The NZ International Comedy Festival is just around the corner, with many iconic comedians from all over the world set to appear.
Australian comedian Felicity Ward, who fans may recognise from The Office Australia, Time Bandits or The Inbetweeners, is one of the bigger international draws, with her new show ‘I Wish I Could Come Out of My Shell’.
She says she's used to the attention being on stage brings - after years of being involved in the medium.
"I get a thrill out of being on stage, I've been doing standup since the prehistoric era. But I love stand-up more now than I did when I started, I love it."
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We could all do with a little bit of a
laugh at the moment, couldn't we. So the good news
is that the New Zealand International Comedy Festival is just
around the corner. One of the international comedians attending this
year is British based ossie Felicity Ward. So Felicity is
a regular to our comedy scene and you might also
know her from the Office Australia, Time Bandits or the
in between Ers. Her show for the festival is called
(00:33):
I Wish I Could Come out of My Shell, and
Felicity Ward joins me now from London.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Good morning, A good morning, how are you good evening?
But good morning, good I am very good, thank you.
I want to talk to you about this show that
you're bringing to New Zealand. It's called I Wish I
Could Come out of My Shell, which is hilarious considering
the photo that accompanies the title. But talkways through it
is it as tongue in cheek as it sounds, It.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Is as tongue. It is as tongue in cheek as
it sounds. That's a very difficult sentence. I don't know
how you do that so easily. Yeah, I mean, like
this show is I always come up with the show
title and the poster first. That's where I start. And
I thought that was a really funny thing because I'm
like ninety seven percent extrovert, Like I'm the only three
(01:19):
percent that's introvert.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Is when I'm pretending to be shy. That's it.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I need people, I need I need.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
That's how I get my energy.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
That's how I and I'm such a I'm such a
sad show.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
Off, like like.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
You know those I don't understand shy comedians. Comedians are
really shy off stage. I'm like, what what are you
doing here? Isn't this the most uncomfortable thing you've ever
done in your life?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Well, I was going to say, I thought that, you know,
most comedians are already out of this shell. That's my
general perception on stage anyway.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah, on stage, but when they're not, when they're off
stage and they're like shy people, I'm like, this doesn't equate.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
This equation doesn't make any sense to me at all.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
It feels like hard work, right, I just don't get it.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
Yeah, Yeah, like why put yourself through. I need it.
I'm desperate for it.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I like it.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
It's not not just like not just laughs, but like
I get a thrill out of being on stage. I've
been doing stand up for like, I don't know, since
the prehistoric era. But I love stand up more now
than I did when I started.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Why's that?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
I think I got good?
Speaker 4 (02:33):
There was at one point where I was like, oh, okay,
I could have been doing that the whole time.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
No, like everyone, you know.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
You get, you get, you get better at different points
in your career, and you learn different parts. And I
had done lots of acting before I started stand up,
so I had like I was really comfortable on stage,
but my writing was very hit and miss.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
And then you know that got good after a while.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
That's really interesting because you did You did start about
you're about twenty seven, I think when you started stand up. Yeah, yeah,
so you did come to it bit later. But I
also wondered whether heaving a little bit more life experience
under your belt also helped.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Oh I god, my god, I don't know how imagine
getting up when you're eighteen years old on stage, Like,
what do I have to say at age eighteen, having
said that there's lots of people that are really good
joke writers and they or there's like, you know, there's
freaks and protegees, like prodigies like Rosemuncefeo where she was
(03:32):
just you know, she's just incredible at the time that
she was a.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Teenager, I was not that.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
So I and because my stand up's really hyper personal,
it's I had to go and have a life. But
also I didn't want to do stand up when I
first started, Like before I did stand up, I had
made a vow never to do stand up because I'd
always been in acting. I was like, h, being yourself ERH.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
What I am intrigued about is, as you see it,
you do share a lot of yourself in the stand
Oh yeah, is there what kind of keeps bringing you
back to the stage? Does it bearing your soul on stage?
Why do you want to keep doing that?
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Because it's the only thing that I have that no
one else has an opinion on. No one else has
the insight on my life that I do. And when
I'm you know, I have big feelings all the time.
And when I'm in the middle of a big feeling
of whatever, that feeling is, whether it's like fury or
joy or sadness or struggle or whatever it is. I'm
(04:40):
really good at articulating it when I'm in it. So
I often write material when I'm in it and then
perform it like six months later and then and sometimes
it's really good to have that space and not feel
so attached to it. And then other times you're like,
this feels wrong. I should not be saying this anymore.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Still a bit too raw? Is it quite cathartic for you?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Then? No, Everything that is a problem for me I
deal with in therapy. I am when people like, is
there is stand up for therapeutic, I'm like, no, I
pay for that. I have paid for that because I
do not want my audience to feel unsafe in front
of me. I'm a very mentally ill person. I would
never ever take out my feelings on my audience.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So this particular show, what has inspired this particular show.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Well two things.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Basically, I got divorced and I separated three years ago,
and I was sort of like really I wasn't like,
I won't say I was lost. I was just starting
again at forty three, and I was in London and
I was a single mum and I didn't have any
(05:52):
family here, and it all felt really really hard, and
then the grief of you know, of the marriage breaking down.
But that's not what the show is about. The show
is about the first year. About the end of the
first year, I got the call to do Dancing with
the Stars and it changed my life. And then the
(06:15):
following twelve months, so the three months that I was
doing the show and then the nine months that followed
that has been one of the greatest years of my life,
of my whole life. I have to be very quiet
because my son, Oh here is just now.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
I will read to you. I'm just doing an interview
right now. But yeah, do you want to come and
say hi? You quickly cut all. Wait, this is Frankie.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Nice to see you.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
Okay, father Bee? Can you close it?
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Do you know how cute it is having a son
with an English accent when you don't have an English accent.
It's adorable. It's like living with a Disney Bear. I'm
just going to close the door. Excuse me for a second.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Okay, Okay, So Dancing with the Stars, so is he
dancing to the start? You did really well. We've got
to let people know I believe that you made it
through to the final.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
To the finale. Yeah, yeah, I did. Yeah, it's really
really hard. I cried so much.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I don't know anyone who's done it who says I
had no idea how hard it would be, and everyone
kind of rolls their eyes. But to so many everybody
said that, now you can't ignore the fact that obviously
it's just.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
So in Australia.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
I don't know how they do it in New Zealand,
but Australia's I think, the only territory in the world
that still pre records the entire show. Right, So we
rehearse for six weeks, one on one just our dancer.
We have no idea who the other contestants are also
and me and my dancer. We rehearsed seven hours a day,
five days a week, and you have to learn five
(07:53):
dancers in that time.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
And then the show starts like this.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Then they film the entire series, nine episodes in twenty
three days.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Oh my gosh, Right, okay, so I didn't know. Yeah, no,
we go live hereah, I think, yeah, sure, yeah it
might have been for.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Yeah, I think it is. No.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
I think Australia is the only territory that does it.
So you have to know everything before the show record starts.
So everyone has to know five dances, but there's only
two that you're guaranteed to perform. The first one is
a freebie first episode that you do, and the second
episode is elimination.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Nuts.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
That's quite Yeah, that's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Dance.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Can you dance? Could you dance?
Speaker 5 (08:34):
Before I did it? Dancing with the Stars, Well, let
me tell you.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I went in thinking I could dance a lot better
than I could. I did a little bit of jazz
ballet in nineteen ninety one, and when in a bit cocky,
you know, I thought I had an unfair advantage, and
it turns out that does not translate to the sumber
or the fox trot. So I have musicality, I have
a sense of rhythm, but I am also I didn't
(09:01):
realize this.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
I hate learning.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
It turns out I hate learning and that is not
as conducive as you'd think to going on Dancing with
the Stars.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
So when you say it changed your life, did it
change your life because of opportunities? Did it change? What
was it?
Speaker 5 (09:16):
No?
Speaker 4 (09:17):
No, it was I This is going to sound depressing,
but don't worry we all come out of it in
the end. I because my life was so hard before
I went out there, like everything was really really hard,
and I just thought you got sadder as you got older.
I just thought that's what happens with life. And I
just thought that was kind. That was my version of
rebellience is liken't doesn't matter what you can throw at me.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
I will always continue.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
It will be hard, and I will be sad, but
I will always continue like I can the stuff that
I've been through in my life is insane, and I
will write a book when all of my family are dead.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
I thought that.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
I think I thought that things were just going to
get sadder as I got older.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
And then what happened with the show is every time.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
I performed the dance, I got this massive like adrenaline, oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin, everything.
And then in between the dancers, like while we were recording,
it was really really hard and really really stressful, and
just like subconsciously, it just retrained my neural pathways too,
like that I trusted that things can be hard and
(10:25):
good at the same time, and I didn't think they could.
And then I was like I was at the airport
coming back to London, and I was like, oh my god,
I'm looking forward to coming back to London for the
first time in a decade.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Like I always used to sit at the airport and
just go.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
I miss my family, I missed the food, I miss beaches,
I miss coffee, I miss my friend, like it was
every time, and this time I was like, I wonder
what London's going to be like. And then we went
on to have like the greatest summer of all time
as far the most sunshine that we had in like
one hundred years over here.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
You're very good. You're very good at competitions, because not
only we were finalist and Dancing with the Stars, but
I believe you were on in one Celebrity Mastermind, which
is pretty impressive. So your specialist topic was.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
The American band the Pixies. Brilliant, brilliant little post punk band.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah yeah, yeah. Did they ask you anything you didn't know?
Or are you actually you know a Pixies expert? Seriously Pixies.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Oh sorry, that was just I'm sorry to be in
Australian but Pixie's expert is just the most key we
phrase that you could say Pixi's expert is.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
Well, lah, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
I know that's really hacky, but that was like, that
was afraid that I haven't heard in New Zealand to
say before, and that was absolutely delicious.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
So what they do is before the show is they
ask you, like, what you would think your specialist subject
would be. And I firstly said the Simpsons series one
to nine because that's sort of something that I know
a lot about, and they're like, we have just recorded
that last week. I was like, And then they said,
you can be something that you know about, or it
(12:02):
can be something that you want to know about, and
so I said, I really love the Pixies though they're
my all time favorite band, I wouldn't say that I'm
an expert. And they're like, great, that's going to be.
And then they send you a resource, they send you
a source material so you learn from.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
That, and then it was like all of the all
of the albums up and.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
You can learn.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
You are good at learning, yeah, oh all right, no
need to disprove my theory.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
It's really interesting hearing you talking about sort of, you know,
being able to work out in life that you know
just because something's hard, it doesn't necessarily mean it's good.
And you talk about the fact that you know comedy
and the work that you do is kind of your
purpose and it lights up your life, but that doesn't
mean that it's not a pretty brutal industry and career.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Oh you know, try being a single mum in the
arts in London. Do you have any idea how much
I have to hemorrhage just to.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Get by over here? It's madness.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
It is madness how much money it costs to stay
afloat here. So I'm working like I've just started.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
Like I am on the road. I am like, but
I do love my job.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
I will say I am too old to be driving
six hours in a night, and that's still happening.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
You're looking forward to getting back to Australia and New
Zealand for the comedy festivals. I know it's been a while.
I think since you've played Sydney. You're going to do
a couple of weeks there, Melbourne and then here in
New Zealand. How long has it been since you sort
of performed.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
I was in New Zealand last year.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
I had a great time and that's why I wanted
to come back. I just had the time of my
life and I had a ball on seven days and
I did it. I'm doing all the galas again. I
just can't wait. I'm doing Wellington this year. I'm doing
a full hour at Wellington. I only did Auckland last
year and just did like a week there. Really pumped
about that.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
I'm just.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
It used to be that I wrote an hour show
every year, and then I got pregnant and had a baby,
and then COVID and so then I wrote three one
hour shows over four years and then toured that that
ended up being in a bridge ver So I sort
of had like these three one hours that I was
kind of tinkering with for six years.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
This is the first show that.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
I've written in four months, Like the time limit is
four or five months that I've written the show.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
The first time I've done that in eight years.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
So it's been really exciting and stressful and thrilling and
finding out how much I can push myself and that
the muscle memory is still there.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
Having said that, I have not done the show without.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Notes yet, so we will see how it goes when
I start tomorrow in Melbourne.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Oh my goodness, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Brilliant off. Let's I wish you all the beast. Thank
you so much for good time this morning. It's been
lovely to talk to you.
Speaker 5 (15:05):
Oh my god, it's been lovely to talk to you too.
Thank you so much for your time for.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
The listener's show. I Wish I Could Come Out of
My Shell is coming to New Zealand for the New
Zealand International Comedy Festival in May. For more details, head
to Comedyfestival dot co dot zed.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We could all do with a little bit of a
laugh at the moment, couldn't we. So the good news
is that the New Zealand International Comedy Festival is just
around the corner. One of the international comedians attending this
year is British based ossie Felicity Ward. So Felicity is
a regular to our comedy scene and you might also
know her from the Office Australia, Time Bandits or the
in between Ers. Her show for the festival is called
(00:33):
I Wish I Could Come out of My Shell, and
Felicity Ward joins me now from London.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Good morning, A good morning, how are you good evening?
But good morning, good I am very good, thank you.
I want to talk to you about this show that
you're bringing to New Zealand. It's called I Wish I
Could Come out of My Shell, which is hilarious considering
the photo that accompanies the title. But talkways through it
is it as tongue in cheek as it sounds, It.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Is as tongue. It is as tongue in cheek as
it sounds. That's a very difficult sentence. I don't know
how you do that so easily. Yeah, I mean, like
this show is I always come up with the show
title and the poster first. That's where I start. And
I thought that was a really funny thing because I'm
like ninety seven percent extrovert, Like I'm the only three
(01:19):
percent that's introvert.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Is when I'm pretending to be shy. That's it.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I need people, I need I need.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
That's how I get my energy.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
That's how I and I'm such a I'm such a
sad show.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
Off, like like.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
You know those I don't understand shy comedians. Comedians are
really shy off stage. I'm like, what what are you
doing here? Isn't this the most uncomfortable thing you've ever
done in your life?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Well, I was going to say, I thought that, you know,
most comedians are already out of this shell. That's my
general perception on stage anyway.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah, on stage, but when they're not, when they're off
stage and they're like shy people, I'm like, this doesn't equate.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
This equation doesn't make any sense to me at all.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
It feels like hard work, right, I just don't get it.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
Yeah, Yeah, like why put yourself through. I need it.
I'm desperate for it.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I like it.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
It's not not just like not just laughs, but like
I get a thrill out of being on stage. I've
been doing stand up for like, I don't know, since
the prehistoric era. But I love stand up more now
than I did when I started.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Why's that?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
I think I got good?
Speaker 4 (02:33):
There was at one point where I was like, oh, okay,
I could have been doing that the whole time.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
No, like everyone, you know.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
You get, you get, you get better at different points
in your career, and you learn different parts. And I
had done lots of acting before I started stand up,
so I had like I was really comfortable on stage,
but my writing was very hit and miss.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
And then you know that got good after a while.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
That's really interesting because you did You did start about
you're about twenty seven, I think when you started stand up. Yeah, yeah,
so you did come to it bit later. But I
also wondered whether heaving a little bit more life experience
under your belt also helped.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Oh I god, my god, I don't know how imagine
getting up when you're eighteen years old on stage, Like,
what do I have to say at age eighteen, having
said that there's lots of people that are really good
joke writers and they or there's like, you know, there's
freaks and protegees, like prodigies like Rosemuncefeo where she was
(03:32):
just you know, she's just incredible at the time that
she was a.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Teenager, I was not that.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
So I and because my stand up's really hyper personal,
it's I had to go and have a life. But
also I didn't want to do stand up when I
first started, Like before I did stand up, I had
made a vow never to do stand up because I'd
always been in acting. I was like, h, being yourself ERH.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
What I am intrigued about is, as you see it,
you do share a lot of yourself in the stand
Oh yeah, is there what kind of keeps bringing you
back to the stage? Does it bearing your soul on stage?
Why do you want to keep doing that?
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Because it's the only thing that I have that no
one else has an opinion on. No one else has
the insight on my life that I do. And when
I'm you know, I have big feelings all the time.
And when I'm in the middle of a big feeling
of whatever, that feeling is, whether it's like fury or
joy or sadness or struggle or whatever it is. I'm
(04:40):
really good at articulating it when I'm in it. So
I often write material when I'm in it and then
perform it like six months later and then and sometimes
it's really good to have that space and not feel
so attached to it. And then other times you're like,
this feels wrong. I should not be saying this anymore.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Still a bit too raw? Is it quite cathartic for you?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Then? No, Everything that is a problem for me I
deal with in therapy. I am when people like, is
there is stand up for therapeutic, I'm like, no, I
pay for that. I have paid for that because I
do not want my audience to feel unsafe in front
of me. I'm a very mentally ill person. I would
never ever take out my feelings on my audience.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So this particular show, what has inspired this particular show.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Well two things.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Basically, I got divorced and I separated three years ago,
and I was sort of like really I wasn't like,
I won't say I was lost. I was just starting
again at forty three, and I was in London and
I was a single mum and I didn't have any
(05:52):
family here, and it all felt really really hard, and
then the grief of you know, of the marriage breaking down.
But that's not what the show is about. The show
is about the first year. About the end of the
first year, I got the call to do Dancing with
the Stars and it changed my life. And then the
(06:15):
following twelve months, so the three months that I was
doing the show and then the nine months that followed
that has been one of the greatest years of my life,
of my whole life. I have to be very quiet
because my son, Oh here is just now.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
I will read to you. I'm just doing an interview
right now. But yeah, do you want to come and
say hi? You quickly cut all. Wait, this is Frankie.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Nice to see you.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
Okay, father Bee? Can you close it?
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Do you know how cute it is having a son
with an English accent when you don't have an English accent.
It's adorable. It's like living with a Disney Bear. I'm
just going to close the door. Excuse me for a second.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Okay, Okay, So Dancing with the Stars, so is he
dancing to the start? You did really well. We've got
to let people know I believe that you made it
through to the final.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
To the finale. Yeah, yeah, I did. Yeah, it's really
really hard. I cried so much.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I don't know anyone who's done it who says I
had no idea how hard it would be, and everyone
kind of rolls their eyes. But to so many everybody
said that, now you can't ignore the fact that obviously
it's just.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
So in Australia.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
I don't know how they do it in New Zealand,
but Australia's I think, the only territory in the world
that still pre records the entire show. Right, So we
rehearse for six weeks, one on one just our dancer.
We have no idea who the other contestants are also
and me and my dancer. We rehearsed seven hours a day,
five days a week, and you have to learn five
(07:53):
dancers in that time.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
And then the show starts like this.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Then they film the entire series, nine episodes in twenty
three days.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Oh my gosh, Right, okay, so I didn't know. Yeah, no,
we go live hereah, I think, yeah, sure, yeah it
might have been for.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Yeah, I think it is. No.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
I think Australia is the only territory that does it.
So you have to know everything before the show record starts.
So everyone has to know five dances, but there's only
two that you're guaranteed to perform. The first one is
a freebie first episode that you do, and the second
episode is elimination.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Nuts.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
That's quite Yeah, that's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Dance.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Can you dance? Could you dance?
Speaker 5 (08:34):
Before I did it? Dancing with the Stars, Well, let
me tell you.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I went in thinking I could dance a lot better
than I could. I did a little bit of jazz
ballet in nineteen ninety one, and when in a bit cocky,
you know, I thought I had an unfair advantage, and
it turns out that does not translate to the sumber
or the fox trot. So I have musicality, I have
a sense of rhythm, but I am also I didn't
(09:01):
realize this.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
I hate learning.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
It turns out I hate learning and that is not
as conducive as you'd think to going on Dancing with
the Stars.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
So when you say it changed your life, did it
change your life because of opportunities? Did it change? What
was it?
Speaker 5 (09:16):
No?
Speaker 4 (09:17):
No, it was I This is going to sound depressing,
but don't worry we all come out of it in
the end. I because my life was so hard before
I went out there, like everything was really really hard,
and I just thought you got sadder as you got older.
I just thought that's what happens with life. And I
just thought that was kind. That was my version of
rebellience is liken't doesn't matter what you can throw at me.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
I will always continue.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
It will be hard, and I will be sad, but
I will always continue like I can the stuff that
I've been through in my life is insane, and I
will write a book when all of my family are dead.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
I thought that.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
I think I thought that things were just going to
get sadder as I got older.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
And then what happened with the show is every time.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
I performed the dance, I got this massive like adrenaline, oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin, everything.
And then in between the dancers, like while we were recording,
it was really really hard and really really stressful, and
just like subconsciously, it just retrained my neural pathways too,
like that I trusted that things can be hard and
(10:25):
good at the same time, and I didn't think they could.
And then I was like I was at the airport
coming back to London, and I was like, oh my god,
I'm looking forward to coming back to London for the
first time in a decade.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Like I always used to sit at the airport and
just go.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
I miss my family, I missed the food, I miss beaches,
I miss coffee, I miss my friend, like it was
every time, and this time I was like, I wonder
what London's going to be like. And then we went
on to have like the greatest summer of all time
as far the most sunshine that we had in like
one hundred years over here.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
You're very good. You're very good at competitions, because not
only we were finalist and Dancing with the Stars, but
I believe you were on in one Celebrity Mastermind, which
is pretty impressive. So your specialist topic was.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
The American band the Pixies. Brilliant, brilliant little post punk band.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah yeah, yeah. Did they ask you anything you didn't know?
Or are you actually you know a Pixies expert? Seriously Pixies.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Oh sorry, that was just I'm sorry to be in
Australian but Pixie's expert is just the most key we
phrase that you could say Pixi's expert is.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
Well, lah, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
I know that's really hacky, but that was like, that
was afraid that I haven't heard in New Zealand to
say before, and that was absolutely delicious.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
So what they do is before the show is they
ask you, like, what you would think your specialist subject
would be. And I firstly said the Simpsons series one
to nine because that's sort of something that I know
a lot about, and they're like, we have just recorded
that last week. I was like, And then they said,
you can be something that you know about, or it
(12:02):
can be something that you want to know about, and
so I said, I really love the Pixies though they're
my all time favorite band, I wouldn't say that I'm
an expert. And they're like, great, that's going to be.
And then they send you a resource, they send you
a source material so you learn from.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
That, and then it was like all of the all
of the albums up and.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
You can learn.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
You are good at learning, yeah, oh all right, no
need to disprove my theory.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
It's really interesting hearing you talking about sort of, you know,
being able to work out in life that you know
just because something's hard, it doesn't necessarily mean it's good.
And you talk about the fact that you know comedy
and the work that you do is kind of your
purpose and it lights up your life, but that doesn't
mean that it's not a pretty brutal industry and career.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Oh you know, try being a single mum in the
arts in London. Do you have any idea how much
I have to hemorrhage just to.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Get by over here? It's madness.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
It is madness how much money it costs to stay
afloat here. So I'm working like I've just started.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
Like I am on the road. I am like, but
I do love my job.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
I will say I am too old to be driving
six hours in a night, and that's still happening.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
You're looking forward to getting back to Australia and New
Zealand for the comedy festivals. I know it's been a while.
I think since you've played Sydney. You're going to do
a couple of weeks there, Melbourne and then here in
New Zealand. How long has it been since you sort
of performed.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
I was in New Zealand last year.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
I had a great time and that's why I wanted
to come back. I just had the time of my
life and I had a ball on seven days and
I did it. I'm doing all the galas again. I
just can't wait. I'm doing Wellington this year. I'm doing
a full hour at Wellington. I only did Auckland last
year and just did like a week there. Really pumped
about that.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
I'm just.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
It used to be that I wrote an hour show
every year, and then I got pregnant and had a baby,
and then COVID and so then I wrote three one
hour shows over four years and then toured that that
ended up being in a bridge ver So I sort
of had like these three one hours that I was
kind of tinkering with for six years.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
This is the first show that.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
I've written in four months, Like the time limit is
four or five months that I've written the show.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
The first time I've done that in eight years.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
So it's been really exciting and stressful and thrilling and
finding out how much I can push myself and that
the muscle memory is still there.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
Having said that, I have not done the show without.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Notes yet, so we will see how it goes when
I start tomorrow in Melbourne.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Oh my goodness, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Brilliant off. Let's I wish you all the beast. Thank
you so much for good time this morning. It's been
lovely to talk to you.
Speaker 5 (15:05):
Oh my god, it's been lovely to talk to you too.
Thank you so much for your time for.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
The listener's show. I Wish I Could Come Out of
My Shell is coming to New Zealand for the New
Zealand International Comedy Festival in May. For more details, head
to Comedyfestival dot co dot zed.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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