[rove home] [rove episode guide] [rove transcripts] [rove/pete/corinne/dave pics] WHAT A NICE GIRL - BY COLLETTE CORR - BEAT MAGAZINE (29/03/00) Corinne Grant is a size 12. I know, it makes you think of rivulets of butter, Jenny Craig commercials...or perhaps a fit and healthy person. She certainly looks healthy to me, early for our meeting and efficiently stirring her latte as I walk towards the table. But in the world of television, just being a size 12 is subversive. When Grant, Rove McManus and Peter Helliar were shooting the pilot for the comedy show Rove on Channel 9, Corinne was wearing a pair of trousers that didn't quite fit anymore. She went to the wardrobe department to see if they had any in her size. "When they didn't, I went 'Yeah! I'm the first normal-sized woman they've had on television!". Historically, life has been hard for women in comedy. As Judith Lucy, Linda Gibson, and Denise Scott aptly observed at the 1999 Melbourne Comedy Festival, 'comedy is not pretty'. An inspired smile crosses Corinnes's face when we talk of this. "(They) are I'd say, my biggest heroines. It's really inspiring to see female comedians make it." she says of the three stars of last years hit. "A women's voice onstage is really fantastic", Corinne continues,"Seeing female comedians onstage talking about not necessarily womens issues, but what's important to them. Pioneers like the Not Pretty trio, Wendy Harmer and Jean Kittson have certainly made comedy, "a hell of a lot easier for people like me", Corinne says, "They were the ones who found it hard". Of course, "you're still up against the whole body image thing...which is quite bizarre", she frowns. "I think comedians have it slightly easier in that respect - if you're funny, it can override how you look". Now, no-one's saying Corinne's ugly, but she certainly hasn't built up her reputaton on glamour-pussy roles. "I'm much happier being a dickhead than I am being cool," she says in her broad Australian accent. There's so many people doing cool, but you've probably got dickhead all sewn up, I suggest. "That's my niche market" she laughs. Perhaps all this dorkiness started when Corinne was growing up in the sleepy Alpine town of Corryong. "When I was at school, we weren't groovy at all", she says. Now, when she visits home, she notices "all the kids have got the latest fashions on, and look like they're going out to nightclubs," wryly blaming this change on the internet. But "there's nowhere to go in Corryong except, you know a paddock". Certainly her genuine personality, even in teh face of moderate media attention, speaks of the country, or how we'd like to imagine it to be. In spite of her fancy French name, there's nothing pretentious about 'our Corinne'. Grant got a real buzz from touring regional Victoria as part of last years Comedy Festival. "I get a bit toey if I'm in the city for too long, so it was nice to breathe a bit of fresh air. In the city, people can see just about anything, so they're a lot harder to impress. In the country...the people really wanted to come." And there they would have met Doreen Starr. A stalker who wants to marry Mike Munro, Doreens dress sense was even more piteous than her state of mind. Thanks to the Moosehead award, which Corinne recieved in 1998, she was able to fund a show "that normally wouldn't get produced by anyone else. It was a great burst for me creatively." she says. After that she played Helena in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' opposite Greg Fleet as Demetrius. Helena is the character that so ardently pursues her unrequited love that she exclaims 'let me be your spaniel!" at a key moment. Did Grant watch the recent Hollywood take on the classic to get some tips off Calista Flockhart? "I can't stand Calista Flockhart...(so) I refused to watch it", she laughs. In between, of course was Rove. Corinne is one of the sprawl of comedians around host Rove Mc Manus, her old pal from community TV days. And no, the future of the show is still up in the air. On Rove, Corinne was reinvented by stylists. Wearing boutique clothes and sporting a Chinese fan hairdo. Doreen Starr seemed a long way away. Yet, no matter how glamourous she may look, Grant's material tends to explore life's little f**kups. In "What's a Nice Girl Like You....? she scratches bars and nightclubs on their dark underbelly to come up with the dirt. The expectations you have of a night out, and what actualy happens. Waking up in a strangers bed with a pool of vomit on the floor. A hen's night and subsequent pub-crawl Corinne went to a few years ago loosely binds the collection of material. "It might get defamatory," she laughs when I ask her to name names. "But you might be able to recognize the establishments if you listen closely." The most inventive heckle she's ever heard? "I don't think I've ever got a very inventive heckle." Corinne muses, almost in disappointment. "I actually did have someone say "show us yer tits!" one night, and I was so shocked. I didn't think people said that...There was nothing I could do except say, "well, they're right here, I guess you can't see them, I guess they're too small". If you want to cheer her up, a vodka and tonic might do the trick... [rove home] [rove episode guide] [rove transcripts] [rove/pete/corinne/dave pics] |
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