Over lockdown, I kept myself busy by coming up with ideas for my blog. I reached out to some people who I had always wanted to interview and to my surprise none other than Rosie Jones agreed to answer my question. If you don’t know Rosie Jones, she is a writer, comedian and actress with quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy (a bit like myself) she was actually one of the first people I’d really seen on TV with CP like mine. Without further ado, here’s the interview!
During your childhood and teenage years, were you exposed to any disability representation in the media, did you see anyone disabled that you could look up to?
Not really. I used to watch Grange Hill, so I saw Francesca Martinez in that. She has Cerebral Palsy, like me. But apart from that, no. And the few disabled people that were on TV always seemed to play the victim. It made me upset first, then angry, but it made me more driven to succeed, so that I could represent disabled people in the media.
What was school like for you? Did you go to a mainstream school?
School was brilliant! I’m a geek so I really loved it. I was lucky, and I went to a mainstream school from the age of four. I was one of the only disabled people at my school, but I never got bullied, nobody really saw me as disabled, I was always just, ‘Rosie’! In primary school I also had help from a brilliant Teaching Assistant called Judith Larsen – we’re still in touch now, she was the first person to find me properly funny!
Did you have an idea of what you wanted to do when you were growing up?
I always wanted to be a writer, and I still class myself as first and foremost a writer. I just now sometimes perform the things I write. And I knew that I always enjoyed making people laugh, but I don’t think I ever expected that I would become a comedian. When I grew up, in the nineties, it seemed as if all comedians were old, posh men – not a little disabled lady from Yorkshire!
How did you get into comedy? Were you always encouraged to start performing?
My first job out of university was working in TV, behind the camera. I loved it, and it was my job to write for panel shows, like 8 Out of 10 Cats and Would I Lie to You. I loved the people I worked with, and would often be cracking jokes in the office. One too many people told me that I was funny, and that I should give stand up comedy a go, and I believed them. They weren’t wrong – I loved it, and immediately after my first gig, I booked in my next five, and I haven’t looked back!
Do you think that your speech has affected your career?
Yes it has, but I think it has affected it for the better. My speech is slow, and sometimes a bit hard to understand, so my audience needs to concentrate a bit more, and focus exactly on what I’m saying. Also, because it is slow, people try to guess what I’m going to say next and more often than not, they’re wrong! So my surprise punchline takes them off guard!
Do you have any pre performance warmups to help your speech?
No I don’t! If I’m doing my show, which is me talking for an hour constantly, I try not to talk as much as I usually do that day, but on the whole, I’m fine talking for that length of time. I’m a big talker anyway so I’m used to rattling on for hours on end.
Have you experienced much discrimination during your career?
No, I’ve been very lucky, and everyone on the whole has been brilliant and very accommodating. Sometimes I do get frustrated, especially if I go to a comedy venue which isn’t accessible, but that’s all changing, albeit slowly!
What’s your favourite joke about your disability?
Ooo I have so many to choose from! My current favourite joke is, ‘I love being disabled, because nobody ever wants you to babysit. In case you drop them, and recruit them’. I like the joke because it’s dark, and usually it takes the audience a few seconds to understand the joke.
Who’s your favourite comedian?
There’s so many comedians I love, it’s really hard to choose! But if I have to, it would be Billy Connolly. The man is a genius.
Do you have any big plans for the future of your career?
Oh so many plans – I want to tour, I want to write a book, I want to write a sitcom, I want to have my own chat show! I’m very ambitious, and I have loads of plans for the future, but for now I just feel so lucky to make people laugh for a living!
What’s your advice to young people with Cerebral Palsy who want to go into performing?
Do it! Don’t let it hold you back, and if anything, use your CP to your advantage. Just follow your dreams.
I just want to say a massive thank you to Rosie for doing this interview ❤️❤️
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