At the risk of sounding pretentious, the journey is the thing. Obviously there’s a huge amount of satisfaction from finishing something, but the journey you go on to create that thing is what you’ll remember. If you’re always looking beyond the creative process to things beyond your control, like whether it’ll lead to great success, or why aren’t you being booked for this gig or that gig, then the work becomes a means to an end, but you can’t control the end so you’ll just always be frustrated and disappointed. So just focus on finding the joy in creating something. If ultimately you’ve made something you’re proud of and enjoyed that process, then it can’t ever be a failure. Also the arts industry is dying, don’t expect to make any money.
As a part of our series called “Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Professional Comedian”, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Jordan Brookes.
Jordan Brookes is a critically acclaimed comedian, writer and actor. He won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival with his show ‘I’ve Got Nothing’. The show was also streamed on Amazon Prime’s Soho Theatre Live. He wrote and starred in comedy short ‘Seen’ for Sky Arts in 2023. He also wrote and starred in comedy short ‘Late Night Forever!’ With Jordan Brookes’ for Channel 4 in 2022
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 was born in Merseyside and lived there until I was 10, then my parents got divorced (thanks for bringing THAT up, Authority Mag) and I moved to Surrey for a bit. Since then I’ve lived in a few places and quite honestly it’s smeared my accent into this painfully vague
no-man’s-land where I sound like I come from everywhere and nowhere. I was an anxious child. Every photo or video my parents have of me I either look worried or upset or something. I’m still often worried or upset about something.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path as a comedian?
I just loved comedy so much growing up, and was really into writing sitcom scripts as a teenager. I used to make short videos and post them on youtube in the mid noughties as this character, a loner teenager-type. No-one was particularly interested in them but I was (and still am) really proud of them. I remember sending one of my videos to someone at the bbc and he said he just didn’t see how it could work in a TV format, but did say “maybe live performance is the way to go?” and it stayed with me enough to eventually give stand-up a go.
Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
No I literally can’t think of anything, sorry. Being a comedian isn’t that interesting. Stop reading this interview! I’m boring. I am a boring man.
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?
The biggest mistake I made starting out was just trusting any and every promoter and assuming the gigs would be well run. My second ever gig I got a last minute panicked message from a promoter saying that due to a mix-up with the venue he had to cobble together a comedy night in 2 hours and would I be up for performing. Not wanting to let him down I said yes. Long story short, I was the only comic he’d found, so it was just me and him. It turned out to be a gig in a shisha lounge with no mic or lighting and the promoter, who was also supposed to be MCing, got scared and told me I should just go out cold and start the gig myself. So I went out and shouted my material for 10 minutes in the middle of a room of people who, it turned out, were expecting something very different for what had been billed as a South Asian comedy night.
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?
I wouldn’t be the comic I am without my closest friends. They’ve shaped my sense of humour, and a lot of what I do comes from them. Even if they’re not in the audience I like to imagine they are, at the back of the room, hysterical at some stupid thing I’ve decided to do to make them laugh. Of course outside of that there are the numerous producers, agents, crew members etc who have had my back and supported me.
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?
At the risk of sounding pretentious, the journey is the thing. Obviously there’s a huge amount of satisfaction from finishing something, but the journey you go on to create that thing is what you’ll remember. If you’re always looking beyond the creative process to things beyond your control, like whether it’ll lead to great success, or why aren’t you being booked for this gig or that gig, then the work becomes a means to an end, but you can’t control the end so you’ll just always be frustrated and disappointed. So just focus on finding the joy in creating something. If ultimately you’ve made something you’re proud of and enjoyed that process, then it can’t ever be a failure. Also the arts industry is dying, don’t expect to make any money.
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?
A few scripted projects for TV, a book, and I also work with other comics on their shows which I love doing. I’d love to keep doing that. I’m not even sure if I do that because I want to help people, deep down there’s probably a part of me that wants my DNA written through everyone else’s work as some perverse act of dominance.
What do you do to get material to write your jokes? What is that creative process like?
I wish I could tell you but don’t really have a fixed approach to be honest — it’s all just chaos.
Here is our main question. What are your Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Professional Comedian and why?
You don’t have to gig all the time. Take time off to live your life. You’ll never feel like you’ve ‘made it’
Don’t look sideways at other people’s success
Don’t pander to the middleground. You’ll end up doing material you don’t even enjoy, to an audience you won’t respect.
Just because a comedian has been going for longer doesn’t mean they know what they’re talking about.
Can you please give us your favorite Life Lesson? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Yeah, don’t take the risk and eat a fried egg if it looks a little bit green. I currently feel absolutely awful and worried I’m about to have the worst weekend of my life.
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?
Free therapy for all
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!
My nan. She keeps ignoring my texts but I think that’s more because she doesn’t know how to use her phone.
Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?
On instagram at @jordanbrookescomedy
This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
Jordan Brookes: Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Professional Comedian was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.