Sínann Fetherston speaks with comic Josie Long about optimism, her love of stand-up comedy, and a later-in-life ADHD diagnosis.
At just 40 years of age, Josie Long has enjoyed a long and varied career. Not one to rest on her laurels, the Kent native kicked things off aged 14, when she took to the stage to perform stand-up.
Just a short time later, her material was deemed award-worthy, earning her both the BBC New Comedy award as well as Best Newcomer at the Chortle Awards.
Determined to diversify her CV, the teenager stepped back from the stage to study English at Oxford University, only to return to the comedy circuit in 2006, when she was named best newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
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Politically minded with a passion for social justice, Long has written and performed nine stand-up shows to date, each offering a variety of insights into her personal life as well as her opinions on the actions of the British government.
With her new show, Re-Enchantment - which is coming to Whelan's in Dublin on January 27th- she says she is rediscovering the joy of optimism, even when it feels like the world is falling apart.
"It's part of who I am," she tells me over the phone, "I want to make the best of things, but I also think you have to foster it. Rebecca Solnit wrote this book called Hope in the Dark and, in it, she writes about hope not being blind optimism and thinking everything is great, but more like a spark that you have to allow yourself to feel in order to believe that things can get better."
"The alternative is so bleak, I don't want to descend into despair or bitterness," she continues.
"It's interesting because this show is about trying to rebuild that feeling after a difficult time, after political defeats, and to re-foster that sense of optimism. It's something that you have to work at, but I think it's worth doing."
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While attempting to fall back in love with the world around her, Long came across Experiments in Imagining Otherwise, a book written by British activist and writer Lola Olufemi that she found to be particularly influential.
"I found it so fascinating," she explains, "this concept of rebuilding relationships with people, with nature, with the world around us. Enchantment itself is the concept of finding the magic again and feeling that the world could be beautiful and a place full of potential."
In order to build a foundation of joy in her life, the stand-up decided to make some big changes. In between lockdowns and avoiding COVID, Long moved her family to her dream home of Glasgow; gave birth to "a very magical and beautiful baby"; wrote a series of short stories unlike anything she has created before; and finally received a diagnosis for her ADHD.
A tidal wave of activity that, thankfully, left her happier than ever.
"It's given me more of a sense of stability in my life that allows me to feel more capable of being optimistic, and hoping to be useful in my community, and to be able to feel positive about politics again," she muses.
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The diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been particularly beneficial as she says she now has a new level of understanding when it comes to her past behaviors and why she is so well suited to stand up.
"I look back and I can see at every point in my life where this was affecting me," she explains.
"It's quite bittersweet because, on the one hand, I think 'gosh, at any point over the past - I mean, let's be real - 35 years of my life, there could have been an intervention that could have changed my life'. But at the same time, to know it now, I'm really proud of all the things I managed to achieve with a certain set of difficulties."
Reflecting on her early start in comedy, Long says she feels "so lucky" to have found the medium that helped her stay consistent, something that those with ADHD often struggle with.
"It's so perfect for ADHD because people give you loads of praise, and you feel great, and you can function in the world," she explains. "You get to do different things every day, every gig is different which is so good for the ADHD brain, you travel loads - all these things are wonderful for that particular brain.
"I always say now that there are three different types of comedians: comedians who have ADHD; comedians who are autistic; and then there are bad comedians who aren't very good," she jokes.
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As well as bringing Re-Enchantment on the road, the performer has written a series of short stories called Because I don't know what you mean and what you don't. Due to hit bookshelves soon, the collection of stories covers everything from love, life, politics, and climate change.
"I've always written stories but during the pandemic, when I couldn't gig, I finally had the time and space to take it seriously and put it to the forefront of what I was doing. I'm really excited about them.
"It was a really interesting process because, for the first time, I didn't have to think about things in terms of a comedy mindset. I could think about developing the lyricism for its own sake, or doing something that didn't have a pay-off, or, more importantly, being earnest without undermining it.
"With stand up, when I do things that are serious I have to undermine it with a joke and I have to undermine myself and I have to make sure it's got that balance. To write stories that were all just a bit horrific was so thrilling."
"For ADHD it was so good," she adds, "because it wasn't like a novel where you have to write the whole thing. You write one, you send it off, and people are nice about it.
"It was a real motivating factor to know that I might get compliments after each one," she says, smiling, of course.
Josie Long plays Whelan's in Dublin on January 27, 2023 - find out more here.
