KEY POINTS:
When she was 13, writer/performer Lauren Jackson walked into a lamp post. The physical pain was offset by the public humiliation; a gaggle of young school pupils witnessed the collision caused because she was showing off her new and superior high-school status.
She slunk on to the bus and was approached by a woman, breathless with laughter, who declared, "you're the girl who walked into the lamp post, right? You've just made my day," Jackson recalls. "I was hugely embarrassed but kind of proud, too."
The story offers an insight into her latest career move. She has joined fellow comedian Jackie van Beek to write and star in a comedy sketch show.
Hellcat and Jeeks uses mime, song, dance, poetry and ventriloquism to deliver 60 minutes of comedy held together by a loose narrative about two women long-time acquaintances, no-time friends who team to complete their respective comedy tours.
Jackson (Hellcat) and van Beek (Jeeks) have impressive performing and writing credits.
Jackson, whose career began playing the lead in the New Zealand feature film Alex, represented the country at the 40th International Young Theatre Practitioners Forum in Berlin in 2004.
A year later, she won the Chapman Tripp Most Outstanding New Playwright of the Year Award for her play Exchange.
Van Beek has written for numerous television, radio and stage shows, including the comedy Space Migrant, commissioned and staged by Ohio Northern University. She spent last year touring the devised cult comedy My Brother and I are Pornstars with fellow writer/actor Jon Brugh.
But don't expect Hellcat and Jeeks to be a deep and meaningful exploration of female friendship hidden beneath layers of comedy.
Van Beek and Jackson toyed with the idea of creating more of a story but decided to stick with the absurd and simply have fun. "I would be disappointed in us if we were just doing what we already know we can do," says Jackson.
"We're trying something new which is exciting and a great way to learn," says van Beek, who admits she enjoys sending herself up on stage.
"I like characters who are idiots. Give me the worst wig, the ugliest costume and let me get half naked and I'm happy!"
Hellcat and Jeeks' story has evolved. It now includes references to van Beek's increasingly obvious pregnancy.
She is married to Australian comedian Jesse Griffin and is due to give birth mid-year, after performing Pornstars in London.
"I'll be seven months pregnant, so that will be hilarious," she says.
Her pregnancy is far from the focus of Hellcat & Jeeks, though. The temptation to include "my time of the month" and associated jokes has been avoided.
"Kath & Kim, French & Saunders and a heap of New Zealand female comedy acts have done really innovative and funny work without falling back on time of the month jokes," says van Beek.
She acknowledges few female comedy duos have emerged in New Zealand since the Topp Twins. Jackson and van Beek believe there are several reasons for this, particularly that women often don't have the luxury of time to sit down and concentrate solely on devising work.
"I mean, we've negotiated a wedding, now a pregnancy and various other family commitments," says Jackson.
Then there is the myth that women aren't funny. Jackson recalls a long discussion with a German film-maker who declared slapstick was the basis of all comedy and audiences do not think it's funny to see women getting hit, tripping over or walking into things.
She knows, though, from personal experience that just isn't true.
* Hellcat & Jeeks is at the Herald Theatre from 7-10 February
