‘Words are weapons’: Why Aussie comedian Mary Coustas – AKA Effie — fears cancel culture

Her alter ego Effie made the word ‘wog’ a badge of pride rather than a weapon of derision. Now comedian Mary Coustas fears cancel culture will kill vital conversations.

She has made a career out of weaponising words and Mary Coustas wants others to be able to do the same.

The top Aussie comedian, known for playing deliberately-irreverent and over-the-top character Effie, fears cancel culture is stifling our ability to dissect and understand important issues.

“Words can be very powerful, but they can be creatively challenged as well,” Coustas told The Daily Telegraph.

“We need to have very robust dialogue around this, we can’t be sent off to a room and the door closed and cancelled for being human.

“There are people out there that make it their mission to be outrageous just for the sake of it or to be ‘ist’ for the sake of it – racist, sexist, homophobic, whatever it is.

Mary Coustas with her daughter Jamie. Picture: Julian Andrews.

“There are people that want to be noticed for all of the wrong reasons, so let’s put those people aside for a second and let’s talk about the rest of the people.”

She continued: “I don’t want anything to take away freedom. I understand that words are weapons, I built a career on it.

“We need to be able to make mistakes as human beings, we need to be able to evolve as human beings and understand that it is not okay to do certain things that evoke hate or that make people feel diminished or powerless but at the same time, we still need to have playfulness around things and I think humour is the greatest carbonator of all things heavy.”

That is why comedy is important, she said.

“Comedy is there so we can laugh and we can draw attention (to something),” she said.

“I worry about this shrinking of rights and people becoming so afraid to say what they really think.

Mary Coustas as Effie. Picture: John Appleyard

“What worries me about that is that I believe it would morph itself into something that is even more sinister, something even more underground and more subtle, something that you can’t call someone out on. We are all going to make mistakes. We are all judgmental.”

Coustas rose to national fame nearly four decades ago as Effie (Efthimia Francesca Stephanidis) in controversial play, Wogs Out Of Work.

The success of the production, which looked through a comedic lens at the ethic Australian experience, led to hugely successful TV show, Acropolis Now and the Wog Boy films.

“I am all about tone. I think you can say anything, as long as the tone and the intention is right,” she said.

“This is where I worry that the words themselves don’t reveal everything. I think we are losing the holistic thing if we just focus on the word. The intention of elevating our consciousness is the right one, but to cancel, I think, is the wrong one.

“I think there is fear involved in being cancelled and I don’t think fear brings the best out in anyone.”

Coustas will bring her latest stage show, This Is Personal, to Sydney’s The Concourse in Chatswood from June 13 to 17.

Remarkably, it is her first show as herself after years of playing other characters.

“I was terrified by the idea of not having those other things to hide behind,” she explained. “Effie has been my most public character and I have been happily putting Effie forward for all of these years because she has bought me a lot of privileges – I get to say whatever I want, unfiltered, I get to be really theatrical, I have a lot of fun and there are elements of that character that are who I was as a child. For me it is a very happy comfortable place.”

Full This Is Personal tour dates here:

Adelaide Festival Centre May 4 to 6.

Arts Centre Melbourne June 27 to July 2.

Darwin Entertainment Centre October 4 to 7.