Fringe Therapy: Josie Long

Josie Long tells Dr Fest about her dreams...

feature (edinburgh) | Read in About 4 minutes
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Published 31 Jul 2007
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Tell me about your Fringe show and what it means to you?

Josie Long: It's about how much I love effort and people who put in the effort. Earnestness is cool! Its also about meeting people and wondering about the lives of the strangers you encounter.

When was the last time you were truly happy?

JL: I think I'm happy a lot of the time. I love the thing I do for a living and i'm very happy with my life. I felt a big rush when I first got off the train in edinburgh the other day. The sun was shining and I was so happy to be back here.

What is your greatest worry at the minute?

JL: I'm worried that my show isn't good enough and that I always oversleep. But I don't think the two are connected. And the show worry is bigger.

Which animal do you most relate to and why?

JL: Bears. Because they are lumbering and cuddly which is how I like to think I am. Also they love picnic baskets and being forced to dance, as do I.

Describe your favourite childhood toy.

JL: I had a Nintendo NES with a game called Kickle Cubicle. It was the best game in the world. You had to kick cubicles of ice across a grid to solve puzzles. It really was as good as it sounds. A little while ago my friend Joe found the game again and I got to play it and it was still the most exciting thing EVER! Although I was a lot worse now, which makes no sense, because when i was 8 years old I was a total idiot and now I've got a degree and everything.

What object represents your idea of perfection?

JL: I don't know. I really liked the book Timoleon Vieta Come Home by Dan Rhodes. I would say it didn't have any flaws to it. Also I like the song Let's Move to the Country by Smog at the moment. I don't know if I'd say it's perfect. It is good though. The bit where he says "let's have a....let's start a...." is good.

What type of event or occurance makes you feel deeply uncomfortable?

JL: I don't like it when everybody claps along to a song at a gig. I always get very shy about joining in, expecially when they start clapping at the very beginning and after 30 seconds it becomes clear that the clapping won't last the whole song and it awkwardly dies out. I also don't like it when people talk me up as a comedian, it makes me worried because I think that I won't be able to live up to it.

Describe your relationship with your parents.

JL: I have a mum and a dad but also a step mum and a step dad. I have a full set of spares.

Describe a particularly vivid dream or nightmare that you have had recently.

JL: I dreamt I was skiing with my little brother but I was in freefall going down the slope, clinging on with my hands. But I wasn't afraid, I was trying to pretend to him that it was the correct way to ski. When I got to the bottom, the comedian Greg Fleet was there and he was explaining that the skiing was part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival Roadshow. I just looked up skiing on an internet dream dictionary and it said: "To dream that you are skiing, suggests that you are pushing yourself and putting your mental and/or physical ability to the test." I don't know how well that bodes with the freefall/clinging on by hands metaphor. Probably not too well.

What is your biggest regret?

JL: An incident which caused me to have to throw myself out of my own gang. I don't want to go into it, suffice to say i'd made membership cards for the gang that i have not been able to enjoy since.