She was told women weren't funny. Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French showed her otherwise

The Age

4 days ago

When British stand-up comedian Jen Brister brings her latest show, Reactive, to Australia, she will perform in almost entirely sold-out rooms.
Rewind to 1998, and the scenario was a little different.
Brister was living in the Melbourne beachside suburb of St Kilda and would spend her Sunday evenings at the Hotel Esplanade, performing five-to-seven-minute sets at the weekly comedy night. They rarely went well.
'I'd wake up at 2am going, 'Oh my God, all those people saw me do that terrible gig!' ' she laughs from her hotel in New Zealand, where she's launching the Reactive world tour.
Regardless, the promoter would always implore her to come back the next week.
'He'd say, 'That's stand-up. You keep going until you're good.' He saw something in me.'
Despite such inauspicious beginnings, the London-born 50-year-old claims she never entertained an alternative career.
'I've had such a love-hate relationship with comedy because it's been so difficult, and I found it at times quite traumatic to make my way through to reach any kind of success,' she says.
'And I'm not talking about selling out in Australia, I'm talking about making a living on the club circuit 10 to 15 years ago, which was what I was aspiring to.