So You Think You’re Funny? – Season 2 Episode 7 – Sam from @anewessexgirl
We’re back. Or rather it’s back. And by ‘it’ I mean the literary awesomeness that is our weekly comedy interview series, ‘So You Think You’re Funny?‘. We had a mid-season break, in order to build suspense for the second half of the season. It most definitely wasn’t because we ran out of interviews to feature. No, no, no. It was all about the suspense.
We’re back with a bang with the very talented Sam from A New Essex Girl, who has featured in a variety of places a lot more exciting than our little old website! If you’ve seen her blog you will know that she has a talent for doodles, among many other things – but today she is very much in writing mode as she answers our interview questions without a doodle in sight! Have a read, do the enjoying thing, and then pop along to check out her awesome blog. It’s a logical progression I’m sure you’ll agree…
1. Tell us about yourself in 20 words or less:
Scottish woman trapped in London thanks to falling in love with a handsome Englishman. Mother of one.
2. How would your child(ren) describe you?
My daughter is 18 months old so her vocabulary, as advanced and as wonderful as it is, only describes me as ‘mummy’, ‘booby’ (I really do want to stop breastfeeding but she really really loves booby), and ‘nose’ (for some reason she loves touching my nose and saying the word repeatedly when I collect her from nursery).
3. When and why did you last properly laugh out loud?
Watching Bob’s Burgers last night. It’s my favourite TV programme and there is always at least one killer laugh out loud joke in it, it makes me mad that there’s people who are so consistently brilliant writing for it, I wish I was consistently brilliant. The joke in question was:
BOB: Maybe you shouldn’t know too much going in.
GENE: I think it’ll be better that way – like the Iraq war.
4. Do you try to be funny when you are writing? Tell us a bit about your
I’m a weird blogger in that I don’t write on my blog. I publish odd, funny doodles which are mainly on motherhood and have led to me now writing elsewhere. I started writing a column for Sarah Millican’s Standard Issue in August last year and I’ve also done a few guides for the fab app Mush.
As for trying to be funny, that is the primary aim of the stuff I do on the blog. Being a mum is magnificent and joyful but also exposes you (well, certainly me) to weird aspects of yourself and what it means to be a parent, things I’d never considered when I was pregnant. The blog is a way of sharing all that in an amusing way.
5. What is the funniest thing you’ve read in the past few months?
Everything Limmy has written. Tweets, interviews he’s given, his second book That’s Your Lot. I can’t put into words my adoration of Limmy in a way that will not make me sound a bit obsessed. I met him at a book signing and was rendered mute because I knew if I spoke I would unleash a torrent of mad obsessive love.
6. What are the best and worst things about becoming a parent?
Best thing: Creating a family with my husband and witnessing what an amazing father he is. Getting to meet what a combination of the two of us is like. My daughter is so kind, not that we are horrendous humans, but it’s been surprising what a sweet soul she has.
Worst thing: The realisation I didn’t make anything like the most of my childfree life. All the time I had that I wasted watching awful TV and not finishing my novel or creating great art. Now I spend my life trying to steal slivers of time to fit in my own interests.
7. Do your friends/family find you funny in ‘real life’?
My family and friends comprise a number of very funny people so if I’m honest, I don’t think I stand out as ‘funny’. They laugh at most of my jokes and that’s good enough for me.
8. Go on, say something funny!
I fall over a lot. Not tripping up over anything, sometimes I just fall over. People falling over is almost always funny.
9. How did you get into writing and why?
I have an English degree and through my day job I write a lot. It’s the one thing that I need to make time to do or I go mad. When I couldn’t string sentences together with a small baby that’s when I started to draw and post on my blog.
10. If you could only have one meal every day for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
Baked potato with cheese and salad. I bloody love a baked potato. To the extent that when I worked at STV I used to be in a clique with the weatherman and the cool young kids (of which I was of course one) called The Baked Potato Gang.
11. Complete the sentence, ‘Since having a child…’
I have allowed myself to do things that scared me before (like publish bits of my life online) because after birthing a whole human, I feel like I can do anything I set my mind to.
12. In your opinion, what is the worst children’s TV show, and why?
My daughter only watches Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol. Neither of which I find overly offensive. However Paw Patrol could do with a better gender balance so I’ll pick that. One token girl who wears a lot of pink (plus the occasional appearance of Everest) isn’t enough. There’s no reason all the other Paw Patrol gang should be male.
13. Please tell us about your blog and why we should visit:
A New Essex Girl provides a super quick laugh with one new doodle a week. It also strengthens my fragile ego to know people are reading. Click on the image below to check it out!
Sam is also on Twitter and Facebook!
It’s good to be back, and I’m sure there will be another awesome interview this time next week. Unless we decide to build some more suspense and take another week off, of course. It’s good to be unpredictable…