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WEBCHAT GUIDELINES: 1. One question per member plus one follow-up. 2. Keep your question brief. 3. Don't moan if your question doesn't get answered. 4. Do be civil/polite. 5. If one topic or question threatens to overwhelm the webchat, MNHQ will usually ask for people to stop repeating the same question or point.

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MNHQ

Jennifer Saunders: Live webchat, Thursday 10 October, 12.15-1.15pm

173 replies

RachelMumsnet · 07/10/2013 17:30

Jennifer Saunders is joining us this Thursday (10 October) between 12.15 and 1.15 pm to tell us about her memoir: Bonkers, My Life in Laughs.

Jennifer has been making us laugh since the early 80's; from Comic Strip through to French and Saunders, to the universally acclaimed Ab Fab with plenty of hilarious sketches thrown in (remember Comic Relief's take on ?). We're delighted that we've been allowed access to some of the fabulous pics from the book which you can now see in our Gallery: The Many Faces of Jennifer Saunders.

Join us at 12.15 on Thursday to speak to Jennifer LIVE or if you're unable to make that time, post a question to her in advance on this thread.

OP posts:

JenniferSaunders · 10/10/2013 12:42

@achiltibuie

Hi Jennifer!

How do you feel modern TV comedy compares to when you were first starting out?

Well there's a lot more of it for a start. There seems to be 10 times more channels but half the television. The budgets for comedy are tiny now compared to in my day. There was a lot of traditional comedy shows around when we first started out, and it was shows like The Young Ones that cut through all of that, but then of course there had been Monty Python. One of the problems nowadays is that TV isn't always a common experience and therefore audiences are much smaller. I think nowadays there's a lot more younger people on TV.

Sparklingbrook · 10/10/2013 12:43

You have to stay now lauren. Tis the rules.

BewitchedBotheredandBewildered · 10/10/2013 12:43

"Backcombing!" Of course . Thank you.

I'm going to sneak another one as you're getting though them so quickly.

Who makes you laugh the most?

hairtwiddler · 10/10/2013 12:43

Hi Jennifer. Apologies if this has been asked already, jumping in here!
Who do you think are the best up and coming female comedians/writers?

Sparklingbrook · 10/10/2013 12:44

10 times more channels but half the television. That right there sums it up nicely Jennifer. It's depressing.

midwifeandmum · 10/10/2013 12:46

Thanx for ur reply jennifer.
There has been alot of bad press at the moment about how bad our maternity service is. And alot of bad birth stories.

As a midwife, I aim to provide the best care possible.

How was ur birthing experiences (apart from being agony LOL)

Zoe xx

CanCanSal · 10/10/2013 12:46

So my next question would be, as you ARE famous, whether or not that was your intention at the beginning, is there anything about being famous that you do/don't enjoy in particular? And, have your opinions of fame changed over the years and as you have got older?

JenniferSaunders · 10/10/2013 12:46

@OmNom

Hello Jennifer

I grew up in the eighties, and you and Dawn French were brilliant role models for young women - funny, clever, confident, attractive but not in a way that defined your public personae.

Would you say you're a feminist? And do you think there was something about the DIY, punk-influenced ethos of the eighties that was particularly liberating for women like you? Or was it the same old seething mass of prejudice underneath a thin veneer of radicalism?

Crikey!! growing up in the seventies, I wouldn't have called myself a feminist because we got the tail-end of the women's lib and strident feminists of the day, and I think that put a lot of young girls off. But I think now I definitely would call myself a feminist, and I think feminism is being revived in a very great way, and I would encourage my girls to think of themselves as feminists. The irony is that when we started out our career, Dawn and I were part of a group of men, and I think it would have been a lot harder if we were on our own. Ironically, we were supported by men. I think there's been a huge regression, certainly in the TV world, in how women are allowed to be represented on TV. There is a kind of view that women are allowed to be on if they're somehow linked to, attached to or with a man, and that single strong-minded women aren't really what's called for, which is why female comedians who are a little bit different find it hard. Men are expected to be weird and crazy but if a woman does that she's considered actually mad.

JenniferSaunders · 10/10/2013 12:48

@Mimstar

Oh I didn't actually ask a question in my previous post, can I post one please MN?!

I loved your cameo in Friends, really funny. What current TV Show would you love to appear in?

I'd love to be on The Great British Bake Off. I'd love to be in Girls... I wouldn't even have to be in the show, just hang out. I'd love to be in The Killing –or any Danish drama involving murder. I'd like to be in a murder show. If you're going to be serious you have to be really serious... Like death. I'd like to play a psychopath!

YouTheCat · 10/10/2013 12:50

Hi Jennifer.

Out of all the Comic Strip series, which was your favourite?

Mimstar · 10/10/2013 12:51

Oh thank you for answering, Girls is my favourite thing on TV right now. I think you would be great as one of Jessa's relatives

JenniferSaunders · 10/10/2013 12:51

@midwifeandmum

Thanx for ur reply jennifer. There has been alot of bad press at the moment about how bad our maternity service is. And alot of bad birth stories. As a midwife, I aim to provide the best care possible.

How was ur birthing experiences (apart from being agony LOL)

Zoe xx

I had three children and each was different. The first one I prepared for massively - I went to classes, I sat cross-legged with hippies in Hampstead and discussed the eating of the placenta. I prepared my bag with the correct music, candles, clothing changes and massage oils, but when it actually came to it the only thing I used was the lip-salve! She was born in about eight hours straight in hospital using gas and air, that would be my drug of choice.

My second one I had at home and it was a bit longer and a bit more painful. And the third one I started at home, but she refused to come out so I had to go to hospital where I had an epidural and more gas and air! They got longer and longer, the idea of them getting easier is nonsense! The third one I screamed so loud that the other children asked if there was a dragon in the house

JenniferSaunders · 10/10/2013 12:51

@hairtwiddler

Hi Jennifer. Apologies if this has been asked already, jumping in here! Who do you think are the best up and coming female comedians/writers?

Beattie Edmondson is a brilliant comedian, incredibly funny, a wonderful writer and actress. She works with two others called The Birthday Girls. If they're gigging with you - catch them!

hairtwiddler · 10/10/2013 12:52

Thank you. I will!

Gigglesworth · 10/10/2013 12:54

I heard it's something a lot of celebs do, so I was wondering whether you have ever "Google'd" yourself? Or read comments on YouTube where people have uploaded clips of your shows? If you were to come across negative feedback, how would you take it? I really hope you wouldn't give two tits!

JenniferSaunders · 10/10/2013 12:54

@CanCanSal

I think that the idea of fame is very different now to what it was when I started out. I think I probably did want to become famous, because I think everyone has a fantasy about being a rockstar or a famous actress or something like that. I didn't go into the job I was doing thinking I was going to be famous, because I didn't know if it would last more than six months. I basically love doing my job and making people laugh, and being famous has its good points . Disadvantages... the lack of places I can go and just have a good old stare, because it's very disconcerting if they're staring back. I have to go abroad.

Icelollycraving · 10/10/2013 12:55

So which parts of mumsnet do you read? Are you an Aibu fab? Would it make great comedy?

morethanpotatoprints · 10/10/2013 12:56

Hi Jennifer, I posted right before you came on.

What was it like filming Bad News? Can you remember that far back and had you and Dawn worked together much before this?

Icelollycraving · 10/10/2013 12:56

And do you still wear a turban when dodging Dawn at home? :o

midwifeandmum · 10/10/2013 12:56

Thankyou for reply

Dragon noises -so funny. I advocate gas and air lol. Altho i had 2 emer cs with dds.

The art of home birth is dying out in my area of scotland. So well done u on homebirth!!!

I feel things are becoming more medicalised again.

My mum had me in 86 ( same day as ur daughter). Things have changed since then and NOT for the better

JenniferSaunders · 10/10/2013 12:56

@BewitchedBotheredandBewildered

"Backcombing!" Of course

. Thank you.

I'm going to sneak another one as you're getting though them so quickly.

Who makes you laugh the most?

Well... My father used to make us laugh a lot, and even though he's no longer with us we still tell his jokes a lot.

gussiegrips · 10/10/2013 12:59

Hi Jennifer

Dawn French is a knitter, I know that because I have knitting books written by her.

Did you two knit together, or was she simply annoying with the constant click-click-click? I believe those are the only possible scenarios between obsessive knitters/non knitters

JenniferSaunders · 10/10/2013 12:59

@Gigglesworth

I have Googled myself to see what comes up. Often if you're researching photos, you go back and you find things you weren't expecting. For the book I went back to look at photos of me in the eighties. I try not to Google myself. I don't know - it's quite depressing sometimes. I have looked at clips on Youtube. I started looking at clips of Ab Fab and I found myself missing it terrible, that's the worst thing. I don't read a lot of comments because criticism because you either don't like it or you get cross...

JenniferSaunders · 10/10/2013 13:00

@YouTheCat

Hi Jennifer.

Out of all the Comic Strip series, which was your favourite?

I think one of my favourites is The Beat Generation because when we made it we didn't know what we were doing but it seemed to be quite weird and enjoyable.

YouTheCat · 10/10/2013 13:01

I did enjoy that one. It reminds me of my daughter's friends a bit.

Thanks

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