FUNNY GIRL

As opening gambits go, Anne Lillis' reply when I ask her how she got into the stand-up comedy caper is a bit of a show-stopper.

*About two years ago I was diagnosed as having a brain tumour and to be honest it wasn't looking good for a while. I'm fine now, but after the surgery when I realised I wasn't going to die, it made me think about what I really wanted to do with my life. Funnily enough, that turned out to be stand-up. Maybe the doctors nudged a comedy bit in my brain...*
Did she really think she was going to die?
*Well, yeah... It was a brain tumour, y'know, it's not like I broke a nail...*
Anne had flirted with comedy before her illness, performing songs and sketches on the Dublin circuit and even writing a sit-com for Telifís Na Gaeilge with her then boyfriend.
*It was really funny, we thought, but they never went ahead with it in the end. It was kind of a Young Ones meets Fawlty Towers thing, set in a youth hostel in the west of Ireland. It was pretty whacky, we had a fish puppet called the Salmon Of Knowledge and a prissy schoolteacher called Gertie Gohallainn who was obsessed with winning the Tidy Towns competition and consequently wanted the hostel closed down because of the reprobates it attracted. It was quite slapstick, but it never went into production. I've still got it if anyone's interested... And then I got sick and when I got better again I decided that I'd concentrate on stand-up, which is a lot less hassle than writing for a production company that doesn't produce.*
Although she initially started performing character based routines she now prefers to step on stage as herself.
*I used to do this clubby-raver type girl called Stacey who's basically mad-out-of-it all the time, a bit of a slapper, actually, but lately I've been just been going on as myself, doing observational stuff, about boyfriends and bastards and make-up and clothes. It's terribly girly, actually - all plaits and mini-skirt. But I do get girls coming up to me in the toilets after gigs and going 'I know exactly what you mean' so maybe the stuff is universal. It's girls humour as opposed to the boys humour that a lot of the guys do. I can't believe how many guys are facinated by the gangster schtick, the Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci stuff, they love it! When I was as at drama college all the male actors used to love doing David Mamet stuff 'cos they'd get to say 'Did you fuck my wife?' all the time. It's a strange fascination with cursing in an American accent that girls don't have.*
Does she think that girl comedians get a rougher time from audiences?
*Not really, although until recently I'd often find myself the only girl on the bill for a lot of the gigs I'd play and to be honest you can feel a little left out, the guys can be quite cliquey. But in terms of audiences, you do the pissed-up bloke shouting 'phowar' but it doesn't really bother me, I have a couple of put-downs for the heckling element. Sometimes if they're intelligent remarks you can work it into the routine but if they're idiots you're tempted just to tell 'em to fuck off.*
Having survived one near-death experience has she ever experienced the dying-on-stage phenomena?
*Are you suggesting I'm crap? I've died a couple of times but you get over it, and it's a necessary part of learning how to do the job. I don't do it so often now because the material is quite honed and I know it works but you can still have an off night. I gigged in Artane recently and went down like a cement kite and cried all the way home on the bus. It just wasn't my kind of crowd.*
What is her kind of crowd, then?
*One that laughs hysterically from the moment I go on till about fifteen minutes after I've left the venue.*
Does she talk about her illness in her act?
*I've been thinking about it recently though up till now I've not done it, I don't want to tempt fate... How would I do it, 'I had brain surgery. I wasn't ill it was cosmetic, I just wanted bigger brains...' Maybe it'd freak people out, I mean it scared the pants off me I can tell you.*
What does she make of the current crop of funny girls?
*I've always's been a fan of Deirdre O'Kane, but of the newer ones the only one I've seen is Priscilla Robinson who I loved. The Comedy Cellar at the International Bar is hosting a lady performers only night on March 21st so I'll check out the competition then.*

Anne Lillis MC's at The Ha'penny Bridge Inn's Variety night on March 13th