Lou Pardi in A Brief History of the Stapler…And Other Office Tools
At last years Comedy Festival, “Lou Pardi”:comic along with Jacki Claff took the plunge to present their debut festival show Fran & Roxanne are Best Friends. This year, Lou has gone solo with A Brief History of the Stapler…And Other Office Tools. I caught up with Lou to see how her sophomore effort was coming along.
How have the preparations for the show been going?
Terrible. Since writing the show I’ve left 4 office jobs. Each office had really bizarre people. Actually, let me reconsider that, fabulous. Apart from the fact that I’m paranoid I’m getting karma in advance… and I’m technically unemployed… fabulous.
How did you end up at The Purple Emerald Lounge?
The Purple Emerald Lounge was one of the first bars I went to when I arrived in Melbourne. I love the feel, the couches, the Jam donut cocktails… the staff… the location… They were kind enough to have Jacky and I (or Fran and Roxanne) last year, and being just around the corner from Town Hall, it’s just too good a spot to pass up!
Have there been any significant changes in developing this show as a solo project compared with working with Jacky last year?
Yes and no. Jacky, bless her cotton socks, has been a great support this show, so she’s very much still a part of it despite not performing with me. The biggest challenge I think is telling jokes with just one voice, the straight gal/funny gal set up is just such a gift in terms of setting things up and delivering punchlines, and so much humour came out of the dynamic. Despite my stand-up background, establishing that with just one performer was sometimes a real challenge.We have got heaps of notes for a new Fran and Roxanne for Fringe Festival though…
How did Matt Elsbury’s involvement come about?
Matt is a great friend and has been my comedy ‘mentor’ for a while. He’s a great comic, straight up, and has a school teacher background – the perfect director. We haven’t caught up as much as we’d like to (my fault!) but he sat through a lot of my office reminiscing (as opposed to humour) in the early days of the stapler.
What made you decide to go down the theatrical path rather than presenting a stand up show with jokes about office life?
I started writing and Harriett, the central character, really wanted to come out. Also, at the time I was working in an office in a full time job and I found it really hard to say what I wanted to say as me, in first person! As much as I know that characters in my jokes, although sometimes inspired by an individual are really just dummies with every possible stereotypical characteristic pasted on, I wasn’t sure my colleagues would see that, and I’m really scared of hurting someone’s feelings (or disappointing those who are convinced they’re so entertaining they must be in the show). Also, the messages underlying the show are probably not to take work so seriously and to do a runner if your boss is a cow… I perhaps didn’t necessarily want to learn those lessons at the time.
Visit “Brief History of the Stapler”:http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/season/2007/show/14/ for booking details. Say hi to Lou on MySpace at “Lou Pardi”:http://www.myspace.com/loupardi