Sarah O’Connell has grown up with a ‘family full of jokers’ so a career in comedy wasn’t such a great leap. Her journey to the stage has taken some twists though. Judene Edgar catches up with the supermarket-worker-by-day and comedian-by-night.
One of the few shows that wasn’t cancelled this summer was ‘The Great Kiwi Summer Comedy Roadshow’ at the Boathouse. Part of a nationwide tour of comedians, Nelson played host to Jeremy Elwood, Andre King, Paul Douglas, Jamie Patterson, Rhian Wood-Hill … and Nelson comedian Sarah O’Connell. I’d seen Sarah perform before at the Backroom Comedy in Liquid Bar, the home of Nelson comedy, so it felt good to see her on stage alongside the line-up of national comedy acts. But for those who hadn’t seen her before, they would never have guessed that she wasn’t a full-time comedian. She’s really good, and not just “funny for a girl” good, as she’s often told. Over summer she also opened at the Playhouse with Andre King and Glenn Cousins for Nick Rado’s ‘The Get Back up Comedy Tour’, so I was keen to catch up with Sarah to see where this comedy journey was taking her.
Considering the impact Covid has had on her life, it felt somehow appropriate to be interviewing Sarah via Zoom while in isolation. Sarah is not long out of isolation herself, with Covid having gone through their entire family. Starting with her seven-year-old daughter Eve, it wasn’t long before all four members of the family were sick. And that’s not the only time Covid has interrupted their family. March 2020, less than two weeks into the country’s first lockdown, Sarah gave birth to her youngest daughter Stella. The birth of her first daughter Eve was anything but problem-free, so Sarah and her fiancée Mike had been looking forward to a relatively straight-forward delivery. But turning up to the hospital that morning, they still had no idea whether Mike would even be allowed in. “It was incredibly stressful, but I just had to keep the humour going,” Sarah says.
Growing up, comedy, gags and the ability to laugh at yourself had always played a key role in her family life, so it is no wonder that the Countdown-worker-by-day and comedian-by-night turned to humour to help her through. “Our family lived on comedy; it’s just full of jokers,” she says. “We turned everything into a laughing affair.” Whether it was a witty quip, a funny one-liner, or eating a snail from the garden for shock value, they would always find a way to break the tension. As Sarah says, “we’d acknowledge, make light, then move on.” So, despite needing a C-section and being in an operating room surrounded by a team of surgical staff kitted out in full PPE, she spent a lot of the time in surgery cracking jokes, talking about funny shows … “and mocking Mike relentlessly!” In fact, Mike is often the subject of Sarah’s comedy routines. “He’s okay with it; he takes it on the chin,” she laughs. “Although he has threatened to charge a royalty fee!” And besides, she didn’t want him to feel left out, because it was his birthday after all!
Despite describing herself as a very quiet child, she says she never missed an opportunity at school to act out stories, mimic characters or mock teachers (also relentlessly). After high school Sarah went to Wellington to study performing arts, but soon found herself drawn to the local comedy scene, performing shows, skits and sketches in local bars. “I love comedy because it’s fast-paced and there’s immediate reward (or not),” she laughs. She was talked into entering The RAW Comedy Quest and although she didn’t win, was buoyed on by the judges’ comments. Despite this, she continued her studies towards an acting career and left comedy behind her, or so she thought.
Returning to Nelson spelled an end to her acting aspirations, so she got a job at Countdown. Ten years later and despite all of the interruptions that Covid has brought to the role, she still sees the positive side. “It’s a job where some people look down on you, but it’s a job that has supported me during my two maternity years off, and I’ve met some really great people, workers and customers,” she says. “At the end of the day I’ve been able to leave work at work and I get to perform knowing my bills are always paid and my family is cared for.” In fact, if it wasn’t for Countdown, Sarah may not be in Nelson at all. Her mother also worked for Countdown, and a transfer to the Nelson branch when Sarah was 11 saw the family relocate from Whangarei.
On her return to Nelson, she received a call from Dave Vandy who organises the Backroom Comedy. “It was totally out of the blue,” says Sarah. “I didn’t remember him, but he’d seen me perform in Wellington and he wanted me to open for Cori Gonzales-Macuer. I hadn’t done comedy for years, but I said yes anyway. And then Dave just kept asking me back, so I soon became a regular.”
Despite the stereotype of comedians being fairly raucous, Sarah’s quiet side is evident in her comedy. She likes to use everyday problems or observations mixed with elements of truth and self-deprecation, with a bit of a surprise at the end. “You can’t come out with too much arrogance and expect the audience to laugh,” she says. “It’s like a partnership with the audience.” Perhaps this partnership approach is also why she says she’s rarely been heckled. Creating a safe place for the audience to laugh is important to her, and she says that she tries to connect with the audience and acknowledge them to help them to relax. “Without an audience there’s no show, so I’m just always so appreciative of the support I get and want them to have a good time.”
While a lot of her material is about her family and everyday life, she also reads widely and watches a lot of news and TV shows for inspiration. She says that she tries to change up her material for different shows and different audiences, adding a few new jokes each time. “No one really teaches you comedy, you just work out your own style. My biggest inspiration is at work talking to people and observing them and their behaviours and idiosyncrasies.”
As well as appearing regularly at the Backroom Comedy, honing her craft, she has been to a few writing workshops run by Andre King and says he’s been an amazing and supportive mentor to her. She also finds that her fellow comedians are always keen to share their knowledge and that there’s a really good community of support. 2022 has been a good year so far, but she’s keen to do more and take her comedy further. “I’d like to tour my own show or with a troupe and have someone open for me!” she laughs. She recognizes that these are big dreams but says that there are golden opportunities in life that you need to take – like when Dave called her up out of the blue.
The next step on this journey is performing in Auckland later this year. “Mike and the girls have seen me perform quite a few times, and of course, watch me practice, but some of my family have never seen me perform,” she says. “I’ve got a really huge extended family, so this will be a great opportunity for them to come along.” While she doesn’t know where her journey will take her, she’s hoping that she’ll be able to inspire other women to get up on stage and give comedy a try.
