South African-born New Zealand comedian Urzila Carlson has reflected on how her traumatic childhood shaped her humour, and why she refuses to roast her 13-year-old daughter's friends. The 50-year-old, who now lives in West Auckland, first turned to comedy aged eight when her parents divorced after years of abuse from her violent father. At school, she told a teacher: 'It's my dad's fault. My mom really, really wanted to be a widow but my dad wouldn't drink the poison.'
Carlson, who holds the record for most tickets sold at Melbourne's international comedy festival, says her humour is born out of trauma. 'Growing up in South Africa in the 80s, just to cope with how everyone reacted, you had to make fun of it,' she said. Her latest standup show, Fatty on a Yacht, recounts turning up to a friend's boyfriend's dad's super yacht with buttered bread rolls in a cooler, looking 'like a dickhead'.
Despite her international success, including appearances on QI and Taskmaster New Zealand, Carlson refuses to relocate. 'Everyone calls West Auckland 'Bogan Central', but I love it,' she said. She convinced her mother and sister to move there, adding: 'My mum will literally beat me up if I immigrate again.'
Carlson recently decided her 13-year-old daughter was old enough to watch her routines, but declined to roast her daughter's friends. 'I just looked at them in the rear-view and said, 'No, because I'm a professional comedian and I will destroy you',' she said. She also revealed she regularly receives unsolicited nude photos from fans, to which she responds: 'I don't need to see you naked.'
