Cirrus@Austlit

'This is an insult! I’m a professional.’ Halfway through day one of week 15 of the third season of Australia’s biggest sketch-comedy show, and the A-list comedienne had had enough. She was tired of crappy roles and crappy scripts. Now here she was at the door of the writers room, giving us hell. She was a goodish writer herself, but none of her stuff—loose, aleatoric in the Melbourne cabaret style— was being used any more. She had a right to be angry and the only thing that took the edge off her protest was that she was dressed as a giant rotisserie chicken. Even as she was denouncing us, I was admiring the skill of our costume department, who had rendered oily skin and white meat with a bit of chintz and kapok.' (Introduction)