Vicki Walker - Funny As Interview

In the early 90s Vicki Walker acted in sketch show Away Laughing, and helped launch women's stand-up group Girls Gotta Eat. In this interview she describes being a woman in comedy in the 80s/90s, and other subjects, including:

• Creating and playing her pioneering Away Laughing character Felicity (see second clip of this episode), at a time when Kiwi women rarely got to create their own characters on television 
• Growing up in Sydney with a "very serious father", before moving to New Zealand to study creative writing at Auckland University
• Giving stand-up a go in London during the mid 80s, performing in character as a waitress
• Helping create all women stand-up stage show Girls Gotta Eat, and recalling hundreds of people lining Ponsonby Road in Auckland eager to watch the group perform
• Feeling that she had to work harder and be funnier than her male TV colleagues —"I couldn't afford to be weak once because there might not be a second time"

Note: Walker talks in more depth about Girls Gotta Eat in this Funny As interview, alongside Brenda Kendall and Fiona Edgar.

This interview was recorded for 2019 TV series Funny As: The Story of New Zealand Comedy. All audiovisual content is copyright to Augusto, and may not be reproduced. Publication of Funny As extended interviews made possible with funding from the NZ Lotteries Grants Board.