Pam Ann was born out of an Absolut bottle of vodka. Wait, that isn’t entirely accurate: a bottle of Absolut, a dress-up themed birthday party and a Pan American air hostess outfit. The birthday party belonged to that of comedienne Caroline Reid, the alter ego of Pam Ann, the lady wearing the air hostess costume and vigorously drinking the bottle of vodka. What ensued was not only a raucous night – and a blurry head-hurting morning after – but the organic and synchronistic process which spews forth some memorable characters.

And now Pam Ann is larger than life. She’s a national treasure, one who we lent to British Airways for the iconic viral campaign that shot her to superstardom. Since then she’s gone on to give some good in-flight entertainment to David Furnish, helped Cher exit the aircraft with her Farewell tour plus found time to star in a new TV Show for The Comedy Channel, The Pam Ann Show, which comes out March 11. This light hearted romp is super-gay friendly with the likes of Matthew Mitcham flying by to talk shop, duty free.

‘Oh, darling, what would I do without my gays?’ squealed Reid. ‘What would I do? I wouldn’t be looking fabulous when I walked out, sequins and big hair. They’ve been very supportive. People say they went to RADA or NIDA, you know those drama schools. Well, I went to the ‘drag-atic’ school of drama, the ‘tran-atic’ school of dramatic arts. The trannies and the drag queens taught me everything I needed to know. Probably because when I was about 16 I started going to all the gay clubs, so from then on I never looked back. I haven’t been to a straight club ever since!’

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In a world of formulaic television, Reid’s new show is a blip on the radar, a hark back to the old days of when ribald humour like Hey Hey It’s Saturday ruled the airwaves. In fact, the show’s voice over of Captain Rimming is done by Hey Hey’s John Blackman. And as if the show wasn’t already ‘Virgin’ on the ridiculous, the whole thing is basically a variety chat show set on 1960’s aircraft.

‘It’s filthy,’ Reid says of the show. ‘I wanted it spontaneous, so every week we go to a different destination with four costume changes in a half-hour show… I wanted to bring back that whole “What is going to happen next on the telly?”, “My god, she didn’t say *that*!” kind of thing. That was the goal. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m very proud of it.

‘It has that Sonny and Cher element, that whole stylistic attention to detail. We have some great guests. Leo Sayer, he is on it. He is amazing. The set is set up into a galley area where we interview a guest and then we have an upper deck lounge which has a big round bed, very Hugh Hefner 1970s … We interview someone on the bed and there’s a piano up there. We’ve been inspired by the Dame Edna show and the days in the ’80s when she had the lift coming up. Well, we’ve got PamCam with people begging for upgrades. There’s Dannii Minogue, Bob Downe, Tina Arena – they’re all trying to get on board!’

Such guests might have better luck getting air time when Pam Ann helps co-host the New Mardi Gras for FOXTEL’s live coverage of the parade on March 7. ‘To be involved in this is fantastic, it is a real honour to be working on it.,’ Reid gushed. ‘I’ve got so many costume changes and plans. I’m in my Mecca, it’s a gay Mecca. I’m in my element, I can’t wait.’

Which leaves one final question one has always wondered about Reid: if she plays such a tenacious trolly dolly, then what kind of a passenger does she make when she flies? Her response was simple. ‘A pissed one,’ she laughed.

Scott-Patrick Mitchell

Five quick questions for Pam Ann