We had a great time at KOKO celebrating the 2016 Funny Women Awards, we had high standards across the categories. This year’s Comedy Writing winner was “comedy nerd” Carol Walsh, who we caught up with for a chat about the Awards, comedy and her winning script Savages…
Funny Women: How does it feel to be the 2016 Funny Women Awards Comedy Writing winner?
Carol Walsh: Surreal, fantastic and a little bit scary. I’m going to have to properly make a go of this comedy lark now.
FW: Tell us about your script Savages?
CW: I’ve been describing Savages as ‘Gilmore Girls for scumbags’ because there are three generations of women to play around with, though my girls are more rough around the edges. We meet Cat who gets bailed out of trouble by her terrifying (and estranged) pub landlord mother. She’s forced to move home, back to pulling pints in the family business. Also living there: Amy, the teenage daughter that Cat abandoned years before. Expect bloody mayhem.
FW: Why did you go into writing?
CW: Because I was a dreadful civil servant. Not quite. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a teenager, maybe before. The job appeals to me in so many ways. You can be your own maniacal god and create worlds. You make stuff. You meet interesting, creative people and simultaneously like them and become outrageously jealous of their success and talent. What’s not to love about a job like that? Oh, and I enjoy purchasing stationary.
FW: What’s next for you comedy-wise?
CW: Who knows?! I’ll work more on Savages but I’m greedy – I want to write cartoons, and sketches, I want to write for radio, I’d LOVE to write a horror/comedy based around a hen party getting stuck on a train in Ireland. Oh, and children’s literature. I’m answering this question like it will be a piece of delicious cake but I know it won’t be a piece of delicious cake. It will be ten percent delicious cake and 90 percent non-delicious gruel. Or something. Basically, my plan is to work very, very hard.
FW: Who are your favourite funny women?
CW: I’m going to miss Caroline Aherne being around for one. That scene in the Royle Family where Denise is going into labour and her dad is getting her through it…it kills me. In good way. Other favourites, both writers and performers, include….Sharon Horgan, Julia Davis, Jessica Hynes, Rebecca Front, Kathy Burke, Lesley Jones, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Retta, the Broad City girls, Kate McKinnon, Sally Wainwright (I know she’s technically a drama writer but she’s so bloody funny), Sarah Haskins (go look up Target Women on YouTube… right now), my dad just got me into Insecure so I’m now obsessed with Issa Rae. And other favourite funny women include…my ma, my sisters and my two best mates. I’m like that whiny looking kid in The Sixth Sense. But I see funny women instead of dead people.
FW: Any advice for people thinking about entering the Awards next year?
CW: Write something that makes you laugh. Forget about impressing anyone else – just think about your funny bone, your own sensibilities. It will serve you well. Oh, and wear decent tights to the awards ceremony, mine kept falling down over my arse all night and I kept having to tug them up. Most unladylike!
