Proud procrastinator gets down with the girls

When asked what she’s up to, funny girl Cal Wilson doesn’t miss a beat with an amusing anecdote.

Working on her new show The Great Intender — for the Melbourne Comedy Festival — she is currently battling her subject matter in a rather literal fashion.

“It’s about procrastination, so it’s sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy at the moment,” Wilson told the Star Observer. “I’m writing it, but at the same time I’m agonising writing it because it’s about how I never get around to things.

“It’s about me tying up a lot of loose ends and things I’ve always wanted to do, getting done.”

Wilson said the writing process, however, has resulted in some surprising productivity.

“I knocked off a couple on the weekend, I was in New Zealand and about 15 years ago I promised a friend I would buy him another muffin because I ate all the chocolate chips out of his muffin,” she said.

“He told me, ‘That’s the one thing you’ve said you’d do, you’ve never done’, so I flew to Auckland on Sunday and presented him with a muffin.”

His response?

“Hysterical laughter.

“It was pretty gratifying to say, here you go, 15 years later, there’s your bloody muffin.”

Wilson said although she’s struggling writing about her procrastination, things in everyday life help the creative process.

“The Great Intender came out of a conversation about all the stuff I haven’t got around to doing,” she said.
“Like, I got married three years ago, and [fellow comedian] Tom Gleeson got married a week before I did and the wedding present we got him is still sitting in my wardrobe.

“I’m that good.

“Now I’m having wedding present angst, because they actually gave us our wedding present and it was lovely and now I don’t know if ours is good enough.”

With a background in improv theatre, Wilson’s cross-Tasman jump has been a productive one and she has certainly earned her comedic stripes in Australia, and proven herself a competent host on radio and television.

A regular guest on Channel Ten’s Good News Week, Wilson most recently hosted comedy detective program Sleuth 101 on ABC and has previously hit the airwaves on Nova 100.

This month she is set to join some of Australia’s most amusing ladies for comedy gala fundraiser Short and Girly.

Wilson said she was looking forward to taking to the stage for a good cause — with money raised from the event donated to the Victorian AIDS Council.

“Janet McLeod, the producer, asked me to be part of it a couple of years ago and I loved doing it and I’m thrilled to be back,” Wilson said.

Featuring an all-female line-up including Julia Zemiro, Denise Scott, Fiona O’Loughlin, Geraldine Quinn, Kate McLennan and Rachel Berger, Wilson confesses the show’s oestrogen-fuelled environment does have its benefits.

“It’s such a different atmosphere backstage. It smells better for a start than if it’s just boy comedians,” Wilson said.

“It’s great fun and a lovely chance to catch up with everyone, because we’re all so busy and doing different things. There’s always lots of fun backstage as there is on stage.”

info: Short and Girly is on Saturday, February 12. Starts 7pm. Cost $55 full, $45 concession. Visit www.ticketek.com.au