Jade Fitzgerald figured if she could wrangle the attention of high school students in her work, she could do all right cracking some jokes in front of a (tipsy) crowd.
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The Wodonga mum of two took to the stage for the first time in 2016 and will take part in her fourth official gig at Country Out West on Saturday, a Melbourne International Comedy Festival event.
Ms Fitzgerald had been doing stand-up for less a year, after 10 years of psychology and business study came to an end, when she was selected to compete against 13 other comedians.
“My first official gig was RAW Comedy last year,” Ms Fitzgerald said.
“There was about 20 other comedians and all of them but me and one other person had done stand up before.
“I went completely off the cuff for the five minutes.
“I do stuff about Albury-Wodonga, because metro people don’t know what it’s like living out here – the rail line is a bit of a joke, they obviously don’t want us in Melbourne for your safety not ours, that type-thing.
“That was one thing they told me to talk about more.”
Ms Fitzgerald said it was story-telling she enjoyed most, and as a mum of a nine and three-year-old, she has plenty of material to choose from.
“I draw on my own experiences, imagined experiences, conversations I’ve had with myself while I’m waiting; I’ve developed a lot of material sitting in the Maccas drive-through and things like that,” she said.
“I’m not one of those people armed with a whole heap of quips like Jimmy Carr, I like telling stories.
“I take off to Melbourne to do it – I was never really keen to get up in front of a local audience because I was born and bred here.”
The comedian fronted her first Border crowd earlier this month for Comedy Lockdown, an event featuring three acts held on the first Friday of every month at the Albion Hotel Albury.
Ms Fitzgerald doesn’t have a career mapped out just yet – but she’s keen to start by winning Saturday’s competition.
“You actually get a trophy called the C.O.W Bell, and because it’s called the COW bell, what is it doing down there?,” she said.
“I’ll bring it back to the country.”