UK comic Amy Annette likes winning awards. She knows this because she’s won them.
In 2022, she won the Funny Women Awards’ Industry Award. The award recognises oft-unsung women – producers, developers, creators, and gag, sketch, and additional material writers – working behind the scenes in the disproportionately male environment of TV, radio, and digital entertainment in Britain and Ireland.
Annette, who is a producer, writer, script editor, actor, standup, podcaster, has dialled up her standup presence in the last few years, all the way to touring her debut hour Thick Skin – a complicated love letter to the 000s, which enjoyed a sold-out run at Edinburgh Fringe in 2024.
Now Annette is in Melbourne to perform as part of Melbourne International Comedy Festival show New Order, a triple-bill of UK comics (including Emmanuel Sonubi and Paddy Young) doing an hour total.
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What’s an experience you’re most interested to have in Melbourne?
I am here to experience brunch culture the way it was intended. Oat flat whites (I’m not cool enough for pour-overs), eggs in various guises, and ideally some sort of bread that is both thick and yet light – and I dream of it for the rest of my life. And butter.
What sort of things do you expect to do in the time you have on your flight to Australia?
I expect to use the time to write a best-selling novel (that, of course, will be adapted later into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Martin Short in their first big screen romance since they started the cutest real life relationship of all time). But in reality, I will half watch a film, because I’m distracted by whatever my neighbour is watching with subtitles. Then I’ll end up crying at Coco playing on a screen of someone a couple of rows ahead of me. Once I watched the whole of the movie Blackberry on my seat neighbour’s screen with subtitles. Just as the filmmakers intended.
To what extent do you tailor your material when you perform in different countries?
I have had to change some (very powerful) material about missing the experience of transporting coins in my bra on nights out (because of our cashless society). In the UK, I say I am excited to find a 20p coin. In the US, it became a dime. In Canada, I made it a Toonie, a two-dollar coin with loons on it – they call it that; I didn’t come up with my own cute name for their coins. So I guess, if you want to see which coin I select for Melbourne, you’ll have to come to the show.
What is your MICF show about?
I’m part of New Order, where three UK-based comedians come together to share an hour. It’s going to be very fun. I’m hoping to get to a point of friendship with Emmanuel and Paddy by the end, that we simply HAVE to get tattoos to remember the month.
You’re sharing a bill with Paddy Young and Emmanuel Sonubi, as part of “New Order”. You’re all UK comedians. What else do you have in common with the performers on your bill?
We are all very cheeky boys. To explain it in terms of canonical ‘cheeky boys’: Paddy is Bart Simpson, Emmanuel is Dennis the Menace, and I’m Sam Campbell. I’m the cheekiest boy.
The List said of your Edinburgh Fringe debut: “About as assured a Fringe debut as you could hope for.” How consistent is that with your impressions of that debut?
Thank you for letting me respond to a compliment about me! I am in full agreement.
What were some discoveries you made about performing at Edinburgh Fringe that have affected your approach to performing in general?
I discovered that I was wearing a dress that flapped up at the back like a duck’s tail, in the wind of the many fans I had trained on my body (due to performing in a very hot bunker), and that I needed to wear shorts under that dress.
Comparing yourself as a comedian today versus then, what’s one of the major differences you see in yourself?
Amazingly, taller. I’ve grown two inches (5.8 cm) since doing comedy.
You won the Industry Award at the Funny Women Awards in 2022. What’s a realisation you’ve had about that award, as a winner?
Again, I’m loving this interview for getting me to respond to compliments and reminders of my previous successes. I have realised I like winning awards. I previously had thought I’d be neutral, but actually I really liked it.
What are you looking forward to about performing at MICF?
Eggs in cafès where I feel like I’m the least cool person there (compliment).
After MICF, what else is on the horizon for 2025?
I’m back to the UK for a tour of my Fringe debut show Thick Skin, and I’m going to keep being a cheeky boy.
See Amy Annette as part of MICF’s New Order from March 27-April 20. Get tickets here.
