Urzila Carlson on filming with Amy Schumer and balancing motherhood

Urzila may be a global star these days, but she’s every inch the doting mum. Photo / Scott Yamano, Netflix

Urzila Carlson is taking a well-earned break. One of Aotearoa’s busiest entertainers, she’s on holiday at home in West Auckland with her kids when Woman’s Day calls.

“Well, I say I’m on holiday, but I’m doing the hardest job in the world,” she laughs. “If a lady works fulltime and then has to stay home with the kids, that’s still working, isn’t it?”

Urzila, 48, may be a global star these days, but when she’s not busy making local and international audiences laugh, she’s every inch the doting mum. “It says in my diary, ‘Time off: Day 45,’ and I’ve been home the whole time. I’m here with the kids 24/7.”

And while the South African-born comic isn’t keen to talk much at all about her children, you can bet they’re some of the most well-travelled kids in New Zealand.

“They’ve been around the world twice,” says Urzila. “They’ve been to Africa, lived in Edinburgh for a month, been to Montreal and LA … You name it, they’ve been there. When they don’t travel, my son will go, ‘Ugh, I feel like I haven’t been on a plane in forever!’”

The comedian spent last year filming the new Netflix movie Kinda Pregnant alongside Amy Schumer in New York. Photo / Woman's Day

The time at home with her kids is all the more precious because the 7 Days regular was away from her family for longer than she would’ve liked last year – filming the new Netflix movie Kinda Pregnant alongside Amy Schumer in New York.

Asked how she got cast, Urzila, clearly still in disbelief, replies, “I woke up at 3am one day in February. I never look at my phone in the middle of the night, but something said to me, ‘Check your phone,’ and by then I was awake and annoyed at myself, so I checked and there’s a message on Instagram from Amy.

“She goes, ‘Hi, can you act? Give me a call.’ I sit up, switch the light on and think, ‘F**k it. I’m gonna call her.’ Amy says, ‘Listen, I’ve got this role for you. I think you’re perfect for it. Can I send you a script?’ She emailed it and I read it straight away. I thought, ‘This role literally reads like it was written for me!’

“Next morning, I’m making breakfast and packing lunches when she calls me. I tell her, ‘I love it. It’s perfect for me.’ And she goes, ‘Can you do a read?’ I said, ‘Listen, I can’t do s**t now. I have to get the kids off to school – this is my first priority.’”

Amy gave her two hours to deal with “mum stuff”, then Urzila read through the script over Zoom with Trainwreck star Amy and director Tyler Spindel – still wearing her sleep shirt and with bed hair. A couple of days later, she did it again with the casting director.

Urzila still can’t believe she’s shared a screen with Amy and some of Hollywood’s most hilarious stars. Photo / Getty Images

“This time, Tyler asks Amy and I to riff with each other. It was so much fun! Afterwards, I’d just closed the laptop lid when my phone rang. I pick up and Amy goes, ‘It’s yours.’ Within a week, I flew out to New York. It was fast!”

Urzila still can’t believe she’s shared a screen with Amy and some of Hollywood’s most hilarious stars, including Saturday Night Live alumni Jillian Bell and Will Forte, in the comedy.

“It’s so wild!” she exclaims. “Sometimes my phone pings and one of their names pops up, and I’ll go casually, ‘I just gotta take this call.’ When I did my show in Sydney, Will came with his wife!”

In between texting her famous friends, Urzila has also found time to film her third stand-up special, Just No!, launching on her YouTube channel on February 20, and soon she’ll have to forgo bike rides with the kids to get back on tour.

Urzila’s come a long way from starting out on Auckland’s open-mic scene to performing in front of an audience of 2888 a night. Photo / Justin Ma

“I tour relentlessly,” she sighs. “This year, I’m doing Melbourne, the UK, Canada, the US and then back to Australia again.”

With a lot of hard work, Urzila’s come a long way from starting out on Auckland’s open-mic scene to performing in front of an audience of 2888 a night at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Regardless, she admits, “I will always have imposter syndrome. Even with Kinda Pregnant, I think, ‘It’s just a movie – you can’t just rest on your laurels.’ I always get anxious before anything comes out.”

This is partly due to online trolls. A frequent victim, Urzila says, “They’ll do a pile on.” Laughing, she adds, “There’s always the chance I’ll piss off the cyclists as well. I’ll be talking about menopause and they go, ‘Well, cyclists have it tough too!’”

Constantly anxious she’ll have to return to her pre-comedy career of advertising, Urzila concludes, “Every new show, I’m like, ‘This is the best show I’ve ever written!’ But at the end of it, I’m like, ‘I have nothing else that’s funny. I guess I’m an accountant now.’

“Then I remember I’m basically unemployable, so I think I’d better start writing. I’d be an HR nightmare!”