OK, to get one thing straight: "Mardi from Canberra" seen on the now infamous clip of The Late, Late Show, is actually from Queanbeyan.
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And she's told The Canberra Times the show's host, Scottish comedian Craig Ferguson, asked her to say she was from Canberra, allowing him to set off on a riff of anti-Canberra jokes.
The 39-year-old teacher from Jerrabomberra spoke to The Canberra Times today from a Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles with her friend Ajay Rochester by her side as they contemplated their moment in the sun, plucked from the audience of the talk show and broadcast across the United States - and Australia.
Mardi, last name Croke, and Rochester, the former host of The Biggest Loser went to the show as "anonymous people and just got seated in the front row", the LA audience including a smattering of Australians.
"There were probably about 10 Australians in the audience and we did the whole 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie' thing and next thing, [the warm-up guy is ] asking Ajay and I to go up. It was crazy," she said.
Off-camera and before they had their microphones on, the two Australians were introduced to Ferguson.
"He asked us where we were from and I said, 'Queanbeyan' and he said, 'Oh, where's that?'. And he started making jokes like, 'Oh, does the Queen live there?'," Mardi said.
"I said, 'Oh, it's next door to Canberra'. And he said, 'Oh, for television's sake, can you just say Canberra?'."
As the cameras went on and the show started, Mardi said she was astounded to stand on stage and watch Ferguson launch into his anti-Canberra tirade.
"We were totally, totally surprised. Ajay and I are still in shock over what happened," she said.
"It was all spur-of-the-moment and then for the show to go on and on, you know the whole show revolving around Canberra. Part of me did get the guilts because I do love Canberra and I often go there for the beautiful restaurants."
But Mardi says the whole thing was meant to be taken as a joke.
"It was all very quick, it was all very funny and it was all light-hearted and I just can't believe it's turned into this. I love a good laugh as much as anyone else," she said.
Rochester also jumped to her friend's defence, calling the episode a bit of harmless fun via Twitter:
Mardi now jokes she'll be wearing her "I love Queanbeyan" t-shirt when she gets home after having to deny where she was from on US television.
"I'm a staunch Queanbeyanite and love my home town," she said.
