Josie Long: Loves Books...

Not content with being one of the country's finest comedians, Josie Long is also a voracious reader. Having performed everywhere from London to Melbourne, with panel show guest appearances galore and a DVD of her second Edinburgh show Trying is Good out, with the 100 Days to Make Me a Better Person project for London Word Festival, how does she find time to read?

Her stand-up is warm, funny and full of life and her taste in books reflects this. We caught up with Josie after a preview of her 2010 Edinburgh show, Be Honourable to discuss Kurt Vonnegut, cookbooks and how reading was cool at her school.

> If you had to pitch your stand-up as a film trailer, how would it go?

In a world where only one woman can shamble about in an estuary voice talking about things she’s learnt, and making more puns than is necessary... Josie Long steps up to the plate.

> You’ve drawn comics for your zine, programmes and Alan Moore’s Dodgem Logic magazine. Where does your love of comics come from?

When I was a kid, I read a lot of British comics like Beano and Dandy, Whizzer and Chips and I liked them a lot. I also liked the Simpsons comics, I thought they were the funniest things in the world. When I was at university, through things like McSweeneys I got into all those hipster graphic novels like Daniel Clowes, Jeffrey Brown. I’ve tried to keep abreast of it since. I like Mome magazine because that will tell you about ten or eleven people you’ve never heard of every few years. I also really like Jeffrey Lewis, a musician I saw when I was at university. He makes his own comic books and integrates them into his performance, which was a huge inspiration for me.

> What is it about comics that you feel helps you to tell a story?

I really the hands-on DIY element of it. If I need a picture of something to make a point, I’ll just illustrate it. It’s so simple and quick- you can show a cartoon of something and move on, and that’s part of the joke. I just like how goofy it can be and I find drawing therapeutic.

> What’s the funniest book you’ve ever read?

Oooh... I don’t know. To be honest, the sort of books I like to read are melancholy depressing books about how people’s ideas of themselves are different to their real lives. I really like The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien, but that’s quite a pretentious English degree type of funny. I recently read the Mcsweeney’s Joke Book of Book Jokes, which is really funny as it’s mostly lists. Oh no, I tell you the funniest book I’ve ever read... The Timewaster Letters by Robin Cooper. It is just wonderful- just the fact that you know he really sent them and that they’re the real replies. I laughed out loud on the bus and I was so embarrassed but I couldn’t stop myself.

> Who’s your favourite author?

Either Richard Yates or Kurt Vonnegut. Or George Orwell... or Raymond Carver. Richard Yates- I read his stuff before the film came out... because I’m cool. I love him because he writes really wonderfully about people’s hopes and their imagined selves and how that affects their behaviour. It’s about being trapped and not living up to what they think they should do and how crushing that is. It’s all about small things being devastating. Same with Raymond Carver- it’s very sparse. I like Kurt Vonnegut and George Orwell because the way they write makes me feel like I’ve found a friend in them and I trust them. I think that’s important. I find them funny and inspiring.

> What are you currently reading?

Fat is a Feminist Issue by Susie Orbach. It’s brilliant. I thought it would be like angry polemic but it’s psychotherapy to heal you. I’m also reading Nye Bevan’s book about politics, called In Place of Fear, which is marvellous.

> Did you always read as a child and what was your favourite book?

Yeah. When I was a kid, I had a lot of favourite books but nothing really sticks in my mind. I read a lot. I loved it. When I was 12, I read Of Mice and Men and Fahrenheit 451 and they BLEW MY MIND. They changed my life. The John Steinbeck book got me into sad sparse American literature and Fahrenheit 451 was so poetic and so devastating but satirical as well- they both really shaped my tastes from then on. I went to a very nerdy school. If you were one of the sporty kids, people were like ‘what a loser, you don’t read.’ I used to read loads of modern poetry when I was 17. And I’d walk around with poetry books that no one knew about and I’d talk about poets no one had heard of. I had loads of American poetry from the 60s and loads of English poetry from the 60s and 80s and say things like, ‘My god, don’t you know who R S Thomas is?’

> Is there anything you read that directly affects your material?

Kurt Vonnegut has written a book called Man Without a Country that I find lovely. He talks about the idea of aspiring to be a saint, even though actually you’ll fail. There’s quite a lot of moral instruction from a beautiful humanist. I’ve been trying to write about leading a good life and he gives you this advice about being a saint and it has rung true.

> What was the 100 days project you ran at the London Word Festival?

The premise was that everyone who was doing it decided on something to do for 100 days to make them a better person. It could be like, I’m going to learn a new word everyday or get fit. Either loads of little things adding up or just one big thing. I’d made this decision that I was going to talk to strangers everyday and we were talking about me doing something at the London Word Festival. I was quite enjoying talking to strangers- so I wanted to continue it and thought it’d be great to do it for 100 days and see if other people wanted to join in. I was interested in the idea that what you do every single day shapes who you are and it’s about how no matter who you think you are, what you do every day adds up to what you do and what you are, so it’s about harnessing that for good and trying to change your habits for the better, which is what my show (Be Honourable) is about as well.

> Do you find that people are coming out with a load of great written stuff from it?

To be honest, it’s surprised me- a lot more people are treating it like a creative project and I was hoping people would set up soup kitchens and stuff like that. But people have done things like draw cartoons or write, and it’s been lovely that they’ve done things they wanted to do, which has made them feel better. My favourite projects are the ones where people are making a present for someone everyday or, helping an old lady out every day. It’s been lovely to see that it’s sparked some people off to do things. The more we get into the project, the more people are building up an actual body of work.

> What advice would you give to people wanting to write stand-up?

If you’re writing stand-up from the start, write five minutes and you can do literally anything you want. If you’re writing stand-up, think about what you want to say and what you enjoy and what you find funny- just stick with that even if it doesn’t feel like it’s working to begin with. It’s better to try and find your own voice and play around with that and enjoy yourself.

> How did you put together your show? Did you have a narrative arc in mind?

I try not to write anything off too early and I try to leave it quite open to begin with. I try to throw as much mud against the wall and find a structure with it. I try and keep it close to what I’m thinking and feeling that year and what I feel like I’ve learnt, what’s been important to me and influenced me. I vaguely know the themes before I start because I know what’s been important to me. This last year, I’ve been feeling very guilty everyday about politics and feeling like I’m not doing enough so I knew that had to be a part of it. Also, I’d been on a diet and I’d been behaving really weirdly while I’d been on the diet so I wanted to put that in.

> Do you have any plans to write a book?

Yes. I’m currently negotiating one which will be an alternative tour guide to England with loads of exciting stuff in it. It’s very early stages; I’ve only just had the idea, but I’m hoping it’s going to happen.

> What do you get from reading?

Going back to authors I love, I find them a support in my life- these people who have crystallised an idea for you, they help you in some way. I was an English student so I’ve got a lifetime of holding a pen while I read and I approach it in a self-teaching way, the same way I approach my work. I want to educate myself as much as possible. I have a lot of reverence for the things I read, trying to get things from them. I take a lot of notes. I try and keep note of what I care about and what I like. I get a lot of relaxation from reading because you don’t have to be creating stuff when you’re doing it. I feel like it helps me educate myself.

> If you could live in the world of a book, what would that be?

1984... No, that would be terrifying! Maybe we’re already living there huh? I haven’t read any books like The Delicious World of Happy Food, that’s what I’d like. Wait, no, I would live in a cookbook! I would live in Marcus Wareing’s Nutmeg and Custard cookbook. Tiramisu doughnuts? Yes please.