Kansans take pride in a potty-mouthed Facebook page

• Image via FYIFK

Like most Kansans, Will Averill is stubbornly proud of his home state. The Lawrence comedy writer and performer is also defensive.

So when Averill moved to Norwich, England, eight years ago to live with his then wife, he was surprised to hear the stereotypes from folks across the pond.

“I kept hearing Toto jokes and Dorothy jokes, even in England,” Averill says, “which I never thought I’d get.”

By 2007, he’d had enough. Averill decided to publicly address his heritage — and take a jab at his British compatriots — by turning his frustrations into a comedic poem called Fuck You, I’m From Kansas.

Two inches of snow in Norwich, and this city shuts down.
There just isn’t enough grit!
Fuck You, I’m from Kansas
Where grit comes from the inside
Where blizzards bury children in as little as eight minutes
And you just deal with it.
Socialized health care?
Fuck You, I’m from Kansas
If you get cut, you die. Simple as that.

The epic, which goes on for a few minutes, became a staple of Averill’s comedy act in performances at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival, and at London’s Bang Said the Gun poetry competition, which he won.

In 2011, Averill and his wife divorced, and the comedian returned stateside. His first summer back in Lawrence, Averill performed “Fuck You, I’m From Kansas” during a bawdy sketch-comedy show, Victor Continental, at a sold-out Liberty Hall, and brought down the drunken house.

“It seemed like there was something there,” Averill says, “but I wasn’t quite sure what it was.”

On a lark, he created a F*ck You, I’m From Kansas Facebook page. The homage to his home state’s tag line: “A page dedicated to Kansas art, artists, culture and character. Flyover my ass!”

“I started it very much in the vein of ‘Fuck You, I’m From Kansas’ the poem,” he says. “The initial tone was very much, ‘Hey, fuck you! Biggest prairie dog. We’ve got the largest ball of twine, motherfuckers!’ Just sort of throwing things out there.”