‘Stand-up is kinda terrifying’
It’s take-off time and Michele A’Court is clipped in, headphones on, ready to soar. The stand-up comedian, columnist and author adores flying and has turned it into a personal production.
‘‘I listen to a particular song every time I take-off.’’
For the past two years, she’s tuned into Start a Revolution by New Zealand band Devilskin, which at 42 seconds hits the chorus, lifting A’Court into natural high right on take-off. ‘‘I feel like I’m flying, which I am of course, but I forget the plane is there.’’
The Auckland-based hellcat of comedy adores travelling, and this March is On The Road with husband Jeremy Elwood doing a
27-town season, which includes many small towns and cities, including New Plymouth on March
8 at the TSB Showplace.
It’s organised by Arts on Tour, which offers shows to towns, who then decide if they want to buy a performance. ‘‘That’s one of the lovely things about it is that when we turn up in a town, they actively want you to be there.’’
A’Court is also performing solo at Womad on Sunday, March 17, and is excited about attending the festival for the first time.
‘‘I feel like I’m coming down to have a good time and singing for my supper at the end. I love festivals, so I’m planning to immerse myself in it and on Sunday at 8.45 (pm) I have to haul myself on stage and do a bit of work.’’
When A’Court does take the stage, dangerous subjects are approached with no caution – just comedy.
‘‘My favourite bits at the moment are about the ‘me too’ movement, gender equality and sexual harassment. It’s comedy,’’ she says, sitting in Glasshouse, her favourite cafe´ in Northcote.
‘‘They are the big issues, certainly in my world, and have been for a long time now and I think it’s good to find the comedic way to talk about these issues, which helps deal with the anger, the horror, the frustrations.’’
But she doesn’t promise to come up with solutions – not real ones, just amusing answers. ‘‘You want people to see these issues from a slightly different angle, see things in a new way and open up conversations,’’ she says, earnestly over a pot of green tea.
‘‘If you can make a joke about a dark thing, it throws light on it.’’
During their multi-town tour, A’Court (pronounced like acorn) and Elwood will have a 45-minute set each to talk about whatever they want.
From a long-line of storytellers, the petite woman with long dark hair will be performing a ‘‘best of’’ show at Womad. But it could change on the night, because her performances get crafted on stage.
‘‘I’ve always done it that way. It’s not as terrifying as it sounds. The stuff you are polishing and honing will be surrounded by carefully crafted finished material.’’
She doesn’t panic if something doesn’t work, she just moves on to something that does. But she does admit to nerves before a performance. ‘‘Stand-up is kind of terrifying. I have been doing it for 26 years. Pre-show, I’m really nervous, but about 20 seconds in you can feel it go.’’
Meanwhile, Elwood has a day job working on TV3’s The Project, they both have often appeared on satirical TV news programme 7 Days and regularly have weekend work away. They also have a column for Stuff called Side By Side, in which they separately discuss a topical issue.
A’Court has been writing a column each week for the past 11 years, and has written two books, Stuff I Forgot to Tell My Daughter
and How We Met.
The former has a piece which says: ‘‘I’ve often thought that if you asked a breastfeeding mother the kind of questions they asked someone who is suspected of having a brain injury (Who is the Prime Minister? Is it Wednesday?), she’d be made immediately to lie down in a hospital bed for observation.’’
But does she have different views since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is obviously flourishing as a mum while running the country?
‘‘No, I have not changed my mind. I really love having a Prime Minister who’s breastfeeding because it shows it can be done if you have the right support.’’
Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford has a full-time father caring for her and two grandmothers in the wings ready to help.
While the PM is succeeding in her multi-tasking-there-foreveryone life, it’s not the same for all women. A’Court cites former MP Holly Walker, who wrote about a vastly different experience as a new mum in the book, The Whole Intimate Mess: Motherhood, Politics and Women’s Writing.
‘‘Without the right kind of supports, it’s impossible. It’s the exhaustion – not that having a baby makes you stupid. You are really tired and you are doing a job that’s bigger than one person can manage,’’ A’Court says.
In hindsight, she decided to do even better for her own daughter, also called Holly, sharing mustknow gems like how to pickle ginger, herstory of feminism, and thoughts like: ‘‘I like to visualise work as an elephant, an elephant that I have to eat. And you know how to eat an elephant? One teaspoonful at a time.’’
A’Court and Holly are close. Often the comedian has mentioned her daughter in shows, but once, when she was 15, Holly asked her mum not to talk about her on stage. Holly and her grandmother went to the show and afterwards the teenager expressed displeasure at not being talked about. So that never happened again.
So, if A’Court could give her daughter – or anyone – advice about travelling it would be about how to pack a suitcase. She puts in the clothes for the show, an umbrella ‘‘a puffer jacket even thought it’s meant to be 28 degrees Celsius and a Japanese fan, so it covers the two extremes’’.
She also takes her togs because she swims at every opportunity and to make the motel room feel more personal, she takes her own tea mug, nice soap, and a food bag packed with green tea, cashew nuts, muesli bars and cereal.
‘‘Sometimes I will take a photo in a frame of the family to stick on the bedside table and say, ‘this room is mine now’.’’
For the March tour, A’Court is excited about being On The Road with Elwood.
The couple met in November 1999, and because of their varied schedules, spend a lot of time apart.
‘‘Five years ago, I spent onethird of the year – 120 nights – away from home. ‘‘It’s lovely being on the road. The motivation for the tour was because we don’t spend enough time together. We are really good at travelling together.
‘‘Stick us in an airport and we are terrific.’’
And on board, headphones in, A’Court will be soaring:
‘‘I’ll start a revolution When I get up in the morning, I’ll start a revolution
When I get up, get out
Start a revolution, start a revolution…’’