Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up?

Fern Brady: Since May 2010.

Comedy Blogedy: How would you describe your comedy?

Fern Brady: It’s quite consistently described as dark but I don’t necessarily see it that way. To be honest, I think it’s far more sinister when comedians consistently do elitist, classist material that mocks ‘chavs’, single mothers, rioters, Jeremy Kyle guests and some of the most vulnerable people in society. Then again, as long as you deliver it with a smile on your face people love that shit.

Comedy Blogedy: Which comedians influence your comedy?

Fern Brady: Doug Stanhope and Tony Law – I understand that’s a weird combination. I also love an American comedian called Natasha Leggero – there’s something about American female comedians that I really prefer to what we have here. Also Dave Longley, who does really feminist material.

Comedy Blogedy: Did you always want to go into comedy?

Fern Brady: I didn’t know what stand up comedy was until 2006, when a guy I was going out with took me to see Brendon Burns at the Edinburgh Fringe. I didn’t really have any notion of what it could be until then – before that I thought comedy was purely one-liners. I said to the boyfriend when we got out of the show “I could do that” and he rolled his eyes derisively. Then I spent the next three years secretly thinking about doing it. I told my mum I wanted to do it and she thought I was having a nervous breakdown. But she also said a psychic had told her that this was the job I’d do so make of that what you will. Then in 2009 I did a gig for this comedy magazine I worked for (I was a journalist and training to be a news reporter at this point) and they didn’t know I secretly wanted to do comedy so it was a really happy coincidence as it gave me the push I needed to realise it was what I wanted to do.

Comedy Blogedy: How do you go about writing your material?

Fern Brady: I get fixated on really odd stuff for months at a time then write about it. For the last year now I’ve been angry about people having children and people talking about their children and expecting you to be interested in them. But that’s pretty normal. I spent a full summer reading news stories about urban fox attacks, which then ended up being a big part of my set for ages.

This year I’d like to do a lot more about my family but they’re so mental it’s difficult to know where to start. I’m still not talking to them after Christmas cause my Uncle Tom – who’s somehow both a Buddhist and a racist – brought a schizophrenic woman called Barbara to Christmas dinner as a surprise. It’s hard to know where to begin with relatives like that. My other friends in comedy all have parents that are lovably dysfunctional. Mine are like more like something out a Lars Von Trier film.

Comedy Blogedy: Do you gig as a stand-up full time or is it more of a part-time hobby? If so, do you find that your main job influences your material?

Fern Brady: I wouldn’t call it a hobby, it’s more like having two jobs cause I thankfully now get a wee bit of money for both. I’ve been knackered for the past two years though. I quit a nice graduate career (journalism) so I could focus on building up to this being my job and since then I’ve just had the worst jobs imaginable.

I worked at ITV in Manchester for a bit where I was tasked with picking the music for TV programmes. So I’d pick the tune to accompany people falling off ladders on You’ve Been Framed or the sad song for when they wheel a disabled child onstage on The Jeremy Kyle Show. I kept getting in trouble for putting Dexy’s Midnight Runners classic hit “Come on Eileen” over scenes of crying war veterans. My colleagues were these two speccy, virginal lassies that loved Cliff Richard and Michael Buble and played them back to back all day. My face ached from all the fake smiling I did at them.

That was the most miserable I’ve been in a job but it also coincided with a run of very good gigs so I think it’s ideal to have a day job you dislike.

Comedy Blogedy: What do you find the most enjoyable and frustrating parts of the amateur comedy circuit?

Fern Brady: I’m quite socially awkward but I made friends a lot more easily in comedy than I ever did when I was at university cause suddenly you’re around loads of equally socially awkward people who also hate their mums and wish their dad had paid more attention to them.

The downside is that male comedians try and hug you A LOT. I don’t even hug my own family so I resent having to hug Jonny Giggles at a gong show. I’ve tried various ways to get out of hugging them – one time I dodged out of the way but the comic ended up kissing me on the neck, which was horribly sexual. Another time I dodged and the guy kissed me right in the ear. Then I started trying to freak people out so they would regret hugging me. Some big famous comedian went in for a hug so I pressed myself against him and whispered “Mmmm…That feels good” in his ear. That obviously backfired due to my good looks and he just enjoyed it.

Comedy Blogedy: What’s your favourite type of audience to perform to?

Fern Brady: I don’t know because some of the best gigs I’ve had have been in front of really posh people where I thought “They’re gonna hate me” as soon as I heard their plummy accents. The best gig I did last year was to a room full of middle-aged Tories in Warwick. Having said that, the Glasgow Stand is my all-time favourite place to gig.

Comedy Blogedy: Have you been heckled a lot since you’ve started gigging? Do you enjoy being heckled? What’s the best heckle you’ve had?

My opening line references looking like Boy George and I died horribly at a retirement village in Southport where they heckled me with Boy George-related heckles. One man shouted “We don’t really want to hurt you!” I thought that was good.

Comedy Blogedy: What advice would you give to new acts thinking about starting out in comedy?

Fern Brady: For a while I was meeting a lot of very, very new acts who were asking me how much money you get for gigs and my advice would be: if you’re fixated on money or a reliable, consistent income, this isn’t for you. Become a recruitment consultant. Or a lawyer. They make great money. I once got paid in sandwiches. And it was actually just one roll cut into four that I had to share with the other acts. Also I don’t really get why people do it as a hobby because there are so many deeply unpleasant things surrounding it – the bad service station dinners, lack of sleep, other comedians – that it’s so not my idea of a fun night out. Everyone who’s successful who you see on TV now has worked frighteningly hard over a sustained period of time – that’s pretty obvious piece of advice that many other people have already given but it’s still truer than anything anyone will ever tell you.

Upcoming gigs: 2nd February – Brassneck Comedy Club, Saltburn, 14/15/16th February, The Stand Comedy Club, Newcastle, 23rd February – Laughing Gnome Comedy Club, Altrincham.