Josie Long: Let's Go Adventure

Mention Josie Long’s name and you’re likely to be greeted with chirps of approval. She’s arguably the most upbeat comic on the circuit, and mind-bogglingly inventive, you’d be hard pushed to find anyone who doesn’t think the sun shines out of her corduroys. It probably does. At just 31, her CV reads like an indie-kid’s dream: award-winning stand-up comedian, writer and broadcaster, and now she’s adding film-maker to that list.

Embracing the DIY spirit with her pal Doug King, they've made two short films, Let’s Go Swimming and Romance and Adventure. The pair are hopping in a camper van, and bringing them to an indie-cinema near you, on their Let’s Go Adventure Tour. We caught up with Long to find out a bit more about it, and what she’s been up to...

Films! How exciting! Where did the ideas come from, and how did you get from the ideas stage to here?

I'd always wanted to make short films but hadn't felt like I’d had a good enough idea or met the right people to work with. Then two and a half years ago I had a bit of a personal crisis – I kind of lost faith in the life I’d made for myself in London; I ended up leaving someone and it was really painful and just broke me a bit. And much as that was no fun, I really felt like it was a massive thing, and that I wanted to try and make sense of it and write about it. Then two years ago I met Doug King, my director and collaborator, and felt like we really should work together, so it grew quite organically from there. We meet up and talk in quite a heavy way for a week, I write it up and put some jokes in and then we make it! The other actor in the films, Darren, is Doug's best friend who's been in his films for about 20 years, and we have a really good laugh filming together. The first film was such an exciting process that we wanted to make another one straight away, and use the same crew, locations and actors in it. 

You're only 31, and you've contributed to a scary number of wonderful things. Do you think it’s your success as a stand-up that has given you the confidence to branch out into new areas?

Ah, what a nice question! Nobody ever says ‘only 31’ to me! I think finding something that I loved doing when I was still a teenager has definitely helped me to have an attitude that if I’d like to make something happen then I should try, and that it might be possible. I think too, that I’m quite greedy with my life – it's like a buffet and I want to try everything. I also think growing up loving DIY music, zines and comics has meant that I like having an attitude that's like ‘let's just do this, and do it ourselves, and do it quickly. It might be a bit shoddy but we'll have fun.’

How do you find the energy and the motivation to do so many things?

Ha! I don't know! I just really like the stuff I do and I want to get as much done as possible. I wish I did a lot more; I was recently in New York and people there are so productive I felt ashamed! But then afterwards I did gigs in Berlin and people there were so laid back I felt like Margaret fucking Thatcher or something.

Cinema is quite a big departure from straight stand-up; do you see yourself going back to that, or is this a new direction for you?

I really love being a stand-up, and I think I won't ever want to stop writing and touring shows, but I'm hoping that I can keep doing both things as much as is possible, as making the films was the most fun thing I did last year. I think I was starting to feel a bit worn out by how ephemeral stand-up is: even if you record a show you never manage to capture the atmosphere of the night, which is great, but a bit hard to look back on all of your work and feel like you've not got enough that's permanent to show for it. I wanted to work in a medium for a bit, where the finished project lasts a bit longer, just for my own sanity really! I also wanted to make a sad comedy, which is so much easier when you're making a narrative thing, than onstage when people start crying or asking for refunds.

What are you looking forward to most about this tour? Is there one date in particular you're looking forward to?

I'm not trying to suck up to Scotland but the Glasgow Film Theatre is the one I’m most excited about; it's beyond my hopes for the films that we are able to screen them there. It's so beautiful and cool. A lot of the films are about me idealising Glasgow a bit and I do love it as a city; I think it's prettier than Paris and more fun than anywhere else in the country, so it feels really special to screen them at the GFT.

You're making another film; what can you tell us about it?

It's a low (possibly no at this stage) budget feature film that's kind of building on the two short films we've made – it's set in Glasgow again, with the same main characters, and Jesse Armstrong is helping script edit it. It's another sad comedy about a similar character – a woman who is desperate to make a difference in the world around her but doesn't know how, and who doesn't get the love back that she gives out. But it's also silly and about people mucking around with their friends and playing silly games. I'm writing the screenplay and Doug and I are currently in this weird cult-like state about it where most nights one will text the other ‘This has to happen! I am so excited!’

2013 has been a really exciting year for women in comedy, with big wins at the Fringe; do you feel the political tide is changing in terms of women's voices?

Oh gosh, I really hope so! I was thrilled when Bridget won the comedy award; she's amazing and I feel like her show winning will be a good thing for all of us. We are still so drastically underrepresented though – not just on TV (although, defs on TV!) – but in most aspects of public life. When I think about how few women there are in the cabinet I feel embarrassed in front of all of the proper, grown-up countries.

What's happening with Arts Emergency? Two years on, have you made the progress you'd hoped? How can we help?

YES! Arts emergency is going great, thank you – my co-founder Neil works full-time for it and this year we finally established as a charity, with a proper board of accountants, lawyers, journalists and other good people. When we started out talking about the idea three years ago we had no notion of how slow and complicated a process it is to start up an organisation like ours. Every step of the way there are a hundred questions and things to be considered! 

We currently have 22 young people in Hackney being mentored, our pilot year is just coming to an end and I think it's been really successful. We've emboldened some young people to go to university, and to study what they love. We've helped connect them with all kinds of helpful people. It's been so cool.

The big thing we are doing is called the’ alternative old boy's network’ – it's a way for anyone who's an arts graduate, or a creative or creative professional (or simply agrees with us that art is vital and important for society, and that your background shouldn't be a barrier to doing what you love and having the life you want), to be ‘on call’ for the young people we work with. You guys should join up at www. bit.ly/altoldboy

And finally, Peter Capaldi as The Doctor: how do you feel about that?

I am so happy about it. Anyone who isn't excited about Peter Capaldi playing Doctor Who is dead inside, 100% fact.