Jenny is an Australian comedian whose sharp wit has seen her sell out shows around the world, most recently at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. If you’re wondering why she looks familiar, you’ve probably seen her on TV programs such as Taskmaster Australia, or done a doom scroll through her online content – perhaps even watched her full-length comedy show, Picture This, on YouTube. With her dry humour, she has opened for renowned acts such as Nish Kumar, Hannah Gadsby and Ronny Chieng.
Q1. What has been your best career move?
Posting content online. I started stand-up at 21, after studying arts and commerce at uni. I’d been doing it for four years and not really getting anywhere, but once I started posting online and finding my own audience, things really started to pick up. I’d get views and be able to sell shows, and then I got an agent off the back of that. It was like a snowball effect. I’d started taking comedy a bit more seriously during the pandemic. It was Sydney’s second lockdown and there were so many rules and regulations. I had these thoughts that I wanted to express, so I’d just post them online. I didn’t even have an Instagram account. I started with Tik Tok; it just felt anonymous, like no one would see it except the people that wanted to see it. After that, I went on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook as well. A common thread among successful creatives is that they, at some point, have had to just take it into their own hands. You’ve just got to back yourself.
Q2. Given your time over, what would you do differently?
It’s so hard to say, because I never really anticipated that I’d end up as far along as I have. My move to London has really reinvigorated my energy and my love for stand-up in a way that I really needed, so if there was a way to have gone to London earlier, I would have loved to have made it happen. It’s such a creative city – people go out and support the arts in a way I wish Australians would. And they take comedy seriously. The audiences are comedy-savvy, so you get great-quality stage time. You’re telling jokes to people who know how to behave during a show. A really common question I get is, “Did your comedy translate over to London? Did you have to rework anything?” No! It’s gone better than it ever has anywhere!
Q3. What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
Just that idea of backing yourself, and it’s something you have to remind yourself of. Especially in a creative industry, know your worth. I don’t know any other industry where [female imposter syndrome] is more evident. You see it on the stage, and it’s reflected in the line-ups. In comedy, you have to ask the booker for a gig. I thought that they just approached acts, that you would somehow get knighted one day and then the bookers would start coming to you and say, “Yes, you’re a real comedian.” I never knew that you had to go and ask. As women, I feel like we get scared to ask for things, when everyone else is doing this. I had to have someone tell me that. That’s how I found out.
Q4. Have things improved for women in comedy?
Absolutely it’s changed. When I was starting out, it felt like there were four women on the Sydney comedy circuit. It was so common to be the only woman on the line-up – not because the men were being exclusive, there just didn’t seem to be that many women interested in doing stand-up. And why would they? It’s tiring, staying out late every evening, trying to get from spot to spot. It’s not easy for anyone. But, especially post the #Metoo movement, it’s totally shifted: there are so many female-run rooms now with female and non-binary line-ups. At least in the Sydney scene, it feels like there are more women than ever, and they’re able to talk about things that are interesting and different. That makes a better comedy show as well. Australia actually feels more progressive than London in terms of the diversity of the line-ups. Sometimes there they would be all male, and it’s not uncommon at big professional clubs for there to be one, clearly token woman. That’s a lot of pressure, because then you have to represent all women. You have that fear that, if you don’t do well, audiences will be like, “Women aren’t funny.” But in Sydney and Melbourne, every line-up has a minimum of two women, and if there’s not, people raise eyebrows. I’m happy to see how far Australia has come.
Q5. And how is it for women of colour?
For people of colour, usually your parents are immigrants or you’re an immigrant, and you’ve been taught that you need to appreciate what your parents have done, and live a successful life. You end up aspiring to all these markers of success that they want – and they’ll never be creative. My parents had no idea what stand-up comedy was. They still don’t. For the first few years, I lied and said I was going to dance classes. Eventually they were like, “Just tell us. You have a boyfriend, don’t you? You’re sneaking out to see a boy.” I was like, “No, I’m doing stand-up comedy.” They were like, “What is that?” Then they found out what it was, and they were like, “What the hell?” My mum runs her own Chinese medical clinic, and my dad is an immigration agent, and it’s his own business as well. So they’re very big on building your own business: do something respectful, that’s considered high in society, be a hustler. Being a creative, there’s a stigma that it’s a bit lazy, or you can’t do a proper job so you’re doing art. But they’ve since swung around to it after seeing my online stuff, because they understand numbers, like having a TikTok account with this many followers. That’s good: you can sell products, it’s your own business. From an audience’s perspective, anytime I walk on stage, there are so many stereotypes and impressions that they’re going to throw at you. It took me a long time to figure out how to present myself and own my presence on stage, because I was just so unusual. But Picture This has done so well online – better than I ever hoped. It was just this reminder: there are people who are really touched by this work and have found joy in it – so all your instincts about it being a solid show, they were right. I swear too much for it to be monetised – there’s a couple of C bombs in there – so I just hope that the audience comes to my next, brand-new live show.