A coffee with ... Deb O'Keefe

British import is popular on Austin radio, TV.

By Joe Gross
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, December 13, 2007

For the many fans of her morning radio show on 101X, her refreshingly honest and direct diary at the 101X Web site, or her gig on ME-TV as the weekend host for "Tex-Mix," the following may be hard to hear: Growing up in Norwich, England, Deb O'Keefe did not want to be a DJ.

"Every since I was a little kid, I wanted to be a police officer," O'Keefe says. "I had to get my eyes tested when I was a kid and the nurse asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said, 'I want to be a police officer,' and she said, 'Not with your eyes, dear. You wouldn't pass the test.' I locked myself in my room and cried for two days. I always wanted to work with mounted brigade or on the canine team. I was always the one rescuing the cats. But I still get to be the voice of the animals, get on my soapbox and tell people to ... spay and neuter their animals ... "

This is what a conversation with the 33-year-old O'Keefe is like: Fast, funny, direct, skipping from topic to topic on a whim and refreshingly unselfconscious for someone in the media. In fact, I get so wrapped up in the chat that I stone-cold forget to take her picture — we had to meet again a few days later.

This is, of course, exactly why her fans like her so much, why "The Morning X with Jason and Deb" was voted best morning radio show in this year's Austin Chronicle readers poll. O'Keefe seems real, which is not easy in an industry that prizes slick presentation, clichéd bits and "radio" voices. (Tonight, 101X hosts its annual holiday concert — a sold-out show with an impressive lineup that includes the Silversun Pickups, Britt Daniel of Spoon, What Made Milwaukee Famous and the Lemurs.)

It's a warm Austin afternoon, and we're having lunch at Austin Java. O'Keefe is accompanied by her pit bull mix, Blue, whom she talks about so much on the program that he's practically a character. This being Austin, he gets lots of attention and freely returns it. At one point, Blue inserts his snout directly into another patron's rear end as she's leaving her table.

Said patron, a woman who looks about 30, jumps about two feet in the air. "Sorry, he likes bums," O'Keefe says.

O'Keefe orders a vegetarian sandwich and orange juice and looks mortified by the sheer size of her food when it shows up. Welcome to America, Deb.

"Oh, good Lord," she says. "This thing is the size of my head." She looks up at the waiter. "Can you help me with it?," she says with a mental wink. He grins back.

It's a winning combination. Flirty, yet the sort of gal who wanted to be a cop. Who does "boy things" as a bit on the radio ("Jason says it's an excuse to hang out with boys with mustaches and get stuff fixed around my house, and that's probably 80 percent true"), but refuses to play the ditz. She also does one of the very best impressions of "South Park" brat Cartman I've ever heard.

So, how does a girl from Norwich (say it "Nor'ich") end up in Texas?

"About 10 years ago, I was traveling after university and came here and just didn't end up going back," O'Keefe says. She ended up in Dallas with her then-husband. She hated it. Dallas, that is.

"For a long time, I thought it just was that I couldn't get on with Americans," she says. "I didn't have very many friends, and I thought it must just be a cultural divide. Then my husband got a job in Austin, and I moved down and I thought, 'It's not Americans! It's Dallasites! Dallasites don't even get on with each other!' "

O'Keefe got involved in radio "American Idol"style.

"The last station I was on (Mix 94.7) held a talent search a radio," she says. "I auditioned just for fun, and I got a call back. I ended up getting a job and a one-year contract. People got really involved in it and got to vote. I still meet people six years later who were like 'I voted for you!' "

She quickly found out that radio was simply an extension of things she already liked. "I did a lot of acting in school, a lot of dance and drama — a lot of just showing off."

This March, she joined 101X, where she seems extremely happy just being herself.

"Most of the women on morning radio play the voice of conscience or the dumb one or ... whatever it 'tis," O'Keefe says. "I think for every woman, it's our job for every other woman who comes behind us not be that stupid weak woman who gets pushed around or just fulfills a stereotype."

And while she gets on great with co-host Jason Dick, she's quick to add that he's a redhead and therefore not her type. "I'm from England," O'Keefe says by way of explanation. "Gingers are shunned. You ever see the ginger-kids episode of South Park. Cartman does a report on them," and here comes the greatest Cartman impression by any English person ever.

She's just that kind of girl.

jgross@statesman.com; 912-5926