It's Not All About Killing Baby Animals

Thomas Jaspers' new show, Thomas Jaspers Is A Kitten Killer, traverses virgin territory in comedy. The gritty show follows Jaspers through an earth-shattering event in his life: his cat Beryl getting pregnant.

"I had always thought abortion was a right for women," Jaspers says. "And I didn't want to weigh in and shouldn't have a say. Then Beryl got knocked up and I freaked out. I was facing the prospect of finding homes for 11 kittens or killing them."

Jaspers speaks to the highly charged subject with candour and hilarity, in what he describes as a "camp but relatable" show. He's unlikely to disappoint having honed his craft in three previous years at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Fresh from sold out shows as his flamboyant and dazzling alter-ego, Rhonda Butchmore, Jaspers returns to Melbourne with a litter of fresh jokes and chucklesome situations.

"I was facing the prospect of finding homes for 11 kittens or killing them."

When asked what brand of comedy he delivers, Jaspers weaves a story about when he was 20 and living in London. "I flew over to Paris to visit my family and found out when I was over there that I had gonorrhoea.

"I ended up telling my mum and in the midst of this rural French town we snuck off and found a doctor. We then had a game of charades trying to explain what was wrong with me."

If that little anecdote is anything to go by, prepare for some awkward hypochondriacal musings on the way of the world. It's not all just killing kittens, as Jaspers reminds: "It's also about getting older and growing up."

He talks about the realisation he's made that when you're a kid you think adults know everything and then as you get older you realise they're just making it up as they go along, "which is really scary".

He also sees the lighter side in it and thinks you will too, commenting, "I think people find that funny because whatever age we are we are scared of getting older and growing up. My 75-year-old grandmother is scared of growing up."