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26 | February 19, 2015 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

“London’s LenaDunham” tellsElla Walker aboutbaring her secretson stage and whyshe’s very proudto be an eternaloptimist

Editor:Ella Walkeremail:ella.walker@cambridge-news.co.uk

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THE HEADLINER: JOSIE LONG

the critical listThis week’s entertainment highlights

YOU can’t help but want to be mates withJosie Long. On stage the comedian fizzes withenthusiasm, her whispery voice sparky and

bright, whether she’s spouting off on politics or,more recently, her personal life.

On the phone she’s just as open, witty and downto earth, and apologises with an audible grin forforgetting I was calling. “I just have to turn the tellyoff, sorry to be an idiot, it’s just the past few daysI’ve done loads of interviews and then I was likecool I’ve finished at 2.30pm, woo!”

Just to note, she was watching Jeremy Kyle anddoesn’t care whether you approve or not.

The London born 32-year-old has beenperforming comedy since she was 15 – taking a

brief hiatus to study English at Oxford University, asyou do – but until recently has been known for thepolitical bent of her shows.

Cara Josephine, coming to Cambridge Junction, issomething of a departure, taking Josie’s baby nieceas inspiration for the title and much of the content– there’s a wonderfully heart-warming but faintlygruesome skit on how Long loves her niece somuch she wants to just squish her and eat her.

However, it all starts, she explains, with gettingher heart broken in the summer of 2013. “It’sabout looking at relationships and how I am inrelationships and trying to move on from it, but it’sjust also very silly and a show about love and myfamily and lots of personal things.”

She admits it was a challenge turning momentsof her private life into joke-worthy material,particularly in comparison to directing heraudience’s laugh at politics.

“When I write political stuff, even though it wasa personal political journey, I felt quite strong andcategorical about things so I could really easily belike: ‘This decision by these politicians was wrong,they’re idiots!’” she explains. “Whereas this showis so much more nuanced, like, what am I trying tosay and why?”

“It makes me feel really vulnerable in a way thatI’ve never really felt before on stage,” Long muses.“You worry about what’s a level of appropriatesharing and I just don’t really know. Even when

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Josie Long: Cara Josephine,Cambridge Junction, Monday,February 23 at 8pm. Tickets £14 from(01223) 511511 / junction.co.uk

Josie Long

“I honestly don’tknow what I’d dowithout comedyin my life, I feellike I physicallyrely on it”

Cambridge News | cambridge-news.co.uk | February 19, 2015 | 27

THE HEADLINER: JOSIE LONG

you’re not doing really personal stuff, people thinkthey know you from having seen you on stage,so when you have genuinely shared – the showis quite open and honest, I really do talk aboutthings that have happened – it’s funny becauseyou think oh gosh, people really do know what’sgoing on with me and I don’t know them.

“But at the same time the rewards of it areamazing because it means that if people havebeen through a similar thing they really get it, youknow? I really like performing it because it feelsquite genuine and nice.”

She repeats with a laugh: “I promise you, it’sstill a really silly comedy show.”

Talking of oversharing, is there anything shewouldn’t talk about on stage?

“I don’t know. I like to think I’d be able to sayanything. I thought I’d never write anything aboutsex and then there’s an anecdote about sex in myshow which blows my mind! I’m like, oh my god Ican’t believe I’m saying this!”

Having seen a portion of the show at Latitude,I tell her I know what she’s talking about. You’llhave to see Cara Josephine yourself for all thehilariously graphic details, but it would be fair tosay it involves periods.

“I partly wanted to do it on stage because all mylife I’ve had people say ‘women comedians onlytalk about periods’ and I never had ever,” Longsays indignantly. “It used to annoy me because Iwas like, no they don’t, because I never had, andthen I was like, okay, how dare these people tellme what my experiences are allowed to be andwhat my writing is allowed to be?!

“So [with this story] I’m almost going ‘Well, youasked for it! You’re going to get it and it’s going tobe the grossest one you’ve ever heard!’”

Despite her more exposing anecdotes (some ofwhich will make you curl up in sympathy), Longdoesn’t struggle too much with nervousness. “NowI honestly think I’ve been performing so longmy adrenal gland is f***** and doesn’t produceadrenaline properly, so I’m a lot more chilled outnow.

“I do get nervous but it manifests itself in weirdways like sometimes I’m yawning loads before agig or my energy’s gone or I get really stressed outand grumpy and then I’m on stage and I’m like,oh, I was nervous!”

It’s impossible to imagine her being remotelygrumpy, though. Permanently animated, wordsspilling merrily from her mouth, Long is foreverbeing described as an ‘eternal optimist’ and ismore than happy to admit that’s an accurateassessment.

“I think it is,” she says without the resigned sighI’d expected. “I think even when I go throughperiods of feeling down, you just sort of are whatyou are, and I just can’t help but be sunny sideup.”

“I’ll tell you what, I’ve come across this reallygreat quote by Albert Camus, there’s a bit of itthat’s like ‘I discovered in the depths of winter theinvincible summer within me’ but it’s really long.F***,” she laughs. “I’ve got it on my laptop.”

There’s a fumbling and the click of closingwindows, then Josie’s back. “I don’t know whyI’m telling you it. Okay: “My dear, in the midst ofhate, I found there was, within me, an invinciblelove / In the midst of tears, I found there was,within me, an invincible smile / In the midst ofchaos, I found there was, within me, an invinciblecalm.”

She breaks out of her ‘I’m reading a quote’voice to shout: “It’s so nice!” before continuing:“I realised, through it all, that / In the midstof winter, I found there was, within me, aninvincible summer / And that makes mehappy. For it says that no matter how hard theworld pushes against me, within me, there’s

something stronger – something better,pushing right back.”

“I think that’s beautiful, and I feel thatthat’s what people are like. In the small scale

and in the big scale everyone is, no matter whathappens, like ‘f*** it, it’ll be all right’.”

It’s a tactic she employed the day beforewe spoke when she was invited on Radio 4’sprestigious Woman’s Hour for the first time.“With anything like that you just hope you

haven’t done anything too badly that they neverinvite you again. I did Just A Minute and the firsttime I did it I was so nervous I think I just reallydidn’t do very well and then it took me years

before I was ready to go back on it again.“[Radio 4] is like a mum or an auntie that

you really don’t want to let down.”

“I like to think I’d beable to say anything. Ithought I’d never writeanything about sexand then there’s ananecdote about sex inmy show which blowsmy mind! I’m like, ohmy god I can’t believeI’m saying this”

28 | February 19, 2015 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

Josie’s no stranger to the station though,having presented Short Cuts, sharing shortdocumentaries, inspired by her love of ThisAmerican Life (which she describes as “thedaddy of all podcasts”). The show, she says,has been “a really wonderful, lucky thing in mylife”.

And her focus recently has become ever moreskewed towards film, after working on two shortmovies with director Doug King in 2012. Theduo are now hoping to make a full-length featurefilm this year – which Long wrote herself.

“My character is called Josie, but that might

change.“It’s a hapless version of myself, a very

fictionalised version of myself, and then there’sDarren, who’s my best friend, and the film isabout this woman who thinks she’s got her lifeall sorted: she lives in Glasgow, she’s got thisboyfriend and she lives with her sister whomoves away to Qatar; the bottom falls out ofher world.

“The whole film is about belonging, really,and we’re really hoping to make it. It’s a sweetsad comedy – I hope it is anyway.”

It’s comedy, she explains, that will always

be the thing that lights up her brain the most.Josie has been nominated for the EdinburghComedy Award three times (just give it to thegirl already), worked with Robin Ince, CharlieBrooker, Andrew Collins and Jon Richardson,and appeared on all of the panel shows (don’tmake me list them). It’s no wonder she’sfrequently dubbed ‘London’s Lena Dunham’.

“I actually feel quite awkward about it,” shesays, squirming slightly at the label. “I wish I wasanywhere near as phenomenal or intelligent asthat woman. I think she’s absolutely wonderful,I just feel awkward because I’m loads older than

her and done nothing like what she’s done, butat the same time it’s quite flattering.

“But she’s definitely losing out in thecomparison stakes.”

Having taken up far too much of her JeremyKyle-watching time, I ask Josie a final question,one she finds trickiest to answer. Withoutcomedy, what would she do?

“God knows, maybe I’d be a hermit andlive in the middle of nowhere? I honestly don’tknow what I’d do without comedy in my life, Ifeel like I physically rely on it. Apart from that,maybe. . . nah, there’s nothing!”

THE HEADLINER: JOSIE LONG

What comedy acts and comediansare you loving right now?

“As a matter of fact I just did agig at The New Wave, called TheInvisible Dot and they put ondifferent and alternative acts.

“I saw a sketch group calledDaphne and I thought they wereabsolutely fantastic, and a sketchgroup called Beard who were thesewonderful, odd clowns.

“I saw Nish Kumar, his solo showat the Soho Theatre last week, andabsolutely loved it; Mae Martina stand-up, she’s brilliant; SaraPascoe is absolutely killing it at themoment I think (Josie says, puttingon a silly critic’s voice) ‘she’s awoman in the prime of life, at thetop of her game’.”

How do youdeal with hecklers?

“I try to assess each heckle on acase-by-case basis, so sometimespeople are really taking the pissand sometime people are justtrying to join in and sometimespeople think they’re trying tojoin in but actually they’re reallydrunk. I’m never too mean,

I always try to be a bit lighthearted with it. But if someone’sbeing really mean and disruptinga gig that might be when I’m like‘you are an a******’, but I quiteenjoy trying to befriend people inthe crowd and trying to win themround by being silly.”

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