Billy T’ Billy: Urzila Carlson on going from small theatres to sellout seasons

Urzila Carlson went from playing tiny venues to 30 sellout shows in one season.

Over the last decade, Urzila Carlson has fast become one of New Zealand’s biggest comedy exports, but when she first crossed the ditch to perform at Australian comedy festivals, that did not seem a likely outcome.

“I literally could not give tickets away that first year,” she told the Herald’s Billy T’ Billy podcast. “I would go up to people and just ask them to come to the show, but not just Melbourne - at Adelaide too, a lady just put her hand up at this gig that I was at, and I was like, ‘I didn’t think it was a Q&A-type scenario’, and she goes, ‘can you leave?’”

However, Carlson believes that it’s important to “die on your ass”, and that resilience to bounce back is what contributed to her success.

After coming from a career in advertising, Carlson has slowly risen through the ranks to become a stand-up hit on both sides of the Tasman Sea. As well as being a regular on New Zealand shows like 7 Days and Have You Been Paying Attention? Carlson is a favourite in Australia, with her Melbourne International Comedy Festival shows regularly selling out their seasons.

She has won the People’s Choice Award for most ticket sales three times now, but speaking to Rhys Mathewson on the latest episode of Billy T’ Billy from Melbourne, Carlson said that has come after years of couch surfing and performing in tiny venues.

“I just took a photo the other day of my first venue here in Melbourne, a 20-seater room, and that included the sound guy [who] had to sit in the room too, so then that cut it down to 18 because he had a little desk.

“[The] four people in the front had to put their feet on the stage because there was no space, but the stage was only about 30 centimetres deep, so I had to stand with my feet out so they could put their feet on because there was no space. But that is now the lift at Forum Theatre - if you go in there, the little stage is still there, and I took a photo of it and it’s just crazy to think I would put people in there.”

Carlson said getting People’s Choice means a lot as it’s the only award that should count, as it reflects how the public feel. She did go for the Billy T Award in 2011, but Carlson said she did it largely as it’s what she thought she should do - and she tried repeatedly to pull out of the process.

“I can’t stand the whole competition side of it. I hated that amping-up between - like you go to the Classic, which is a comedy bar in Auckland and people would go, ‘I think you are gonna win it.’ And I hated every moment of it. It’s like, don’t pit me against these other guys who I think are my friends and who I think are really funny.”

Listen to the latest episode of Billy T’ Billy from 32 minutes in for more from Urzila Carlson on memories of local comedy.

Billy T’ Billy is a NZ Herald podcast celebrating local comedy, in partnership with the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. New episodes are out every Tuesday.

The festival is now on in Auckland and Wellington, and runs until May 28th.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.