and yelled at - ‘you're on, let's go' - rather than all this very genteel ‘Miss Flanagan, this is your half hour call' and you go "Oh, OK, Miss Flanagan," she laughs. "Oh, that's nice." Andrew P Street

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