'People Are Pretty Over Me And My Shit'

Around three years ago, Fiona O’Loughlin left the quiet town of Alice Springs, where she had lived for 27 years, for the bright lights of Melbourne – also leaving her husband.

“I’m so in love with this new show because it’s about looking back and realising I am ready to talk about all of that now, to say ‘Holy crap, how did I do that?’” O’Loughlin admits.

In the same vein as previous shows that have won the warm, open comic a huge fanbase, her new one is simply a collection of autobiographical stories. It’s not hard to see why she cites quintessential anecdote master Billy Connolly as a comedic influence.

“With this show, you’ll never see the same one twice. It’s been overwritten, because there are too many stories! I have to take one or two out every night and replace and rotate them. Three stories have got the same purpose, I guess. And I am talking about some tricky stuff, like race relations in Alice Springs. I’ve got this gorgeous story about meeting ‘Aboriginal me’ and taking her home. I love her!”

“With this show, you’ll never see the same one twice."

South Australian-born O’Loughlin says she feels refreshed by the move out of the Outback. She’s still enchanted by the feel of the city – despite having toured through cities for eight months of the year, in a blur of hotel rooms and taxis, she says she’s enjoying people-watching, putting down roots, and even just getting a coffee is “exciting”. She’s not considering moving back to the town she called home for most of her life.

“I only ever felt transient anyway in the whole twenty-seven years I lived there. I felt like a guest, because I think Alice Springs is such a cathedral for Aboriginal people. It’s a very sacred place and I don’t think unless you were born there it will ever feel like home. But one of my (five) kids was born there and it’s incredible to see the difference.”

Since last comedy festival season, O’Loughlin’s episode of Australian Story has aired on the ABC with a frank and revealing account of her suicide attempt. Her battle with alcoholism had already hit the headlines after she collapsed on stage in 2009.

“I reckon people are pretty over me and my shit,” O’Louughlin says with her winning trademark self-deprecation. “I do laugh at myself in the show – the closer is a big gag about myself and about how much I’ve let the public into my life. But the payoff for wrinkles is that you can say more, and I love that as a stand-up.”