Comedian Kitty Flanagan always wanted to make her own TV show.
“I’ve always, for some reason, seen myself as a writer more than a performer,” she says.
But when she first pitched Fisk — the story of the fastidious Helen Tudor-Fisk, a corporate lawyer who joins a suburban firm in Melbourne after her life in Sydney falls apart — she was told her character was too unlikeable.
Flanagan says writing in Helen’s voice has always been easy, “because that came from pretty close to my own heart”. (Supplied: A List Entertainment)
Then she suddenly became a bestselling author in 2019 after the release of 488 Rules for Life: The Thankless Art of Being Correct – a concept she first came up with for ABC TV’s The Weekly as a riff on Jordan Peterson’s controversial 12 Rules for Life.
The “comprehensive guide to modern behaviour” effectively functioned as a rule book for Fisk, a character Flanagan had been developing for a long time.
“Writing that book, I got a very strong sense of this opinionated person who believes that her way is the right way all the time,” Flanagan says.
The success of the book may go some way to explaining why ABC TV commissioned the series, which premiered in 2021.
“What changed, in part, was being able to say people thought these persnickety rules were actually quite funny, so, a person who abides by all these rules, maybe she is funny,” Flanagan says.
And she was right.
Now, Fisk, which returns to ABC TV tonight for season three, is not only a local ratings winner, but is loved around the world. In 2021, it won best comedy series at Series Mania in France, and last year, made it to the top 10 on Netflix in 10 countries, including South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.
It also scored its star Flanagan (who is also co-creator and co-writer) the Logie for most popular actress in both 2022 and 2023, and AACTA awards for best comedy performer and best narrative comedy in 2021.
When Flanagan was starting out as a stand-up comedian in the 90s, she never could have imagined winning a Logie for acting in a comedy series, especially not one she wrote.
“I would have laughed in your face,” she says.
“That these awards were voted for by the public makes them all the more special to me because it means that people watched the show and liked the show. That to me is what I’m trying to do: I’m trying to entertain.”
Flanagan poses with her 2024 Silver Logie, for her role in Utopia. Its her third acting Logie in a row, after winning most popular actress for Fisk in 2022 and 2023. (Getty Images: Don Arnold/WireImage)
Putting in the work
The comedian – who has been a fixture on Australian screens since she joined the cast of sketch series Full Frontal in 1995 — stresses there was no one person or thing standing in the way of Fisk getting made. It’s just that getting a TV show up is really hard.
“You have to just be persistent,” she says. “You just have to keep pushing and go, ‘Oh well, that fell over. Let’s try again’.”
Claudia Karvan (centre, with Flanagan and Stephen Lopez) is among the guest stars in season three of Fisk, alongside comedians like Rhys Nicholson and Sam Campbell. (Supplied: ABC TV)
And all her experiences working in TV helped her make a show like Fisk: whether it was on Full Frontal; performing and writing on other sketch shows in Australia, the UK and US; appearing on The Project and The Weekly, where she first worked with Fisk director Tom Peterson; or starring as Rhonda on ABC TV’s Utopia.
“Each time you do a bit of work within this thing, it’s not wasted. You learn something every time,” she says.
“By the time I got my shot, I think I was ready. And the fact that the show has been successful would back that up.”
Working on Utopia has been especially formative for Flanagan, who stresses that she “didn’t go to film school”.
Earlier this year, her performance even earned her another Logie, the time for best lead actress in a comedy. In her acceptance speech, she credited the show’s production company, Working Dog — led by people including her co-star Rob Sitch — for her career in TV.
“I call it my apprenticeship in making television,” Flanagan says.
But while Flanagan now feels much more comfortable working in a variety of roles on a TV set, she says the most enjoyable part of making Fisk is in the editing suite.
“It’s three months in a room, making the show better, making the show faster, fixing up all the mistakes from when we were shooting,” she says.
And the most difficult part? Being in the writer’s room with her co-creator, co-writer and little sister, Penny Flanagan.
“[It was] my sister and I literally sitting across the table, punching on with each other, and just going, ‘Oh my God, are we ever going to get this done?'”
Getting the characters right
Flanagan is delighted by the reception to Fisk, both in Australia and internationally: “When people message me from Canada or India or wherever it is around the world and say they’re loving Fisk, and they can’t wait for season two, I think, ‘Oh my God, that’s fantastic’.”
She puts that international success down to the characters and the relationships between them.
“I guess the world is realistic and relatable,” she says. “The characters in our show obviously exist the world over, even if they have a different accent or speak a different language.”
In Fisk, Flanagan joins Gruber & Gruber, a firm specialising in wills and probates, run by brother and sister Roy (Marty Sheargold) and Roz (Julia Zemiro). They’re joined in the office by probate clerk/”webmaster” George (Aaron Chen, Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee).
Knowing how to write in each character’s voice has developed over time for Flanagan, thanks in part to the talents of her cast. (Pictured: Sheargold and Chen) (Supplied: ABC TV)
She credits those co-stars with making Fisk so successful.
“Without those people, we wouldn’t have had the show,” she says. “It’s a little bit of lightning in a bottle that you get the right people together and the four of us just clicked.”
In season three, Helen returns to the newly minted Gruber & Associates as a partner, while Roz continues to pursue mediation as her new career. Meanwhile, Roy has a new “lady love”, Melissa (Justine Clark), and George is pursuing new side hustles with help from his grandma (Gabrielle Chan).
“I’ve learned to write some scenes with other people in them, so that I don’t have to be in every scene,” Flanagan says, with a laugh. (Pictured: Zemiro as Roz) (Supplied: ABC TV)
“Basically, it’s been about stepping up the other characters this season, so that we’re not just following Helen around the office,” says Flanagan.
“We got the message from viewers that they want to see more of everybody else, which is great for me, because I get a few scenes off.”
Season three of Fisk premieres on ABC TV and ABC iview on Sunday October 20.
