Janet Taylor Britain’s first Falldown Comedienne

Some of you may know that I do stand-up comedy for a hobby and for fundraising events. (or in my case ‘Fall Down Comedy’).
I’m a dyspraxic, dyslexic menopausal Jewess who used to be on Prozac. I’m 55 single and prefer the company of 4 cats as living with 4 cats is much more fun than living with one knob ‘ed. (family version, cats don’t leave the toilet seat up)
I used to think that G-d was a woman but G-d must be a man a woman wouldn’t make middle aged women menopausal at a time in life when they have to be patient with their elderly Mother. I’ve got the tolerance of Attila the Hun crossbred with the grumpy Grufallo. Still it could be worse at least we don’t live in the same house or we would kill each other.
Here is a video of my dyspraxia set

My life is one big comedy set waiting to happen. There’s no point in agonising about my dyspraxic mishaps so I get people to laugh with me instead of at me. Some scenarios are true while others are wildly exaggerated. You may be wondering how someone with a working memory in the 6th percentile can actually remember her set. The truth is that I don’t always. I work this into my set especially when I’m doing my gags about the funny side of being dyspraxic. So I work it into my set so you can’t tell if it’s deliberate or not. It’s harder when doing my characters because staying in character and remembering my set uses up more working memory. Its not easy to Make ‘Cat Woman’ the posh but northern eccentric “purrfect”, ’Constance Abundance’ the Judgmental Holistic therapist being “awesome”; or ‘Rabbi Cohen Nesbit’ the alcoholic Rabbi being “wankered”. I have also done comedy improvisation which gets me out of a hotspot and being spontaneous gets more laughs than keeping to my set. I also seem to be really good at changing my accent and whole persona so psychologists must be having an absolute field day.
I was a very self-conscious shy teenager who used to get booed or heckled when I walked into a classroom or my synagogue youth group. So why would I now want to expose myself to risk history repeating itself. I guess I got used to the negative attention and now I’m a bit of a masochist. I learned to be the class clown in an attempt to get people to like me and it worked. I have been using humour as a defence mechanism ever since.

In 2010 my brother died suddenly and my bereavement affected my work performance. I became depressed and it didn’t help with my mood-swings when I started the menopause. I was expected to deliver presentations from memory. I was so anxious and depressed. I was criticised for not delivering presentations to the standard my boss expected which made my anxiety even worse. The more I tried the worse I got. I used to do presentations in my own unique way but I found that I couldn’t even deliver my dyspraxia awareness work without feeling like bursting into tears.

I still had a good sense of humour and used it to cope and mask my insecurities and grief. I was told by friends and work mates that I would make a good stand up comedienne. They may well have been taking the piss but I thought learning stand-up would help me get my confidence back with public speaking.

I Googled stand-up comedy courses and found that John Cooper (Comedian not poet) was putting on a 6 week course at the Lass O Gowrie pub. So I went along. I asked if I could skip learning how to put the microphone back in the stand so that I could concentrate of delivering my stand up as to learn this skill would have taken up so much working memory that I wouldn’t have learned anything else. Or fumbling with the mike stand could have been part of my act.
John told me that I was funny but I was ridden with such low self-esteem and internalised oppression that argued with him that I wasn’t funny and he didn’t want to hurt my feelings. To this day I’m still not 100% sure that I am really funny or I’m laughed at because I’m crap. I do get a lot of laughs but I’m not sure if it’s for the right reason. I’m a self-doubting Jewish dyspraxic. If that’s not comedy gold I will eat my cat. Woody Allen should be ‘quelling’ (beaming with pride).
So anyone who likes to get wasted, get high or who gets off on adventure sports standup is a safer alternative, it gives me a real buzz.

I still can’t do some presentations from memory but I can now improvise but then again I have got my mojo back So every cloud has a silver lining. So thank you to my X boss if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have learned to do impro or standup.

Dyspraxic Adult Surviving in a Non-Dyspraxic World: Have I overcome my Dyspraxia?

Dyspraxic Adult Surviving in a Non-Dyspraxic World: Have I overcome my Dyspraxia?: Sometimes I get feedback from my dyspraxia awareness work congratulating me on 'Overcoming my dyspraxia'. I know they mean well I ha...

Dyspraxic Adult Surviving in a Non-Dyspraxic World: Am I a dyspraxia Sufferer?

Dyspraxic Adult Surviving in a Non-Dyspraxic World: Am I a dyspraxia Sufferer?: The last blog showed you that although I have had some shortcomings followed by some success I still have dyspraxic issues. You may wel...

Am I a dyspraxia Sufferer?

The last blog showed you that although I have had some shortcomings followed by some success I still have dyspraxic issues. You may well ask does that mean that I am a ‘Dyspraxia Sufferer?. I cringe inwardly when the press describes one of my people as a dyspraxia sufferer during dyspraxia awareness week. I insist that during dyspraxia awareness week that journalists choose to ignore my requests and I’m far from gentle about it when they do. (the local kids don’t call me terminator with-out good reason). I complained to the Dyspraxia Foundation and find that it is their policy not to describe us in these terms but the media seems to love using it. Before my life got really busy and I delegated moderating to my volunteers to the facebook group that was part of my research for the book E Book ‘Dyspraxic Adults Surviving in a non-dyspraxic World’ Many new members have described themselves as ‘suffering’ from dyspraxia or that they are a dyspraxia sufferer. As an anti-oppressive practitioner I try to empower them in a gentle but assertive way without jumping down their throats that this was a disempowering way to describe themselves. That they have dyspraxia, they live with dyspraxia but my preferred tem is that I am ‘dyspraxic’.,Now it wouldn’t be very mindful of me to let my ego get the better of me & wipe the floor with people who opinions will not be changed and they genuinely believe that they are dyspraxia sufferers. However lets unpick the term ‘sufferer’ The Oxford English dictionary defines the verb Sufferer as; Experience or be subjected to (something bad or unpleasant): to (suffer from) Be affected by or subject to (an illness or ailment):The Noun Suffering (The state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship): My opinion is that s that if I identified myself as a dyspraxia sufferer this suggests that I that dyspraxia is a dreadful illness and hat I am a frail and helpless victim that has no control over my life and that I live in a state of constant pain. Yes I have experienced frustration, discrimination, social exclusion and bullying along with anxiety, depression and periods of long unemployment. However My suffering has been due to societies lack of awareness of dyspraxia, plain ignorance or indifference about my differences and not my actual dyspraxia. This type of suffering is relevant to how Mindfulness describes suffering This. is when we feel overwhelming negative emotions which can be increased by attaching negative thoughts and stories to negative emotions. Unnecessary suffering can start when we begin to revisit the event and attach negative thoughts to this experience. This is what distracts us from our real emotions. We need to realise that we live in a state of impermanence and that everything has an end therefore, we need to be aware of our emotions only and recognise what they feel like. Feelings of grief and loss are amplified because we expect that this will not end. We need to learn that suffering exists and is part of life through which we can grow and learn and that everything is in a constant state of change, so if suffering begins it will definitely end. For example: I once had overwhelming feelings of anxiety, low self-esteem and believed I was unemployable and stubbornly held onto this belief until it became self-fulfilling. I was on a real pity party but all parties have a beginning a middle and an end. This state definitely is not permanent as I’m in paid work now. So readers although my life can still be difficult due to my dyspraxic differences, I’m anything but a dyspraxia sufferer I’m far from being a helpless victim who has no hope or control over their lives.