JOSIE LONG
It’s been five years since Josie Long was last at the Fringe.
The former BBC New Comedy Award winner felt compelled to return this summer to tell everyone about motherhood.
The 37-year-old gave birth to her daughter 13 months ago and says she now sees the world from a different perspective.
“Because I’ve been doing shows for a long time, I felt I was in the same place in my life for a long time, too,” she explained.
“Towards the end, I felt like I was waiting for my life to move on and give me something new to talk about.
“I do feel different in a lot of ways since becoming a mum.
“I feel less inhibited physically and I feel more confident in talking about things. I think giving birth, being nude in front of strangers, makes everything feel different from that point on!
“The process of being pregnant and giving birth has blown my mind. I want to go on stage and tell people about it.”
Josie’s partner is fellow comedian Jonny Donahoe, who is also performing at the festival.
“He’s actually doing two shows a day, which seems excessive,” she laughed. “I think it’s going to be wake up, child care, show, bed, each day.
“I know at least one of the nights I’m going to say ‘it’s fine, I can go out and have a big night’, and for the next day or week afterwards I’ll be asking myself what I’ve done.”
Josie’s show, Tender, is “about how to welcome someone into the world while everyone is telling us it’s the end of the world”.
“That sounds a bit serious – it is funny,” she laughed. “I’m nervous about how it will all go, but I’m also looking forward to taking her to some of the kids’ shows and seeing things she has never seen.
“It will be a different experience from our usual Fringe one – we’ll be spending most of our time looking for the best soft play areas and slides – but we’re looking forward to it.”
Being nude in front of strangers makes everything different