…I learned really on that if you’re playing to a small audience, which you often are with live comedy, don’t blame the people who are there for the people who aren’t. You look like a stuck up prick proclaiming that the audience are small, or not who you wanted. They are there, they want comedy: so give it to them, and then next time you’ll be playing to a larger crowd. It’s not a funny story, but it is one of the best lessons I learned…
I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Laura Lexx. Laura is a comedian as seen on Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week and many more shows. You might have read her books Pivot or Klopp Actually, or heard her on one of her fantastic podcasts: Lexx Education or National Treasures.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I grew up in Somerset, in the rolling hills of the Quantocks with my two sisters and my brother. Pretty standard small village life really.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path as a comedian?
This is my mum’s story but I think as she loves telling it, it’s ok for me to steal and put out there further! She loves telling people abotu coming to see me in a school play when I was about 5 and I was playing some comedy cook character with two footballs stuffed up my jumper for boobs. She said the whole audience were laughing and she was just like “yep, that’s my girl!”
Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
No, I’m saving that for my memoirs but you can have this story about how I once had to do a gig in a school car park while 200 hot air balloons were launched about 100 yards from the assembled audience. I don’t know if you’ve ever competed with the concept (and sound) of close proximity flight while telling jokes but let me tell you it is NOT fun!
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I learned really on that if you’re playing to a small audience, which you often are with live comedy, don’t blame the people who are there for the people who aren’t. You look like a stuck up prick proclaiming that the audience are small, or not who you wanted. They are there, they want comedy: so give it to them, and then next time you’ll be playing to a larger crowd. It’s not a funny story, but it is one of the best lessons I learned.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
So many comedians have really been lovely. Tiernan Douieb was great at hooking me up with gigs in my early days. A comedy blogger called John Fleming once drove me all the way from The Comedy Store to Canterbury (where I lived) because I had go tto the final round of King Gong Competition but if I’d miss my last train if I stayed, and he thought I should have my moment so he gave me a lift home.
You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?
You can’t fail if you like what you’re currently doing. Get into comedy because you just like standing on stage telling jokes. If you get into it thinking you’ll only be happy if you get to the “next bit” then you’ll end up bitter.
You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?
At the moment I’m loving my podcast Lexx Education. I’m working with my brother who isn’t a comedian but is so naturally funny and brilliant. He’s teaching me science on our podcast and I HATE science and am very bad at understanding it so we’re having a lot of good-natured arguments and making each other laugh. It’s just been the most fun.
What do you do to get material to write your jokes? What is that creative process like?
A mixture of ad libbing in front of an audience and then deciding to use it again, or I find myself thinking about a specific idea or recent thing until I turn it into jokes to process what I think about it. Sometimes it’s as straightforward as thinking “I want to write some stuff about summer because it is summer” and then you put your mind to it. It’s really varied.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
It’s only comedy. I love this. When everything feels too stressful, I just have to remind myself I’m not a surgeon or a politician. It’s just dick jokes.
You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
To get the people in power to take the climate crisis seriously. I feel like so many people want to make a difference but can’t in the current system. We need helping making the changes.
Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!
Richard Pryor. Good luck with that tagging!
Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?
I certainly am! You can find me at LexxEducation on all platforms, or as lauralexx on Twitter 🙂
This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
Laura Lexx On What It Takes To Create A Successful Career As A Professional Comedian was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.