Josie Long - Trying is Good

Published Tuesday 14 August 2007 at 10:35 by Ben Dowell

‘What’s not to like?’ Josie Long asks of her protruding stomach (the result of a medical condition) which she has adorned with a painting of a wobbly sea.

I rather felt the same way about this cheery hour in which she shares her thoughts on the gym, playing dentists with her little brother, the coolness of the Dalai Lama, Quaker paintings and her pilgrimage with a friend to find the baker whose angry looking face adorns her favourite brand of wheat free bread (wheat intolerance is another medical problem by the way).

Self conscious and unselfconscious by turns, her rich and joyously meandering set about the value of trying hard no matter what the results is built on the foundations of excellent timing, delivery and an obvious ability as a performer (probably better than anyone in the history of humanity she is capable of capturing the demeanour and thoughts of snails who impulsively venture into the road after the rain). OK she may be right to wonder if her obvious kookiness will make people avoid her on the tube in 20 years’ time; but she matches the whimsy and flights of fancy with a keenly satirical and wry eye, targeting, for example, people who claim to be travellers who have holidays but are “that bit more sensitive” than the rest of us.

In fact so skilfully does she distil so much of her “Orpington in Kent” heart and experiences into this charming hour that you’d have to have a heart of stone not to leave with a broad smile on your chops. You may even want to paint a seascape on your belly.