Interview with Jean Kittson
Q. Jean you are so well known and loved as a comedian, what urged you to become a writer?
A. I had to write to get a job. I was easing my way into acting by being a drama teacher and then joined a theatre in education company and was writing plays. During my travels I would write letters and people said they were great. So that was encouraging. I couldn’t get an audition in Melbourne so I tried out at The Last Laugh and wrote my own material – a monologue. A well known identity in Melbourne was producing a show called Automania- wanted someone to do a monologue about cars and I am a bit of a petrol head. Lots of monologues followed. I won an award to go to Edinburgh but got a spot on The Big Gig and chose that instead. Writing has always been a very important part of getting acting work.
Q. The title, You’re still hot to me, says everything. The book is not only a fun read, it is full of useful facts. How important is humour when an author is trying to get serious messages across?
A. Humour breaks down the barriers when people are feeling uncomfortable. Recently I have been MC’ing the Palliative Care conference for doctors, nurses and carers – speakers talk about death and dying and how to work with people in terrible pain. I find humour is a great way of making people comfortable. It helps them to be able to talk about topics that are taboo or embarrassing. When people are laughing together it brings them together. And if we all laugh at ourselves together it connects us.
Q. The name of the book came from a cartoon that my Patrick did for me. Our partners always know when we are going through menopause. The cartoon is in the book. I am the koala, lounging with drink in hand.
A. Getting the facts absolutely right was really important for me. There are so many flaky websites about menopause. Dr Penny Adams read the book and she said it was the best book on a medical topic written by a lay person she had ever read: “funny, informative, factual (which you hardly ever get) and just so accessible. Finally I have the definitive book on menopause to recommend to my patients.” I was really pleased when she said that.
Q. Being able to make people laugh is a real gift. Were you always able to do this?
A. I remember doing an interview when I was first on TV. When asked if I was the class clown and I said ‘yes’. But a friend rang me to say that I wasn’t. But my family have always laughed at themselves. They have always turned difficult times into hilarious stories. Funny stories were used to manage difficult things and make them not so scary. Or even deal with things that were hideously embarrassing.
Q. How different are the two genres – performing and writing?
A. Very different. Writing is completely insular and you have to get into the zone. When performing you have to engage completely with the audience and the people around. When I am writing things I have to perform I use the rhythm to create the dialogue or monologue. You want people to feel the emotion in the expression. Different notes in writing, like notes in a wine, when you are performing there is the way you say something, the way the words sound. When I read a book I re-read again and again until I think I have understood what the writer wants me to know and feel.
Q. A trivial question now. What do you like to do on your days off?
A. I like to hang out with the kids and Patrick. I have two daughters, Vic and Charlie, 24 and 17. Sometimes we just watch The Bachelor on TV or visit my mum and dad or go for walks. Just hanging out with them, doing whatever.
Thank you so much Jean. We are really looking forward to meeting you and Patrick Cook at the St Albans Writers’ Festival.