Are you ready for a Kitty Flanagan-style education? Well, it's a shame if you aren't because the hilarious Australian comedian is going to give it to you anyway, in her brand new show 'Smashing'.
“It's the only verb you need anymore,” she exclaims when asked about the reasoning behind the show's name. “Everyone is smashing everything. I got asked the other day if I wanted to smash a coffee, and I thought, 'okay, usually you just drink them'. Someone also told me they were going to smash out some emails, I went 'do you mind if I write mine?'.”
“Everywhere I go, people are smashing. If you watch 'MasterChef', people don't cook dinner they 'smash it out'... Like what is going on with this?! I just thought 'right, well I'm getting on board, I'm going to smash everything too, including this show'.”
'Smashing' promises to be full of both “fun and learning” as Kitty calls it. “My entire existence is fun and learning, that's what I do on 'The Weekly', on 'The Project', in all my shows. Make sure you write that I'm taking the piss though, I don't really think I'm teaching anyone anything. It's learning in inverted commas.”
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Kitty is known for her on-point observational humour and critiques of human habits. When asked where her love for this kind of comedy comes from, she says it's pretty simple.
“I think I'm just not really very surreal or creative. I'm not one of those people that can go 'oooh, I'm crazy! I'm in the moon! I am the moon!' I don't do that kind of surreal riffing or one-liner jokes,” she confesses. “I'm more of a storyteller and my jokes just happen to be about real stuff.”
As well as touring a brand new show about real stuff, Kitty is also celebrating the release of her last show 'Seriously?' on DVD. It covers a lot of ground, including her ill-fated relationship with a man of the law.
“Dating a policeman you learn a few things,” Kitty says. “Policemen talk in real life like they do on television. We never got into a car, we got into a 'vehicle'. You'd ask him a question and he'd say 'affirmative'. It was quite funny that we were going out together because we didn't really have anything in common. I thought I was really funny and he didn't.”
'Seriously?'
In 'Seriously?' you'll also learn how to talk properly at the doctor, how to train your old person voice and lastly you'll witness a duet between Kitty and her musical sister Penny, honouring middle-aged ladies everywhere.
“She [Penny] is in all my shows. 'Smashing' is our fourth tour and I love having her with me. She adds a fantastic musical element that takes it out of the realm of just me standing up there saying 'blah blah blah blah' at people for an hour and 20 minutes.”
Kitty's had a successful run in the Australian comedy industry for much of her career. She says the most important lesson she's learned is a simple one, but it's also really important: “I've learned to have a good time.”
“So often you can get all caught up with nerves and anxiety about 'ahhh, is it going to be good? I better be the best tonight', and I've learned that I've got the best job in the world, I just really love it. If you're enjoying it then it's likely that the audience is enjoying it too. I've learned to push the nerves aside in favour of having a good time.”
The full list of 'Smashing' tour dates. Kitty's DVD 'Seriously?' is out now.
