{"id":656319,"date":"2026-05-07T21:32:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/656319\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T21:32:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:32:28","slug":"comedian-urzila-carlson-on-the-benefits-of-a-work-husband-and-getting-stage-fright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/656319\/","title":{"rendered":"Comedian Urzila Carlson on the benefits of a work husband and getting stage fright"},"content":{"rendered":"

She’s bawdy, cheeky and funny enough to score her own special, but Urzila Carlson still gets nervous before a performance.<\/p>\n

Although she got her start in comedy later in life, the comedian doesn’t believe in regret. If an opportunity comes up, she says she will take it, despite the nerves.<\/p>\n

Together with a reluctance to return to her day job in advertising (“that’s what keeps me motivated to stay in stand-up”), it means the South African-born comedian is this year preparing for not one, but two shows on ABC TV.<\/p>\n

Her first \u2014 a sketch comedy titled Urzila <\/a>\u2014 brings her stand-up to the small screen. The second, with fellow comedian Nazeem Hussein, is a comedy series about paramedics coming later this year.<\/p>\n

Stream Urzila on ABC iview<\/a><\/p>\n

Drop straight into comedic chaos as stand-up funny woman Urzila Carlson ricochets between live stand-up and bombastic sketches in her first stand-up comedy sketch show.<\/p>\n

We caught up with Urzila to find out about her work husband, the first time she made audiences laugh and why she doesn’t care how you vote.<\/p>\n

You grew up in South Africa but then moved to New Zealand?<\/p>\n

I was born in South Africa, biggest baby ever born in the Queen Victoria Hospital in Johannesburg to this date, mainly because the hospital closed down shortly after I was born.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And then I moved to New Zealand when I was 30 or 31\u2013 20 years ago \u2014 and I’ve been in New Zealand ever since. I live in Auckland. I was on the North Shore for three weeks and I went, ‘It’s not for me.’ And then got a place in West Auckland and I’ve been here ever since.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I fly in and out [of Australia], and all the Australians think I live there. I have no plans to ever move to Australia because New Zealand has no poisonous anything. We have nothing that can kill you. And you guys have the huntsman spider. I don’t need to say any more.<\/p>\n

\"Urzila<\/p>\n

Urzila Carlson worked in advertising before becoming a stand-up comic. (Supplied: ABC TV)<\/p>\n

What was it about the North Shore in Auckland that made you think it wasn’t for you?<\/p>\n

All the other South Africans. [Laughs]\u00a0<\/p>\n

I didn’t move to the other side of the world to live with South Africans again. I want to live with Kiwis. I want to meet Kiwis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I have nothing against South Africans, obviously, but if I wanted to live in a South African community, I would have stayed where I lived.<\/p>\n

You’ve also lived in Texas and Cardiff. Did work or adventure take you to those places?<\/p>\n

I was 23, had never been out of the country and I got the opportunity to go. I nannied. The family that I nannied for were both colonels in the army and they had one little boy, and I was like, that sounds a hell of a lot easier than the five kids my friend’s got.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was in Texas and I loved it. But the vibe in Texas is sort of the same everywhere really. I don’t agree with their overriding politics, and I don’t get into that when I’m there for work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I don’t need to talk to you about your politics. Same as when I’m in Australia, I’m not a political comic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I don’t need to know how you vote or where you pray. My mother says don’t talk about politics, religion or money. And that’s how I approach my stand-up.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/p>\n

Urzila Carlson says if you don’t find women funny you are a “poor bastard”. (Supplied: ABC TV)<\/p>\n

Can you tell us about the first time you got up on stage to do stand-up?<\/p>\n

I worked in advertising. And my work husband, Leon, went, ‘You’re so funny, you have to go do stand-up.’ He’s English \u2026 they love comedy. I’d never even been to a stand-up comedy show in my life!\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, when I left to go to a different agency, he was in charge of my gift \u2026 He got me an Italian coffee maker and a fake contract to go to an open mic night at The Classic, which is the only dedicated comedy club in New Zealand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I signed the contract. I’d only been in New Zealand for two years and I didn’t want to look like I wasn’t a good sport. He booked it in and there were like 70 people from the agency going \u2026<\/p>\n

I went home that weekend and, because it’s a five-minute spot, I wrote four minutes of material thinking I’d give them one minute to laugh, which I now realise is extremely arrogant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I wrote the material, the Monday came and I was so nervous, I just sat in my car until it was time, and then I went in, did the time and it went all right. Everyone was laughing.<\/p>\n

\"Urzila<\/p>\n

Urzila Carlson with her “work husband”, Leon. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

I get a call the next day from the owner of the club to say that I’m through to the next round. And I’m like, ‘I don’t know what that means but no thanks. I’m never coming back.’ He goes, ‘You should come back. Do it again. Don’t tell anyone. Just come and see how it goes.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

So I went back, I didn’t even tell Leon … but I was hooked. I was petrified \u2014 I’m still petrified every time I go out \u2014 but just that thrill \u2026 people laughing. It was so satisfying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I made it to the finals and that year I won New Zealand’s best newcomer.<\/p>\n

What does your work husband, Leon, think of your success?<\/p>\n

Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n

I always credit him. There are other people who go, ‘I also told her [to become a comedian]’. No you didn’t, mate. People who deserve the credit never want the credit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it wouldn’t even have crossed my mind if he didn’t force the issue. He lives in Gibraltar now and I saw him last year when I did my UK tour. He came to two of my shows and it was just so sweet.<\/p>\n

You have two children. How do they feel about you being a comedian?<\/p>\n

I have a nine-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl and they know what I do. When they have computer hour [at school], they’ll Google me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Or my daughter, will faux cringe [and say] ‘All my friends watch you on TikTok.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

I dropped off my daughter at a birthday party over the weekend and when I got there, all the 12-year-olds were out. And they’re like, ‘You’re a stand-up comic. I see you on TV.’ And then they asked me to roast them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a 12-year-old, I wouldn’t ask my friend’s mum to be mean to me. That would make me cry, but no, they love that stuff. I go, ‘Absolutely not. I’m a professional comedian. You’ll never be the same.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

My son, the nine-year old, is low-key impressed but will never say anything.<\/p>\n

Your new show features sketch comedy, which doesn’t feel as common as it used to be on TV.<\/p>\n

Do you remember when you were little and you would watch a TV show like Golden Girls with your parents? Even now my mum and I are watching Golden Girls again, it has aged so well. There’s no homophobia, there’s no racism, they were so good.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Beloved sitcom The Golden Girls featured four female retirees living together.<\/p>\n

Are shows like the Golden Girls your inspiration?<\/p>\n

Of course. When people say women aren’t funny, I’m like, you were raised wrong. You’ve obviously never seen Golden Girls or Murphy Brown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In my family, I’m very lucky: everyone’s funny \u2026 And the women are the funniest. They’re the ones that crack everyone up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So when people go, women aren’t funny, I’m like, you poor bastard. Who raised you?\u00a0<\/p>\n

You don’t find your mother funny at all? Maybe you’re a horrible person, that’s why you don’t find women funny, they don’t want to crack jokes around you. But in my life, the women are hilarious.<\/p>\n

So your mum was very funny?<\/p>\n

She still is. She’s as dry balls as they come. She’s got early onset Alzheimer’s and my sister and I look after her. But man, she cracks me up so much. She’s so funny.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even right through the Alzheimer’s diagnosis, laughter is our love language. We laugh so much. And I talk to her every day.<\/p>\n

\"Wearing<\/p>\n

Urzila Carlson says it was harder coming out as a vegetarian than as gay. (Supplied: ABC TV)<\/p>\n

Are sketch shows more difficult than stand-up?<\/p>\n

All those sketches [in Urzila] are from my stand-up. We took all the video clips of my stand-up that we’ve recorded over the years and then sat in a room and went, ‘Will this translate to a sketch?’ It’s literally just giving voice to all the characters that I talk about in stand-up.<\/p>\n

Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n

So the petite vagina [sketch] \u2014 that happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All four of us \u2014 me, the ex-wife and the two kids \u2014 went to the doctors to get flu jabs and the doctor said, ‘Oh you need a [Pap] smear.’ And then the nurse said to me, ‘You’ve got the smallest vagina I’ve ever worked with’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was like ‘Hang on’. I went out and I said, ‘Can you please tell my wife what you just said to me?’ She goes, ‘She’s got the smallest vagina I’ve ever seen in my life.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

And then my ex-wife looks at me and says, ‘You cannot use this on stage’. And I go ‘Oh I’m telling everyone.’<\/p>\n

Is a lot of your comedy based off real life?<\/p>\n

Yes, I’m a storyteller. Everything that I do in my stand-up is stuff that has happened to me or I’m in a scenario where I go, ‘this could happen’. Even if it doesn’t, I’ve already got the story in my head. But 90 per cent of the stuff that I talk about is stuff that has happened to me.<\/p>\n

Do you ever look back and think maybe I shouldn’t have joked about that?<\/p>\n

None of it is too personal, except for petite vagina, but that’s funny. I’m not showing them photos of it. I’m talking about it. And I never expose my family like that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Nazeem<\/p>\n

Nazeem Hussain and Urzila Carlson star as paramedics who are best friends in the upcoming ABC TV series, Separated at Birth.\u00a0 (Supplied: ABC TV)<\/p>\n

Most of it is stuff that we all go through.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I just uploaded a clip from the gala in Melbourne where I talk about showering with your partner. Everyone has had a partner say, ‘Are we going to shower together?’ And you’re like, ‘F*** off, we’re not. Give me five minutes to myself.’ Everyone can relate.<\/p>\n

How would you describe your sketch show?<\/p>\n

It’s stuff that has either happened to you, you’ve seen happen or you’re worried will happen. And it’s funny.<\/p>\n

You’re not going to learn anything. I think comedy went through a wave where comedians almost became like preachers, teaching you stuff. I’m not here to teach you jack s***.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You’ve had a rough day? Sit down for half an hour, have a good laugh and then have a cup of tea and go to bed. That’s it.<\/p>\n

Quotes edited for clarity and brevity.<\/p>\n

Stream episodes of Urzila on ABC iview<\/a> or watch Wednesdays 9:25pm on ABC TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She’s bawdy, cheeky and funny enough to score her own special, but Urzila Carlson still gets nervous before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[63412,64,63,9771,134,317346,317347,268321,317345,434,317349,317344,317348],"class_list":["post-656319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-abc-iview","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-comedy","tag-entertainment","tag-golden-girls","tag-murphy-brown","tag-sketch-comedy","tag-stand-up","tag-television","tag-urzila","tag-urzila-carlson","tag-urzila-carlson-comedian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}