What can audiences expect from Kathleen Grace?
I don’t know, a small room. New and scary ideas for me to tell and for people to listen to. There is one thing in this show that will surely surprise people though. No matter who they are.
Your humour often has a very dark edge to it, and often walks a fine line between disturbing and funny. Is there a deliberate attempt to push the audience, or is it just the jokes that you find yourself writing?
I think the issues that I try and sort out on stage are just the ones that I find the most interesting and in my little mind I think “if I value it, they might too”.. I think I like sad things. I don’t really write, either. I just stand around and wait until I or someone else says or does something stupid or special and then I make a note (writing) of it and I may or may not perform it. It’s an old way, but it seems to work for me. This is the most I’ve written for a while. I could never sit down and invent the things I talk about. I try and participate in this life and report back.
Your 2007 show, I Don’t Wanna Tell Jokes, had an extremely short run of only 4 shows. Did you find that was a good way to step into the festival?
Yes I did. It was practical in that way. I could kind of test the water and find out what it was like to be part of the festival. It took pressure off as far as trying to get audiences in.
Last year’s show built strongly on your accumulated stand-up work to that point. How have you found writing a new show from scratch?
This show is no different than last years in that regard. I haven’t written a fully new show, and that’s mainly because I only did a short run last year and in my opinion it had some good material and only a limited amount of people saw it so I’m still using some of the good stuff for any new comers. I’m trying to make a more solid show for me and the audience in general. It’s not themed either, “Kathleen Grace” is my Mothers name and it doesn’t have much to do with her. I should have said this at the start. I just like to end the interview on a downer.
Kathleen Grace runs from March 20th through April 13th. See the MICF website for further details and bookings.