Sydneysider Gen Fricker is about to open her third comedy festival show. MICF has already seen her in Party Pooper and The Pineapple. How is she? “Tired and nervous! I’ve had a last minute disaster – I’ve wrenched my shoulder and my show opens tonight!” Given that Fricker needs to be able to play piano and guitar for her performance, she’s in something of a quandary. “For a musical comedian, it’s about the worst thing that can happen. I might not be able to play any instruments; I won’t be able to do my songs. My arm’s in a sling.” She sounds surprisingly cheerful when Beat speaks to her. “I might have to get someone from the audience to help,” she says. “I’ll link it in with the show. I’m staying optimistic about solving this problem. There’s something about hitting a low point. You feel quite invincible afterwards.” She’s pretty relaxed, but admits that might be due to the painkillers: “Maybe I’m delusional!”. So how did she injure her shoulder? “I love stress. So I decided to move house the night before I flew down to Melbourne. I was moving a wardrobe with my father and he dropped it. He’s in a lot of trouble.”
Monster Pussy is a memorable name for a show. The name occurred to her as something that would stand out. “This is my third comedy festival show,” says Fricker. “I wanted something that sounded aggressive, whimsical, unsentimental and hilarious. It’s informed the show, it started me off writing it. The show’s a hodgepodge of songs and stories, mostly about a big break-up I went through last year. But not only that. I’ve been travelling a lot.” The name suggests her show might be about pussy exploits. “It’s about that. All my comedy’s about that: female sexuality, feminism. But the show’s about what’s been happening to me and how I feel more empowered and comfortable with myself than ever before. Experiences have led me to that point.”
Any experiences in particular? “The relationship. We didn’t have sex for a year and a half before we broke up, and trying to reconcile that after being in a relationship for almost four years. You think you’re building a life with someone. Sex defines a huge part of it.” None of this sounds terribly funny. “It sounds heavy,” Fricker agrees. “But it’s actually quite funny.” How so? “My first reaction to sad or traumatic situations is to make a joke about it. It’s how I’m wired.” With such personal material you’d think such self-exposure would be uncomfortable; how deep does she go? “If something’s personal or a bit sad, it’s easier to talk to a room full of strangers about it than to the people involved,” she answers. “‘Cause they’re silent, largely!” Fricker is described as hilariously unapologetically weird. “I do the comedy I would like to see,” she says. “People being honest. Owning the things they’ve done. Sharing the experiences they’ve been through. It’s so hard to be objective ‘cause I’m in it. This one’s been a lot easier for me to write. It’s an accumulation of thoughts around an idea.”
Fricker says the talent of some of the other comedians she’s inspired by helps her work. “The comics I gig with in Sydney. And my dickhead friends,” she says. “I’m surrounded by people who are really talented and joyous. They put a fire under my arse; I think, ‘OK, you’ve got to get cracking’.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
Venue: Portland Hotel – Locker Room, Cnr Russell & Lt Collins St, CBD
Dates: Currently being performed until April 19 (except Mondays)
Times: 6pm (Sundays 5pm)
Tickets: $15 – $20
