Comic to hit Carterton with parental tips

Award-winning Kiwi comedian Michelle A'Court will stage her Stuff I Forgot To Tell My Daughter show at the Carterton Events Centre on Friday March 25. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

To stop your tights snagging you should smear body lotion over the top of them while you're wearing them.

This is just one of many pearls of wisdom that mother and comedian Michele A'Court is bringing to the Carterton Events Centre this month in her show Stuff I Forgot To Tell My Daughter.

A'Court, who grew up in Levin -- "yeah let's not talk about it" -- was named Female Comedian of the Decade at the 2010 NZ Comedy Guild Awards.

She said the show was the result of her daughter leaving home in 2012.

"You're supposed to suffer terrible empty-nest syndrome stuff but I didn't feel like that," she said.

"But I did walk around the house going, oh no I forgot to show her how to do this, and I wonder if she knows to do that.

"So I started making a list of all those things and thought I should turn that into a comedy show so that I could share all that stuff so that other people don't forget to tell their kids that stuff."

From advice on thawing bread without electricity, to the right way to store ginger and explaining what feminism is, Stuff I Forgot to Tell My Daughter has a wide audience appeal.

"The people who seem to be really motivated to come are women and their daughters," A'Court said.

"But I really love it when fathers bring their sons, or mothers bring their sons, because I think it's a really fascinating show for men.

"It's a terrific insight into how women's brains work and what the world is like for us because I think the world is a slightly different place for women than it is for men."

A'Court said one of the things she really wanted to do for her daughter was to find her the story of the history of feminism -- "and I couldn't find it so I thought, okay I'll write that and put it in the show".

"What I'd really like is for everybody to realise that feminism isn't about hating men," she said. "That idea makes me tired and I have to have a lay down when people infer that. The whole idea of feminism is to liberate all of us from being people that we're not.

"You don't have to play a particular role, or not be allowed to do things because you're a woman, and you don't have to do certain things because you're a man."

Music by Debbie Harwood and Guy Clarke is featured in the show, alongside practical tips and some old videos from years ago that A'Court made.

"There's a song I've got in the show which I think is a huge reflection on how I like living my life," A'Court said.

"It's called The Cape by Guy Clark and it's about jumping off a garage with your cape on like you're a superhero and trusting that the cape will let you fly.

"There's a line in the song that goes, she did not know she could not fly and so she did, that's my favourite line.

"I often think about that when I'm about to do something like go on tour to 33 towns. I say, yeah well I don't know that I can't do it, so I probably can."

Tickets for the Carterton Events Centre show on March 25 are available online for $25 through eventfinda.co.nz.