Nina Conti
Nina Conti
Nina Contiis an English actress, comedian and ventriloquist. Among many characters, her primary on-stage puppet sidekicks are a white-haired Scottish grandmother named Granny and a deadpan and somewhat sinister monkey named Monk...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth5 June 1974
area either rely work
I don't want to tie myself into one area or the other. I think its important not to rely heavily on either TV or stand-up, but to let them work off of each other.
power
I always said I wanted to be scientist, but I didn't really have the staying power.
among people pull seconds shift uneasy
When I'm gigging, there's an uneasy shift when I pull a puppet out. People look at me aghast and I feel I have about 20 seconds to win them over. You even get the prejudice among other people in your own profession.
albert amazing appearing comedy couple fantastic gig guest night remember royal sticks won
I will remember the night I won the New Comedy Awards, as I was young and unformed, so that sticks in the mind. I've also done a fantastic gig at the Royal Albert Hall, which was amazing. Appearing in the Christopher Guest film was also a real highlight, even if I was only in it for a couple of minutes.
acting amount discussing files hideous home lawyer looked looks nice work
Acting is seductive. It looks so much fun. I did dally with other things. I did pupillage in a law firm, but I didn't like the look of how many files the lawyer I was working with had to take home every night. It looked like a hideous amount of work, when actors were having nice lunches and discussing books.
hands raw time voice
Once I'm on stage, there's just no time for a sip of water - I've always got my hands in puppets! My voice is raw by the time I finish.
belonged ended grew monkey saw
The character of the monkey just grew from something out of his face and my granddad's personality. They fused, and that's what I ended up with! The monkey belonged to a friend of mine, and I saw that it had such a little beguiling face and it grew from there.
atmosphere clown giggle helps hospital laugh patients
I'm training to become a giggle doctor. It's a kind of hospital clown who changes the atmosphere on the ward and helps recovery. It's about making patients laugh but also much more.
air good projects sad
It's sad, the lottery. Good projects get funded by it, but there's an air of desperation about it.
expressing liberated
My puppets are far more liberated than I am. Ventriloquism is a useful way of expressing myself.
awful bit creative feels hair life opposed people phone ring sensible tread
So many actors are lively-minded, creative people who just tread water in this awful way, waiting for the phone to ring and doing their hair for auditions. It feels like a bit of a dreamer's life - as opposed to a sensible ventriloquist's life.