PERTH comedian Judith Lucy's stand-up material has always been about turning lemons in to lemonade and her latest show Ask No Questions of the Moth is no exception.
Last year the 47-year-old lost her brother to cancer and had to deal with early menopause.
"Anyone who has seen my stand-up before knows that I kind of bang on about everything that's happened to me since the last time I did a stand-up show," Lucy said.
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READ NOW"So I talk about everything that happened to me last year and a lot of that is also about making the television show Judith Lucy is All Woman for the ABC, and the fact that Im in a relationship and why we're drinking juices out of jars.
"I talk about a lot of things, so it's not just"oh god, last year was a terrible year" but the reality is most people don't seek comedians for them to walk out and say "Im so happy, so in love and last year was brilliant"."
Lucy said the experience years ago of finding out on Christmas Day she was adopted taught her to sort through any issues before taking it on stage.
"Obviously I was in shock and as soon as I got back to Melbourne, which was about three weeks later, I got up onstage and started talking about it," she said.
"Frankly it was met by mystified silence by the audience because I think it was just really obvious that I was still upset about it.
"I think sometimes writing a book can be quite cathartic but while doing stand-up, audiences are like wolves and then can smell it on you if you're still worried, anxious or sad.
"The other thing, though, is that because some people have been seeing me for a long time, it's felt a bit like we've grown up together.
"It generally means people feel they know me and are comfortable telling me stories about their crazy families or something, which I really like."
Lucy attributed the title of her show to a line from 12th century Sufi mystic poem Conference of the Birds, which she discovered while googling, thought it was weird, ridiculous and mystifying, so went with it.
Her manager Kev, who was the brains behind her publicity shot for the tour, had a moth costume from a program comedian Sam Simmons did on the ABC.
"So he suggested I wear it for the poster and the rest is history," she said.
"Im never one to be crazy about having my photo taken but I actually find it more enjoyable when I am looking a bit ridiculous.
"So I quite enjoyed putting the moth costume on."
THE ESSENTIALS
What: Judith Lucy - Ask No Questions of the Moth
Where: Perth Concert Hall
When: July 9 to 10
Tickets: www.ticketek.com.au
More: Judith Lucy is All Woman is available on DVD from ABC.