The name of Urzila Carlson's latest tour came to her as she stepped aboard a superyacht she had assumed would be "some kind a glorified tinny".
"I always come up with a name for a tour first, so I immediately texted my manager and said 'The new show is going to be called 'Fatty on a Yacht'," she tells Weekender from her home in New Zealand.
"She was like 'Oh no, what the f--- are you doing now?' and I said 'I'll report back'. The content comes afterwards. The name always comes first."
Fatty on a Yacht is about standing out, not fitting in, and laughing about it anyway. It's a show for anyone who's ever tried to squeeze into a space - physical or social - and thought, "This can't be right".
Boating can be a humbling experience, as anyone who has struggled to pull themselves out of the water and onto a vessel can attest to. Although it's not a problem you tend to encounter on a superyacht.
"Yes, getting into a boat, out of the water, really lets you know what kind of a person you are, and what kind of shape you're in," Carlson says, laughing.
"I overstretched last week and pinched my sciatica again. I'd had a problem with sciatica for two years and finally it came good. Now it's back again.
"I'm not a sit-down person, I'm always busy. My mum always says, 'It's OK to do nothing on a holiday', but I'm an active relaxer."
She makes several references to her mother during our chat, sharing anecdotes and advice she's received from her over the years.
Carlson grew up in a mining town near Johannesburg in South Africa. Her father was a violent alcoholic who, when Carlson was seven, threatened his family with a handgun. It was the final straw for Carlson's mother, who escaped with the help of a neighbour, divorced her husband, and started a new life with her children.
Carlson has spoken publicly about the trauma she experienced as a child and how much she admires the strength and resilience of her hardworking mother. She shares tales from her childhood, of being a mum, and of being human, on stage as part of her stand-up routine.
"My upbringing wasn't great but there were many positives in there too," she says.
"Like my mum always says, your adult life is so you can get over your childhood. But also, you're only a child for such a short time, and if you're going to let your childhood dictate your adult life, you're wasting both. Your entire life is a shitshow then.
"You can't be dwelling non-stop on what happened. Yeah I had a shit childhood, so? Everyone had kind of a shit childhood in their own way, you know? If we could raise ourselves it would be better, but we can't, so you just need to make sure you give yourself a great adult life."
Following in her mother's footsteps, Carlson makes a point of teaching her children valuable life lessons. Every Christmas Day, for example, she takes them to a government-run aged-care home to share time and homemade gifts with the residents.
"I grew up very poor, and I want my kids to know that not everyone is in the same position we are in, in that we have no financial worries," she says.
"We celebrate Christmas on the 24th because on the 25th we visit the aged-care facility, to see the people who have no one to come and get them or spend time with them. I cook there, and the kids and I make biscuits and fudge to give to them as little gifts. I also take a bunch of stuff to Auckland City Mission.
"I want my kids to know we are all on different roads in life, we're not all the same, and you have to keep your shit in perspective. I don't want them to grow up to be little a--holes just because we're not struggling.
"I think it gives you a bit of perspective. Not everyone goes on nice holidays. Hell, not everyone eats three meals a day."
Carlson's down-to-earth approach to life and its many curveballs has endeared her to lovers of comedy.
She was in her late 20s when she moved to New Zealand from South Africa in 2006 after successfully applying for a job in advertising.
Crime levels in her home country were a motivating factor.
Following pressure from her New Zealand workmates she entered an open-mic comedy night and within a year was working as a professional comedian.
In 2019 she became the highest-selling comedian in the 33-year history of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and made her Netflix debut in Comedians of the World.
Her memoir Rolling with the Punchlines made her a bestselling author.
Carlson's long list of accolades includes four Melbourne International Comedy Festival People's Choice Awards, the Rielly Comedy Award, six New Zealand Comedy Guild Awards for Best Female Comedian, and Sydney Comedy Festivals Director's Choice Award.
She is a regular on television and her self-titled sketch comedy series Urzila premiered on ABC TV earlier this year.
Carlson also stars in the soon-to-be-released Separated At Birth, a new six-part comedy ABC TV series created by and starring Nazeem Hussain (Legally Brown, Orange is the New Brown). It follows happy-go-lucky paramedic Sameer (Hussain), whose world is thrown into a spiral when his wife asks for a divorce in the delivery room, moments after their first child is born. Carlson plays his "work wife", the outspoken and fiercely independent Donna.
She reckons her late start in comedy and her life experiences have contributed to her comedic success.
"There are a lot of comics who started early because they were class clowns, and they have no reference to a normal life. They don't know what it's like to be a normal human being and work day in, day out," she says.
"I only started comedy in my mid-30s. There's a lot of stuff I can talk about on stage that is very relatable but if you've never had a normal life, how the hell would you know what's relatable?"
Carlson is looking forward to bringing Fatty on a Yacht to Newcastle next month. It's her favourite Australian city.
"I always say, if I ever move to Australia it's got to be Newcastle, I love it there. I've never visited and not seen whales! It's so beautiful and the people are so chilled out. The coffee's good, the food's great, and it's not far from Sydney but it's far enough," she says.
"When I tell people in Newcastle it's my favourite city in Australia, they're like 'Yeah, OK, I bet you say that about every city' and I'm like 'F--- no, I only say that about Newcastle'."
