Comedian Nina Oyama is working on a new character for her stand-up show ‘Nina Oyama Is Doing Me Right Now’.
Perhaps you know her from dancing around in a possum suit on ABC’s ‘The Set’. Or, maybe you’ve seen her play Courtney on ‘Utopia’, or feature as all sorts of kooky personalities on ‘Kinne Tonight’ and ‘Tonightly With Tom Ballard’.
You might be wondering, then, what shoes Nina will be stepping into for this new show. Well, it’s a role she’s been working away at – herself.
That’s right, Nina is just doing her for this brand-new hour of stand-up.
“My show is predominately about how I worked as a possum mascot on a live music TV show and also how a right wing news commentator tried to cancel me,” Nina describes. “It’s mostly just me talking about all the weird things that have happened in my life over the last two years.”
“I hope [audiences] like the show! It’s very silly and extremely filthy, not the kind of show you can bring your nan to (unless your nan is cool and has a dirty mind).”
Nina says she believes comedy has taken on a new form post-2020.
“Not to be sentimental but I think we need laughter and joy this year after all that’s happened. Comedy is usually effective in that way but I think it’s especially powerful now. Laughter really is the best medicine, I mean, not literally – a vaccine is the best actual medicine, but like in terms of making people feel better, by distracting them from the world, I think it really works.”
As for what she’s most excited for when it comes to returning to the stage, with an audience, after all this time, it’s pretty easy to guess.
“It’s so nuts seeing heaps of people out and about every night. There was a period of time where I just spent entire days only seeing my housemates and now whenever I see more than four people together I just get so excited! Anyway, this is a nice way of saying I will be happy if at least five people show up to my comedy show.”
Nina Oyama plays Astor Theatre (Perth Comedy Festival) 29-30 April and Enmore Theatre 6-9 May and Comedy Store 15 May (Sydney Comedy Festival).
