The last time scenestr spoke to Georgie Carroll was February 2021. Full of beans and elated, Georgie was driving home from her last shift ever as a nurse – “Proper f...ing chipper!” the comedian cried of her mood at the time.
Today, however, it’s a different story. “Aw, mate, I’m back. I’m back nursing again!”
Georgie was so done with nursing, but then comedy got a bit harder again, what with everything COVID going on. She’d written a book, though, 'Off The Charts', selling like gangbusters (Manchester slang for 'just great'), but Georgie had a lot of free time. “Rather than be a necessary go-back, I wanted to be a part of the COVID [front-liners], but I didn’t want to work on the COVID ward.
“I even lied. ‘Do you have any intensive care training?’ I’m like, ‘No’. I worked in intensive care for 11 years! I was like, I’m not going to deal with COVID but I am more than happy to work in vaccinations. There’s loads of nurses come out of retirement to come do vaccinations. I think I’m the person to fix it.”
Georgie previously told scenestr that on what she thought was her last day, she was writing a medical note that could have gotten her in trouble; “patient’s come in for a line infusion, would very much like a cheese sandwich, doesn’t eat tomato”. Remembering this draws out a thunderous guffaw from Georgie. “I don’t have to write in the vaccination clinic!” she says. “If you faint when I give you the vaccine, I just give you to someone else, I don’t even have to write you’ve fainted. I am just jabs in arms, jabs in arms!”
Passion and drive haven’t been dampened by her return to nursing, if anything, Georgie’s found new sides to her. “It’s only because of COVID that I’ve time to do things like write a book, present an idea for a TV sitcom,” she says.
It's Georgie’s quick wit and bubbly character that will make for not only welcome respite from COVID woes at the hospital, but a rollicking good night when Georgie presents her new show, 'Sister Flo 2.0'. “I’m finding new ways to be creative, but my passion is to stand up in front of people, and they took the time to have a shower, got a babysitter, and picked me, out of all the Fringe, they picked me to come and see.
“I love that bit where they’re all sat in front of me and it’s like tickling children! That’s the connection, nothing like it!”
“We are going into this next season just never wanting to make anyone laugh harder!”
Asked if 'Sister Flo 2.0' will present all new jokes, all new Georgie, she laughs. “You so want me to say yes, don’t ya? But I can’t lie! Essentially comedy is the stories you tell at dinner parties – but better!
“I can’t say it’s a whole new era, but what I can say [is] I’ve got 20 years of nursing under the belt and if you think the arts suffered [through COVID] you should have seen what happened in hospitals! Let’s see what falls out of it.”
Georgie Carroll plays Comedy Store (Sydney Comedy Festival) 5-6 May, and Brisbane Powerhouse (Brisbane Comedy Festival) 8 May.
