Comedy tribute:
Urzila Carlson hosts a star-studded ‘thank you’ comedy gig for frontline workers.
Urzila Carlson is supposed to be in the US now promoting her Netflix comedy special Overqualified Loser. Instead she’s at home in Auckland with her children talking to TV Guide on the phone about a ‘thank you’ comedy show she is hosting for frontline workers.
Called Stand Up Aotearoa, the televised show features a star-studded line-up of local comedians performing for an audience made up of people such as supermarket workers and nurses.
Comedians taking part include Rhys Darby, Paul Ego (7 Days), Kura Forrester (Shortland Street) and Mel Bracewell (Have You Been Paying Attention?).
“A lot of people are just looking forward to being back in front of a crowd and just doing some comedy,” says Carlson.
“It’s so important getting people to laugh and to go sit down and go, ‘We’re all in this together’.”
Stand Up Aotearoa is being filmed at an Auckland venue.
“We put out the word and people could sign up to get tickets,” she says.
“We tried to get them from every industry. So hopefully they’re well represented on the night. With supermarket workers we didn’t want the management, the people sitting in the offices.
“We wanted people who actually had to go out there while we were all petrified and not even sure how exactly we could get this virus because, you know, it kept changing.
“Initially it was like, ‘Just wash your hands and you’ll be fine’ and then it was like, ‘Oh, actually some of the particles can be airborne’.”
While many New Zealanders were able to work from home and engage video-chat technology like Zoom, it wasn’t possible for those whose jobs included emptying kerbside rubbish bins or processing payments at supermarket checkouts. “You can’t Zoom pick up a bin or Zoom ring something up at the till,” says Carlson. “So those people actually had to take the hit for us to keep us going.” She knows how important frontline workers were in keeping the country running while it was in lockdown. “In my (extended) family, I’m the only one who was not an essential worker,” she says. During lockdown, Carlson got creative on social media, filming funny video clips on her phone. Like many other people in her field, much of her work dried up because of the Covid-19 restrictions. “You can’t focus on the stuff that is cancelled because it’s the same for everyone, globally,” she says. “If a festival is cancelled, it’s not just the little guys, it’s literally everyone. We’re all in the same boat. You just work with what is presented next. “So I’ve cancelled all my tours, my Australian tour, my New Zealand tour. I’ve postponed it all until December. If I have to postpone again, then I do that.” During lockdown Carlson, 44, appeared in filmed-at-home episodes of Have You Been Paying Attention?.
“That was quite interesting,” she says. “I had the make-up lady Facetime me and go, ‘OK, can you put a bit of powder on there? And just keep that bit of your hair up?’ She was talking me through it and I thought, ‘This is amazing’.”
Right now, Have You Been Paying Attention? isn’t screening but Carlson is excited about her Netflix special Overqualified Loser.
It’s her second stand-up comedy show on the streaming platform. Her first was part of a series called Comedians Of The World.
While she is pleased her career is going well, family life keeps her grounded.
“When I got my first Netflix special, with Comedians Of The World, I was busy chopping wood with my brother,” says Carlson.
“I hired a log splitter and I had to switch it off to take the call.
“I told my brother who had the chainsaw, ‘I just got a Netflix special’. He said, ‘That’s great, but you need to fire this thing up we only have it for another 45 minutes’.
“This time when I got the call from Netflix I was sitting on the floor in the lounge changing my son’s nappy and I was fighting with the dog to get off my son. You can’t say to the person from Netflix, ‘Can you just chill out? I need to wipe a bum here’.”
“It’s so important getting people to laugh ... and go, ‘We’re all in this together’.” – Urzila Carlson