Fresh from a sell-out UK tour, Central Coast native Felicity Ward triumphantly returns to her home turf for the comedy festival season, with her hit show ‘Busting A Nut’.
Described as “a bullet point round up of my life for the past two years, told through the medium of straight-up jokes,” Felicity couldn’t be more hyped to be performing for Australian audiences again.
“I am so excited. I'm just pumped. I haven't done a show here for more than a year. I will never leave it that long again. I've been away long enough now that my vernacular is starting to escape!”
“It feels really good coming back. It's the broadest show I've ever done, so if people have never seen me they don't need to worry about having to know who I am before they can enjoy it.”
She “took a year off” comedy in 2017, saying “it meant that my show was better and funnier and that I had time to breathe and sleep”... But she was certainly busy.
During her self-imposed hiatus, she made a name for herself as the queen of podcasts. There’s her BBC series ‘Appisodes’, trying to solve mental health issues one phone app at a time; the ABC’s ‘The Urnbelievable Ashes’ (“because I love cricket!”); slots on Sofie Hagan’s ‘Made of Human’ and Stuart Goldsmith’s ‘The Comedian’s Comedian’. But it’s as a regular (and arguably the funniest) co-host on fellow Aussie ex-pat Deborah Frances White’s ‘The Guilty Feminist’ that she’s best known.
Is it a lot of work?
“Deb is a machine, mate. The amount of work she does! I am a little more off the cuff. I'm so comfortable doing it. Deb is such a good co-host. She's created a platform where women can be the funniest versions of themselves. It's such a pleasure to do.”
‘The Guilty Feminist’ was borne out of frustration at the lack of opportunities afforded female comics. Deborah points out you have more chance of getting your own late night chat show if you’re called James, than if you’re a woman. But Felicity feels the game has finally changed.
“I noticed at the last Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, the amount of women who’d sold out their entire runs, even before the festival had started – it felt like a real tidal shift as far as who’s seeing what shows.”
It was at Edinburgh, performing ‘Busting A Nut’, that Felicity was nominated for the festival’s most coveted prize of Best Comedy, a prize eventually awarded to New Zealander (and fellow 'Guilty Feminist' alumni) Rose Matafeo.
“It was like I'd won when they announced it. It was as good as. It was a bit of a win for all of us.”
Felicity moved to the UK “to click over to the next level”. After struggling to get gigs to justify “missing my family and being the palest I’ve ever been”, she says “the last year has been amazing”.
With a lead role in a play and ‘The Guilty Feminist’ tour on the horizon, 2019 doesn’t look too shabby either.
Felicity Ward Tour Dates
23 February – Brisbane Powerhouse (Brisbane Comedy Festival)24 February – Fortuna Spiegeltent at The Garden of Unearthly Delights (Adelaide Fringe)
28 March-21 April – Melbourne Town Hall (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)
23 April – Giant Dwarf (Sydney Comedy Festival)
