Tell us about your style of comedy.
I think my style comes across as dry and cheerful but at my deepest heart of hearts, my comedy is incredibly silly. I mean if I could just do puns all day, I’d probably be quite happy. I think it’s incredibly interesting how jokes work and what makes us laugh. But my main style of comedy is what makes me laugh. I’m in comedy purely because I love laughing!
How did you get into comedy?
I always loved watching and laughing at comedy. I first wrote a joke about age 14 but never thought about performing it. I saw an ad for an improvised comedy beginner’s course and I thought that sounds like fun. And when I turned up I was like, oh my goodness this is not fun, I don’t know what’s happening. I hated it! But I persevered with it and you know, I was told I had a bit of a knack on stage with deadpan jokes.
I did that for a few years and I got confidence up performing. And then then I had a realisation that secretly what I’d always wanted to do was try performing stand up. I made a New Year’s resolution. And then friends of mine from improv set up a comedy open mic night near my house.
One day I just I wrote 5 minutes, I tried it out on my Mum and the next day I turned up and I just did it. It had a bit in it from my idea when I was 14! I don’t remember getting any laughs at the time. But I did record it and I did get the odd laugh.
I had a nice natural delivery in that set. Then when I got into more structured writing I lost the natural delivery and then I’ve had to come back to the natural delivery after learning how to write – so it’s a big process. I just love how much of a challenge it is to get the perfect joke exactly how you want it to be. It’s what makes it exciting.
What is your favourite joke you’ve ever been told?
Oh, this is really hard and I think particularly because I feel like my brain doesn’t hold on to jokes I really enjoy. Like I’m too busy laughing loudly. They’ve done research on this like your brain actually blanks out when you laugh and reduces your recall. So the very best jokes are the ones I don’t remember!
The ones I remember are on my phone. I have one of Maria Bamford’s comedy albums on my phone and the baby Jesus one is quite funny. She is pranking her religious mother (who’s sadly now passed away) by leaving phone messages pretending to be the baby Jesus. ‘Hello, It’s the baby Jesus’ (puts on imitation of the voice). All of her voices make me laugh. I’ve also got a Mitch Hedberg album on my phone and I do enjoy his one liners too.
Locally I really enjoy watching live Nina Gilligan, Hayley Ellis, Anna Thomas and of course Blizzard shows. Big up to some of the female local acts – worth checking them out!
What is the best piece of comedy advice you have ever been given?
There’s so much advice so I’ve just tried to summarise it- Keep performing, keep writing and everyone has their own comedy journey. Stage time is golden. And don’t take it too seriously-it’s meant to be fun!
Who is your favourite comedian we’ve never heard of?
Probably Kitty Flanagan or Judith Lucy – female Aussie comedians. But also check out Steph Tisdell, Chris Martin and Taylor Edwards from my home city in Brisbane if you get the chance. You will love them all!
What challenges have you faced working in comedy?
I think having an invisible disability and working bit by bit to my comedy goals whilst respecting my health limits, as I also work full time, is a challenge. It means others are always progressing faster. But if I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t understand the innate need to laugh to survive and thrive in life, and wouldn’t have developed the sense of humour I have.
How do you think that comedy as an industry can better address these issues?
I think people with disabilities aren’t really supported in comedy. And I’m less limited than many. A simple example is those working around other commitments including health, childcare, or limited funds, are frequently not meeting criteria in new act competitions within time limits to the level to win as those are set assuming you’re gigging lots. Let alone all the other challenges of attending gigs. Not everyone has the capacity to gig 5 nights a week- and some can’t even play some stages too. Comedy could do with recognising this more and trying to improve accessibility to widen diversity.
What do you hope people take away from your shows?
I consider my comedy to be part of my life’s work. I feel like comedy is about healing others, giving people an outlet. When people come to a comedy show, they’re often there for a reason. And you have to respect that reason.
What advice do you have for anyone hoping to get into comedy?
Don’t do it, there’s enough of us (jokes). Record your first set. It’s momentous – even if you never perform again, you’ll have that forever.
Step towards the audience, don’t back away and speak normally into the mic.
And bring who you ARE to the stage, not who you think the audience wants. And shocking an audience to nervously laugh isn’t the laughter you want. It’s okay to stuff up, just get back into it and try to enjoy yourself. Don’t take it too seriously, it’s meant to be FUN!
You can keep up with Kath’s comedy by following her on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Blizzard Comedy 