Sarah Williams
Beaver Staff
Deborah Kimmett and musical guest Kim Pollard are bringing Overnight Sensation to San Souci in Belleville. The comedy show will be on April 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Overnight Sensation explores the pigeonhole women over 65 often find themselves in and calls into question the validity of the older woman stereotype. The show, described as a hysterical comedy, is based on the eve of Kimmett receiving the old age security cheque, asking herself if it’s too late to become an overnight sensation.
Kimmett, who took some time to speak with the Beaver about the success of the show, noted the appeal is generational.
“People say ‘you’ve said what’s on my mind’. These aren’t just older women, but people in their 30s and 40s saying, ‘oh, I’ve sort of stereotyped my mom’. It’s a lot about looking at that relationship,” said Kimmett.
The show, having been touring for over a year, has weathered the evolving pandemic. But, as Kimmett noted, people seem more willing to venture out again.
“When I brought it to Napanee, because of COVID, there’d been no rehearsing in front of live audiences,” Kimmett explained. “The second challenge was wondering if the audience would even come out or if there’d be another outbreak. People were a little tentative about a year ago, but I think we’re getting our groove back now.”
Speaking of the upcoming show at Sans Souci, Kimmett noted the powerful effect including local musicians-in this case, Kim Pollard- can have on the show.
“It’s so much fun to plug local musicians into this snow and find their place and see how they can affect the mood of the show,” enthused Kimmett.
One of the biggest trills of Overnight Sensation, explained Kimmett, is the fan base it has collected. Several audience members have come to every single show in Toronto.
“The biggest, fun part is people keep coming back to this show. I’ve had several people come to every show in Toronto. One place I performed wasn’t accessible, so people abandoned their walkers and shimmied up the stairs on the bums.”
Kimmett has been entertaining Canadians for decades, and is one of the few female comedians past 60 to have a platform in Canadian media. Her last comedy album, Downward Facing Broad, aired on CBC Radio to great response and began to tour before the pandemic. As COVID-19 raged on, the Downward Facing Broad comedy album became No. 5 on iTunes. After 17 years on CBC’s radio show The Debaters, Kimmett has a large following with CBC audiences.
Kimmett is also a regular on CBC’s Winnipeg Comedy Festival, LOL and is an accomplished author of four books, Reality is Overrated, That Which Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Funnier, and Out Running Crazy. She was nominated twice for the National Magazine Award for Humour. She was also shortlisted for the Governor-General Award for her play Miracle Mother in 1984. She has written 52 episodes of TV on Steve Smith’s Go Girl. Her lead in the movie, Keep Coming Back debuted at the Palm Springs Film Festival, and Whistler Film Festival garnered a best actress nomination for ACTRA. She has appeared on Canadian gems like Frankie Drake, Tall Boyz, and Gayle Pyle.
Tickets for Overnight Sensation can be found here: https://kimmett.ca/event/belleville-april-20-23/