You’ll hear part of a radio interview in which the
comedian and writer Jane Clarkson is talking about her work. For questions
15–20, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you
hear. You now have 1 minute to look at Part 3. PAUSE 1 MINUTE — *** —
Int: Today I’m with the much-loved comedian and writer
Jane Clarkson. Obviously Jane, this year has been quite a turning point for you
...
Jane: Well, I’ll never stop doing comedy, but there
were practical reasons for wanting to take some time off and write a book. I
felt my daughter had been neglected. She was just about to make the tricky
transition from primary to secondary school and I thought she needed her mum
around. I seem to have spent most of her life in a van touring from venue to
venue for my comedy act. And I did enjoy being at home for a bit, although I
missed the applause and the laughter. When I finished writing in the evening,
I’d turn the computer off and there’d be nothing, which was hard to get used
to.
Int: How was your novel received?
Jane: Well, a lot of male comedians had written books,
so there was a bit of a bandwagon waiting to be jumped on, but with my
impeccable timing I jumped slightly late, when everyone was starting to get
heartily sick of comedians’ books. Also there’s a kind of fury coming from some
journalists about comics writing books. They’re absolutely livid, as if they
see your book in a bookshop and they jump up and down, shouting, ‘It’s not
fair! Why should she make money out of writing as well as performing?’
Int: Was it a difficult transition?
Jane: Well, if you think logically, writing is the
obvious step. I’ve spent years trying to make people listen to my anecdotes, so
that must count for something! Also, if you’ve been an observational comedian,
which I am, it’s not a great leap to use those skills you’ve developed, like
observing odd mannerisms to use for jokes, and turn them into a book. At least
that’s what I felt, but you don’t become a writer instantly. I’ll have to wait
and see whether it was just beginners’ luck.
Int: I think why people give you a hard time about the
novel is surely because we’re so trapped into thinking Jane Clarkson is a
comedian. It’s as though, you know, you can’t do anything else, which is quite
ridiculous because you’ve been writing radio comedy for years.
Jane: Yes, people do become obsessed about what you
are. The character I adopted for my comedy act became rather a burden after a
while. When I started going on stage alone, I was very young and I wasn’t entirely
convincing as a comedian because nervous young women on stage actually frighten
audiences. They’re convinced you’re going to fail and burst into tears, which
will be very embarrassing. So there’s a palpable tension in the room and some
audiences actually boo the female comedians off the stage.
Int: How did you deal with that?
Jane: Well, I had to counteract that stereotype so I
started coming on shouting and being madder and crosser than any audience could
ever be and that defused the tension. In fact, I rather overdid it and my
character got cruder than I ever really intended. I got so good at it that
people got confused between the everyday Jane and the stage Jane.
Int: What attracted you in the first place to
performing, and particularly to making people laugh?
Jane: Oh, from an early age, I knew I wanted to be an
actress. I innocently thought I was going to be a glamorous film star. The
reason I started to do comedy acts was that in the 1980s a lot of small
provincial theatres closed down. In the past, girls would’ve come out of drama
school and if they had a leaning towards comedy they’d join one of these small
theatres and play a variety of comedy roles in all sorts of plays from
Shakespeare to contemporary stuff. All of a sudden, with the demise of these
theatres, rooms above pubs opened up and comedians started telling jokes and
developing their acts there. It was cheap, one performer one microphone, and
anyone could do it. In some ways, it’s a healthier performance art than acting,
because with acting you’re at the mercy of everybody else deciding whether you
can work or not. With stand-up comedy, you might only get paid peanuts, but
nobody can stop you from just driving to a venue, often hundreds of miles in
terrible weather, and going on stage.
Int: But what is it when you’re actually on stage …
[fade]
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