Nina Conti tried the RSC but prefers comedy. Which is why she's bringing a foul-mouthed puppet to Kilkenny, she tells Bernice Harrison
It's hard not to feel short-changed interviewing a ventriloquist over the phone. There should be three people in the relationship, one of them a dummy. In Nina Conti's case it's Monkey, a foul-mouthed chap who, in the show she's bringing to the Smithwick's Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, in Kilkenny this weekend, is on an evil mission to take over not only his master's voice but also her soul. "And he gets the best lines," says Conti, who for the past four years has been giving ventriloquism a bit of stand-up cred.
Since she won the BBC Talent New Comedy Award, in 2002, she has become a regular on the London comedy circuit and has appeared at festivals in Edinburgh, Montreal and Glastonbury. This is her second trip to the Cat Laughs, right after her first appearance at the Guardian Hay Festival, a literary shindig in the Welsh marches. She's a bit bemused to have been invited to Hay, but then, as an attractive young woman - she's 30 - who's also a ventriloquist, she knows that, if nothing else, she's a novelty act. Rod Hull and Emu she ain't.
Her father is Tom Conti. "It's like an addendum to my name or something," she laughs. "I'm always described in interviews as Nina Conti, Tom Conti's daughter." But she's fine with it. Being the daughter of one of Britain's best-known and best-liked actors didn't exactly hinder her when she was trying to break into acting.
She spent two years at the Royal Shakespeare Company, although it wasn't the happiest of experiences. Her biggest problem was the company's mannered voice-coaching exercises. "It was stupid, walking around the room saying 'I am wonderful' in 10 different ways," she says. In the end she wrote to an old friend, the "maverick-genius theatre director" Ken Campbell, for advice. He sent her a ventriloquism kit, complete with wooden dummy and instructions on how to get around the tricky gottle-of-geer business. "It was a private joke, really, but I had such fun with it that I thought I'd try to make an act out of it," she says. "And, let's face it, no one else was doing it."
She ditched the wooden dummy - "too creepy" - when an RSC colleague, the Irish actor William Houston, gave her Monkey, a soft toy that his mother had sent him as a good-luck gift. Monkey - 25cm of brown fur and latex - now has several understudies. "He isn't a bespoke ventriloquist's dummy - I'm too cheap for that - and he's out of production now, so I have to buy replacements on eBay."
Reviews of her shows always talk about her technical proficiency - no giveaway quivering lips, no talking out of the side of her mouth - but she doesn't think that's important. "It doesn't really matter if the act is funny or fresh enough," she says. "I can be pretty shoddy actually. I can't do 'b' very well, but I get a few laughs out of that."
Conti doesn't do jokes; her material is more observational - "well, as observational as a stuffed monkey on a stage can be. He doesn't do reminiscences from his life in the jungle or any of that rubbish." She often performs on the same bill as her husband, a stand-up called Stan Stanley. They bring their year-old baby, Arthur, so one of them can mind him backstage while the other is performing.
Conti's acting career now runs on parallel tracks, one with Monkey, one without, including acting in BBC Radio 4's hilarious Clare in the Community and playing Dylan Moran's girlfriend in Black Books. She's keen to keep both sides of her career going. Kilkenny hecklers beware, though. It's not the sweet, funny Conti who answers back but the viciously funny Monkey. "He can say things I wouldn't dream of."
Nina Conti is at the Smithwick's Cat Laughs Comedy Festival tomorrow (Club 51 at Kilford Arms, 9-10.30pm, with Ed Byrne and Rhod Gilbert, hosted by Jason Byrne, €26; then the Village Inn, 10.45pm-midnight, with Kevin Gildea, hosted by Barry Murphy, €22) and Monday (Rivercourt, 2.15-4pm, with David O'Doherty, Ed Byrne, Seán Cullen and Owen O'Neill, €20). Call 056-7763837 or visit www.thecatlaughs.com
WHERE TO EAT WHILE YOU'RE AT THE CAT LAUGHS
When the Cat Laughs started, in the early 1990s, comics could have joked about the dearth of places to eat. Times have changed. These are some festival-goers' favourites. Try to book - and to catch last orders (10-11pm).
CHEZ PIERRE Parliament Street, 056-7764655. Good spot for lunch. Last orders 9pm at weekends, otherwise 3.30pm.
BAMBU St Kieran's Street, 056-7770699. Thai food. Last orders 11pm. More formally, try its sister, Pordylos (The Butterslip Lane, 056-7770660, 5-11pm).
LANGTON'S John Street, 056-7765133. Also a festival venue, so you haven't far to travel. Last orders 10pm. It has a new offshoot, Carrigan's (High Street, 056-7702763), which does Mediterranean-inspired food. Last orders 7.30pm.
ZUNI RESTAURANT Patrick Street, 056-7723999. Be sure to book: it has a growing reputation for good food in smart surroundings. Last orders 10pm.
For between-show snacks - panini, sandwiches and soup - try the GROUND FLOOR CAFE, PENNYFEATHER RESTAURANT and the GOURMET STORE. All are on High Street; Pennyfeather is above the book shop of the same name.