Hello Kitty Flanagan – nice to meet you

By Deborah Langley

Kitty Flanagan has been around the comedy traps for years but it has taken regular appearances on shows like The Project to elevate her to arguably the hottest Australia female comedian in the festival this year.

Kitty opens with reminders as to why we should be seeing more stand-up as opposed to other types of theatre, flying the flag for fellow comedians.

She takes a tongue-in-cheek swing at cabaret, and the follies of trying to get audience members involved when they clearly don’t want to, and examines the rise of burlesque (punt intended), highlighting that it is really just nudity with craft.

So even before she officially starts “her show”, Kitty managers to have the audience in the palm of her hand with effortless musings of these other forms of entertainment.

Although her show is definitely not cabaret, she does allow us into her world of single-dom, dating men, being a crazy cat lady and the degradation of female representation in rap music and on the streets, cheekily quipping that with the short-short skirts and crazy high heels, ‘you just don’t know who is charging for it and who is giving it away for free.’

But it’s not just women that will get a kick out of this show. Kitty managers to give observational humour a new lease on life with her lightning-fast delivery and even quicker wit.

For those of you that really can’t see a show that’s not cabaret, Kitty won’t disappoint closing with a medley of songs that will leave you in hysterics. Accompanied by sister Penny Flanagan (that’s Kitty’s sister – not a nun…) the two perform beautifully together providing harmonious melodies with stand-up mixed in.

So if you are after an hour (was it really only that long?) full of laughs, you really can’t go past this fresh, easy and hilarious show.

Dates: April 9-21 7pm (6pm Sundays)

Venue: The Athaneum Theatre

Tickets: $35 – $39, Online, Ticketek 132 849, at the venue 9650 1500 or at the door