Jenny Eclair
Comedian Jenny Eclair talks about new show Drawers-Off, taking her own clothes off and places she can’t wait to visit when lockdown lifts…
Jenny Eclair is host of brand-new art show Drawers Off, which involves five amateur artists each week, taking turns to pose for each other, with no clothes on. The 60-year-old mum-ofone, who married longterm partner, Geof, in 2017, tells us more…
Hi Jenny, how have you been?
Oh, OK. Doing a massive botanical jigsaw. Jigsaws are the biggest thieves of time. Somebody on Twitter asked me if I was going to frame it. I live with an art dealer, I’m not going to put a bloody jigsaw on the wall!
Your show, Drawers Off, looks like such fun. Was it? I had a ball. After seven months of lockdown it was the most cheering thing. Everyone was glad to be out of their house, although we were still not allowed within two metres of anyone.
Was this your first time filming during Covid?
I’ve had three telly jobs in the past year – more than in the past five years! I had to wait till I was 60 in a pandemic to get TV work. I did a BBC Four documentary called Craftivism, and a travel show with comedian Rosie Jones. We went to Wales and had a hoot.
What place does art have in your life?
Huge. Lots of things in my house revolve around art. My husband, Geof, buys and sells 20th-century prints… I find the aesthetics of everyday life important. I get a big thrill out of enamelware.
Your commentary on Drawers Off is hilarious…
Ha, well there’s no point being precious about your artwork when you’re an amateur painter, which is what I am – and everyone else who competes. I was the ally who wasn’t scared to say, ‘ Yes great, but it’s still a bit s**t!’
Equally, you’re not prudish about people getting their kit off…
No, I find it funny. But of course, it’s important on Drawers Off that people feel comfortable. And part of being comfortable naked is being able to laugh at the situation.
Is it true you were a life model in your youth?
Yes, in my late teens in Manchester while studying drama, and I was a life model at Camberwell Arts School too. I’ve also been naked on the West End stage, in a play called Steaming in the Nineties.
Would you model now for a life drawing class?
If I could lie down so I can nod off, yes. And have things
draped over my stomach, nobody needs to see that. I’ve got great t*ts – I wouldn’t mind getting those out! Great boobs and great feet – it’s the bits in between that are the problem.
Did any contestant make a particular impression?
All of them made me laugh or taught me something. One girl had cellulite-free skin – she said you don’t get cellulite when you have Chinese blood. Another looked Joe Normal, then took his clothes off… and there was a big surprise lurking underneath. Everyone clapped. They all bared their souls, in their own ways.
Speaking of baring your soul, when do you feel vulnerable?
It’s increasingly difficult for me to feel vulnerable – I have so much experience! Where I do feel vulnerable is dealing with family stuff. My mother’s got dementia – it happened very quickly, during lockdown, and that’s difficult to deal with. I worry about my daughter’s [playwright Phoebe, 31] career and happiness, and whether we’ll ever get back to normal again. For her sake, not mine.
What’s got you through the past year?
I suppose getting outside but, because it’s the same park and the same trees, there are times I think I could torch the place. I love to read but I have a condition called dry eye disease, so I listen to Audible – right now a historical girlie book [ City of Girls, by Elizabeth Gilbert], and my husband and I listen to one together every evening [ Fall: The History of Robert Maxwell by John Preston].
As a comedian, do you use humour when times get tough?
Up to a point, I know when to drop it – it’s not like a tic. But I approach my mother’s dementia, for example, with humour because it’s so painful, that’s the only way I can talk about it publicly. But everyone knows I adore my mother and I am finding this terribly difficult.
What can you not wait to do, post-lockdown?
Be onstage in a sweaty, fringe theatre. And I’d like to be somewhere foreign and sunny, eating something I cannot cook in my own kitchen, looking at another view! I want to see some wonders of the world. I would like to be in a boat, behind Niagara Falls, feeling the mist on my face.
Drawers Off airs weekdays at 5.30pm on Channel 4.