6. What do your parents/children (delete as applicable) think of your job?
My parents are really proud... they’re proud of my development but also my decision to stick with it despite how rough it is getting going. They know I’d be a bit boxed in without creativity and they like that I’ve made a stable life out of something so mad.
7. What’s the worst thing about being a comedian?
Being alone. I travel alone, I stay in hotels alone, I sit in silence and write alone. I hate being alone. I would love to be on tour with someone and share all the downtime... even if you’re just sitting together in silence it’s better than being alone. Alone is awful.
8. I think you are very good at what you do (that’s why I’m asking these questions). What do you think of you?
Honestly? I think I’m fucking great at what I do. Not every day, and I certainly didn’t used to, but now? Yes. I’ve really learned how to please whichever room is in front of me and I’ve got too proud of myself to be modest or pretend otherwise. Ha. I know I’m going to cringe when I see this in print and wish I’d found a funny answer to wiggle out of answering but sod it. It’s staying put.
9. How much do you earn and how much would you like to earn?
I earn good money now... I actually now finally earn more than I did in the job I got straight out of uni working in SEO. So, it’s only taken me 7 years to match the income from that godawful job by doing something I love. I’d like to maybe be on 40k? Does that sound reasonable? That’d get me a house and mean I could afford dog food I reckon. I don’t have a dog but if I knew I could afford dog food I’d think about getting one.
10. How important is luck in terms of career success – have you had lucky breaks?
I’ve had mini-breaks I suppose... but mainly the opportunities I had were competition finals early on when I wasn’t a good enough comedian to make the most of them. I think luck plays a part, sure, you sometimes have to be the right person at the right time, but you also have to be the best of the right people available at the right time. People forget that and bang on about tokenism and diversity and all that “PC gone mad” bullshit, but they forget that to be in the running you still have to be kind of brilliant.
Career success is an odd one too... I work 6 nights a week, make a very comfortable living, go on holidays, hang out loads with my husband because of all the day times off we have... that’s success I think. It’s easy in comedy to think a career is a failure if you haven’t done Apollo or Mock the Week but it’s not true. Last year I won the Comics’ Comic Best MC Award and it was the biggest success I could ever have asked for; my peers think I’m good. That’s enough.
11. Alan Davies has said that comedians fall into two categories - golfers and self-harmers. The former just get on with life, the latter are tortured artists. Which are you – or do you think you fit into a third category?
Oooh... I know everyone will say this but I’m a third category. I think I’m a tortured golfer. It’s one of the things that made my depression so hard for me to get a grip on; I’m not destructive. I hit end point with depression in 2016 and I was pretty sure I wanted out, but I still went to every gig I had booked in, I didn’t drink or take drugs or cheat on my husband; I just got neatly on with my life while working out how to end it because I felt so awful. I used to reason with myself that it couldn’t be that bad because I was still doing everything and then I’d drive home from a gig thinking about how nice it would be to crash the car and not have to think any more. It never occurred to me to burn the house down though, it’s just not who I am to be destructive.
12. Who is your favourite person ever and why – not including family or friends or other comedians?
A character in a book called Locke Lamora (The Lies of Locke Lamora). He’s small, scrappy, temperamentally moody, clever, creative and very realistic. The Gentleman Bastard series of books are some of my very favourites and this character speaks to me so much.
13. Do you keep your drawers tidy and if not why not? (please think long and hard about this question, it's to settle an argument with my girlfriend. The future of our relationship could depend on your response).
I don’t. I really wish I did and I feel like I’d like myself a lot more if I actually did rather than considered myself someone who did... but who has the time for that tidying? Nah. Sorry.
