# Kate McLennan

Kate McLennan (born c. 1980) is an Australian comedian, writer and actor. McLennan has performed in Australia and internationally, including at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She is known in Australia for her work on television and web series such as The Katering Show, Get Krack!n, The Mansion, and Deadloch (2023). She produces most of her work with Kate McCartney, which has led to their being dubbed the Kates.

## Early life

McLennan was born around 1980. She moved to Geelong at the age of ten and a decade later she moved to Melbourne.

## Career

McLennan performed in her first sketch comedy show at the age of 21 at the 2001 Melbourne Fringe Festival, and appeared in the Fringe parade.
She rose to fame writing and performing her solo comedy show The Debutante Diaries, which won her the Best Comedy Award and Best Emerging Artist Award at the Melbourne Fringe in 2006.
McLennan co-created the web series Bleak with Kate McCartney in 2010, which in won the Kit Denton Disfellowship for Courage and Excellence in Performance Writing at the 2011 AWGIE Awards, worth A$30,000.
Since then, "the two Kates" have worked together a lot. McLennan and McCartney formed their production company called Lead Balloon TV. They wrote, produced and starred as an intolerable foodie (McLennan) and a food intolerant (McCartney) in a cooking-based web series called The Katering Show which screened on their YouTube channel in 2014. A second season of The Katering Show was screened on the ABC TV and then on ABC iview in 2016.
In 2017, McLennan and McCartney collaborated on an ABC Television comedy called Get Krack!n, playing exaggerated versions of themselves as breakfast show TV hosts, which screened on ABC iview and in the U.S. Get Krack!n ran for two seasons of eight episodes each, with the final episode going to air in April 2019, with Aboriginal actors and writers Miranda Tapsell and Nakkiah Lui given the stage to make strong statements about racism in Australia.
In June 2023 an eight-part crime comedy McLennan worked on with McCartney entitled Deadloch and starring Kate Box premiered on Amazon Prime Video.

## Personal life

McLennan has a daughter.

## Awards and nominations

Screen Writing :
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Role | Ref. |
| 2011 | Kit Denton Disfellowship | For Courage and Excellence in Performance Writing | Bleak (web-series) | Won | Shared with Kate McCartney | |
Stand-up Comedy :
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Role |
| 2006 | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Best Comedy Award | The Debutante Diaries | Won | Writer, performer |
| 2006 | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Best Emerging Artist Award | The Debutante Diaries | Won | Writer, performer |
| 2007 | SA Theatre Guide | Best Comedy Award | The Debutante Diaries | Nominated | Writer, performer |
| 2007 | Short and Sweet Festival | Best Actress | All The Way to the Top | Nominated | Writer, performer |
| 2007 | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Barry Award for Best Show | The Debutante Diaries | Nominated | Writer, performer |
| 2011 | The Age | M-IE Award for Rising Comedy Star | The Debutante Diaries | Won | Writer, performer |
| 2013 | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Golden Gibbo Award for Best Show | Standard Double | Nominated | Writer, performer |
| 2024 | 13th AACTA Awards | Best Screenplay in Television | Deadloch (Episode 1) | Won | Co-writer |

## Stand-up comedy tours

Tours :
| Year | Title | Notes | Role |
| 2002 | The Hindsight Prophecies | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Writer/performer |
| 2002 | The Six | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Writer/performer |
| 2002 | The 666 | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Writer/performer |
| 2003 | Total Entertainments | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Writer/performer |
| 2005 | Henpecked | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Writer/performer |
| 2006 | The Wrong Night | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Writer/performer |
| 2006 | The Debutante Diaries | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Writer/performer |
| 2007 | The Debutante Diaries | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Writer/performer |
| 2007 | The Enthusiasts | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Writer/performer |
| 2008 | Beaconsfield: the Musical | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Writer/performer |
| 2010 | I Coulda Been A Sailor | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Writer/performer |
| 2011 | Homeward Bound | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Writer/performer |
| 2012 | Comedy Festival Roadshow | Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow in Australia | Writer/performer |
| 2013 | Standard Double | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Writer/performer |

## Filmography

Film :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2007 | All The Way to the Top | Hayley | Actor |
| 2009 | Four Minutes of Fame | Karla Tutt | Actor |
| 2010 | Kwik Fix | Samara | Actor |
Television :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2003 | Stingers | Melissa | 1 episode |
| 2003 | MDA | Fan | 1 episode |
| 2005 | Let Loose Live | Writer/actor | 2 episodes |
| 2007-2011 | Dogstar | Simone (voice) | 52 episodes |
| 2008 | The Mansion | Writer/actor | 13 episodes |
| 2010 | Offspring | Café girl | 1 episode |
| 2011 | Ben Elton Live from Planet Earth | Actor | 3 episodes |
| 2012 | Exchange Student Zero | Charity (voice) | 1 episode |
| 2012 | Live on Bowen | Herself | 1 episode |
| 2013 | It's a Date | Jessica | 1 episode |
| 2013 | SlideShow | Herself | 1 episode |
| 2013 | You're Skitting Me | Writer | 13 episodes |
| 2013-2014 | Comedy Up Late | Herself | 2 episodes |
| 2014 | House Husbands | Skye | 1 episode |
| 2014-2015 | The Flamin' Thongs | Narelle Thong | 26 episodes |
| 2015 | Little Lunch | Writer | 2 episodes |
| 2015 | Sammy J & Randy in Ricketts Lane | Megan | 1 episode |
| 2014-2015 | Winners and Losers | Kathryn Piper | 3 episodes |
| 2015 | Comedy Showroom - Bleak | Writer/ Actor (Anna O’Brien) | 1 episode |
| 2015 | Slumber Party | Writer | 1 episode |
| 2015 | In The Zone IV | Herself | 1 episode |
| 2016 | The Katering Show (season 2) | Writer/ Producer/ Herself | 8 episodes |
| 2016 | Dogstar: Christmas in Space | Simone Clark/ Celeste Sharp (voices) | 1 episode |
| 2017-2019 | Get Krack!n | Writer/ Producer/ Herself | 16 episodes |
| 2017 | Have You Been Paying Attention? | Herself/ Guest Quiz Master | 1 episode |
| 2017 | Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell | Herself | 1 episode |
| 2010 | Wakkaville | Missy (voice) | 26 episodes |
| 2018 | Sando | Writer | 6 episodes |
| 2018 | Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation | Herself | 1 episode |
| 2019 | Hughesy, We Have a Problem | Herself | 1 episode |
| 2019 | Celebrity Name Game | Herself | 1 episode |
| 2023 | Deadloch | Creator / Writer | 8 episodes |
Web series :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2014 | Bleak- The Web Series | Writer/Actor (Anna) | 4 episodes |
| 2015 | The Katering Show (season 1) | Writer/ Producer/ Herself | 6 episodes |