WANDA SYKES
Where: RMIT Capitol Theatre, 113 Swanston St, city
When: Until April 8
Call: 1300 660 013
Visit: comedyfestival.com.au
Preview: Daniel Paproth
AS she arrives in Australia for the first time, comedy superstar Wanda Sykes says a lot has changed in the past few years. For starters, she married her French-born wife Alex in 2008 – the couple have two children. The following year she was performing for Barack and Michelle Obama at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Then there have been numerous television and movie roles such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and The New Adventures of Old Christine, which have seen her profile rise around the world.
“Curb I loved doing – I got to go to work and yell and curse at Larry David,” she laughs. “I’ve been pretty fortunate. I just want to be a good stand-up comedian, so all these TV and movie roles have been an extra treat.”
Despite her fame, Sykes jokes she doesn’t enjoy the same reverence at home. “Well I’m a mom and being married to a French woman with twin, white babies, I became a minority in my own house,” she chuckles. “The game changed. I have been getting these great offers everywhere, ‘can I get this for you Ms Sykes?’ and then when I get home there’s no love.”
Everything from relationships to the recent Republican Party presidential primaries will be on the agenda in her new show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
“Right now we’ve got the Republicans trying to put up a candidate to run against Obama and the cast of characters is just a comedy,” she says. “We’ve got one guy [Rick Santorum] who is ultra conservative and wants to return to the biblical days. People are losing their homes and their jobs and going out of work and we’ve got a guy who wants to fight porn.
“And then there’s also this war on women’s health and birth control, it’s just crazy.”
Politics has long provided material for comedians, and Sykes says her performance at the White House dinner in 2009 was a career highlight.
“That was insane,” she says. “When I got the offer I kept asking… ‘have they seen me? Do they know my stuff?’ I was so honoured to do that.”
Sykes expects Australia to be another in an ever-growing list of great experiences, and she has promised a raft of new jokes for her fans. “It will be mostly new material but I might throw in some old hits, like about the first time I got a bikini wax, everyone loves that story.”
Lucky Sykes has an Australian friend who is compiling her a list of must-see local sights. “But it’s exciting – I’m not just a tourist but performing so I’m thrilled. Hopefully I can leave with some great new stories to tell.”
