How Celia Pacquola found the perfect recipe for comedy success
She’s a comedian, writer, actor – even a reality show winning dancer – and now Celia Pacquola has turned her talent to hosting the revamp of one of the most-loved comedy shows in Australia.
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Remember those moments in high school you would rather forget?
For instance, the collective gaze of your classmates watching on as you forget the lyrics to chart-topper Harry Chapin’s Cats in the Cradle during your rendition at assembly.
It might seem oddly specific but it’s a memory Celia Pacquola, host of Working Dog’s revamped and beloved comedy improvisation series Thank God You’re Here, would rather not rehash if given the choice.
So much so, it is among a trio of cringe-worthy moments that come to mind when pressed by VWeekend on her nightmare scenario if ever she was to step through the iconic blue door.
“It would be an actual traumatic memory from high school or something that was re-created like someone had read my diaries or something,” Pacquola quips, barely skipping a beat.
“Or a terrible date. It would be an actual guy that I went on an awful date with once just sitting there, reliving something messed up.”
While the chance to star in a skit is slim – the logistics would be “weird” Pacquola jokingly points out – she’s more than thrilled to helm the series, which first aired on Aussie screens from 2006 to 2009.
“I myself have been guilty of sometimes when a show comes back or is remade, being like: ‘Why? Just leave it alone, don’t wreck our memories’,” she explains when discussing TGYH’s legacy.
“I really did spend a bit of time going, ‘maybe it’s had its time, should it come back?’
“And then I went, ‘No, it still stands up, it’s about silliness and fun’ and because the show changes based on who the people are on it, it sort of naturally updates, as does the world in which it plays.”
A relative newcomer to stand-up when TGYH first hit the screen, Pacquola was among the 1.7 million weekly viewers tuning in to watch comedy legends like Judith Lucy and Glenn Robbins be put through their improv paces.
“I was actually in the audience for a taping for season four,” says Pacquola, who grew up in Yarra Glen.
“I’d just done my first hour-long stand-up show and I was living with Felicity Ward, who’d just done her first hour-long gig as well, and she was on (the show).
“I’d sort of had a conversation and I was sort of in the vicinity of getting on the show. Maybe if they’d done a fifth season back in the day, who knows?”
Despite Pacquola’s success in the years since, the mum-of-one concedes adding host of a prime time television show to her long-running catalogue of work wasn’t necessarily on the bucket list.
“I’ve been approached to host things in the past and I just wasn’t interested,” she says.
“I don’t like being in charge, I don’t like having the responsibility of making sure it’s a nice time for everyone, but this was the one show where I genuinely was like: ‘I think I can do that’.
Believe it or not, there was even a time when the now three-time AACTA Award winner and Logie nominee doubted whether she had the chops to succeed in the industry.
And there wasn’t necessarily a light bulb moment which made her think otherwise.
“I got hired is what happened,” she laughs.
“I didn’t look for it, it just happened through stand-up, which is brilliant that it came back around, kind of organically.”
Life these days – despite Pacquola’s insistence at how mundane it really is – seems worlds away from the “sensitive and quiet” little girl who grew up in Melbourne’s Yarra Valley.
“I think (little Celia) would be more shocked that I’ve got a baby,” Pacquola, 40, says while revealing she is spending much of the phone call folding washing.
“I remember thinking people on the TV lived in the sky, that they weren’t a person who had to go to the shops or anything like that.
“I think she’d be excited but also a little bit disappointed at how suburban and mundane my life is.”
Still, Pacquola’s ambitions as a young girl were clear: star in comedy films, land one serious role in a drama movie to further cement her acting credentials, and after that write a children’s book.
“There wasn’t even a plan to be a stand-up comedian, I didn’t even know that was a job when I was a kid. The only things that I knew I liked were writing, comedy and making stuff,” she says.
“I wasn’t the typical class clown. I always filled silences, I think it came from an awkwardness and I talked a lot – but I don’t remember ever being like: Look at me, I’m going to put my bum in the fire.”
Pacquola’s natural charisma shines through effortlessly as the conversation rolls on and, paired with her flair for performing and work ethic, it’s clear she’s found a recipe for success.
But there’s a real depth and vulnerability that resonates with audiences, too.
Pacquola has never shied away from publicly discussing her struggles with mental health and anxiety, even unpacking its complexities during ABC’s 2020 documentary The Truth About Anxiety.
“I didn’t necessarily want to do it (when approached) because I knew it would be hard and scary but I understood why it could help and why I would be a good choice to help it work,” she explains.
“I was very willing to talk about my experiences and be vulnerable. I’m not embarrassed about asking stupid questions, and I did. I asked so many experts stupid questions on that show.
“You choose your battles and things that you want to join the conversation for, and for me, that’s mental health stuff and women’s stuff.”
Of course, it would be remiss not to mention the small screen success that was ABC’s Rosehaven, co-created with best mate Luke McGregor, as well as starring roles in Utopia, Love Me and Offspring. Dotted in between have been global comedy tours, appearances on Have You Been Paying Attention and The Project, and even a winning stint on 2020s season of Dancing With The Stars where she took home the coveted mirror ball trophy.
“I’ve been very lucky to be consistently working. All I want is just to be working. And then that comes with its drawbacks with being unable to say no to anything because the feast or famine thing is very much there in a creative life. I’ve missed a lot of weddings and broken a lot of relationships,” she jokes.
It was in 2006 at Raw Comedy, a national open mic competition at The Evelyn Hotel in Fitzroy, when Pacquola first experienced the rush of performing to a live audience.
“My partner at the time was Canadian and he signed me up without telling me, which was kind of perfect, because I don’t think I would have signed myself up.
“So he’s like you’re on in five weeks, you’ve got about five minutes and gave me that push, which was kind of great.
“I remember the first sort of laugh felt like a smack in the face of getting a laugh … I was like ‘Oh, that feels nice’,” she laughs.
A breakout talent, Pacquola went on to perform in front of a thousand-strong crowd in the Raw Comedy final, taking out best first-time entrant.
Not too shabby for a woman who once doubted whether she had what it took.
That very first hour-long gig which Pacquola referenced earlier took place just around the corner at Fitzroy’s Catfish Comedy, known back then as Gertrude’s Brown Couch, little more than a year later.
“I still walk past there all the time and it’s so bizarre, that whole street, I have so many memories up and down that street,” she says, reflecting on her career’s early days.
And it has certainly not gone unnoticed by Pacquola that the new season of Thank God You’re Here could very well be the breakthrough gig many others hope for.
In its heyday, the original series was widely regarded as a launch pad for rising comedians – many of them now among the nation’s biggest names – including Hamish Blake, Rebel Wilson and Josh Lawson.
“It’s such a good mix, like it was back in the day, of fan favourites and others who are just getting a fresh audience, and maybe viewers will find their new favourite comic,” she says.
So, who are some of the rising talents Pacquola wants to see on the show this time around?
“Aurelia St Clair, I feel like she’s crushing it on social media. She’s a really excellent stand-up comic who was sort of new the last time I was around,” she says.
“Also someone who I’d never met before called Alex Hines. She did a character called Slug Girl during a gig we had together. It was so good. So silly and funny and ridiculous.”
With the first season now clocking just over the halfway mark, Pacquola notes it’s been a busy time in juggling work and parenthood.
“I do miss just waking up on my own … I used to really enjoy first thing (in the morning) having black coffee in bed and reading a bit of something. And that hasn’t happened for a very, very long time,” she laughs.
“At the moment, the juggle is real. She’s great and motherhood, I will give eight out of 10 right now.
“But I guess my perfect day is about balance – where I’ve done a little bit of work, I’ve had a little bit of me time, I’ve had a little bit of fun time. I like having a little bit of everything, almost like a tapas plate of a day.”
So, what’s Pacquola got an appetite for next? One might suggest that she’s open to new opportunity.
“The role that I’m yet to play is my gritty, female-led cop, detective, hard arse, serious drama role and I don’t know why people don’t think of me for that!” ■
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