The bitch is back, cleared for take-off.
And Aussie stand-up creation Pam Ann is set to drop her comedy bombs in Glasgow. "The show works so well in Scotland because, like Australians, you guys love to have a go," says Pam's alter ego, actress Caroline Reid. "Verbal abuse to a Glaswegian is the equivalent of a Hallmark card to a normal person. We're both pretty blunt."
Madonna, who's a fan, once described Pam as "cruelly funny" and she wasn't wrong. In her latest tour, You F'Coffee, Reid's creation talks of travel in the new range of airlines, from the classy to the likes of Easyjet. And she trashes every one of them via a range of airline voices, offering the comedienne the chance to explore national stereotypes via their operators.
For example, her Ryanair hostess Clodagh "often syphons fuel from other airlines and repeatedly shouts 'I love my job'." And British Airways attendant Mona "greets passengers as if they are personally responsible for the death of Princess Diana."
"Sometimes it plays on stereotypes but most of it is based on truth," says Reid grinning.
Air travel has long inspired comedy, from Airplane to The High Life, drawing on the pressure of containment, the condescension of staff. However, Reid didn't sit down to come up with her very clever comedy conceit; she fell down. "Pam Ann was born out of a vodka bottle," she says remembering the drunken fancy dress party in Melbourne at which she dressed up as a fly girl and proceeded to create an airline-crew voice to create laughs. When she woke up the next day, friends told her Pam Ann could fly.
And they were right. Pam Ann appears across the world and has performed personal shows on flights for the likes of Elton John and Cher. (She once told Victoria Beckham to "sit the **** down" on a flight, and Posh laughed her head off.) But is it true that women in comedy have added license to be cruel, whereas men would be seen to be bullies?
"I wouldn't know because a lot of people think I'm a man doing drag," she says smiling. "But gay men and women love my act, while it's true straight men don't like to see an aggressive female on stage. It takes their power away."
But then, not all gay men love every minute of Pam's performances either. Take Elton for example. Reid was once hired to appear on Elton's private jet. The gig went well and she was asked back when Elton organised a trip to the south of France for the entire cast of Billy Elliot: The Musical. However, the kids began to misbehave.
"Well, I actually threatened the three Billys," she recalls, laughing. "They were little monsters, misbehaving so much I threatened to fly back to the UK via Malawi, where I said we'd swap them for three black Billys and leave them behind in Africa.
"Elton was very upset about that, and he came up to me and said 'Did you threaten the Billys? They're really upset.' And I said 'Of course I did!' And his quivering voice indicated he wasn't happy at all. In fact, I never worked for him again. I'm still waiting for the call for Rocket Man."
Pam Ann is at the King's Theatre, Glasgow on March 25 as part of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival, www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com
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