1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:12,120 Please welcome to the stage Fern Brady! 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 4 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:24,240 Hello! 5 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,000 Welcome to my show! 6 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:30,640 Autistic Bikini Queen. 7 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:34,920 Probably the worst title for a stand-up show I've ever come up with, uh, 8 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:39,240 especially given it attracts an audience that tend to take things literally. 9 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:42,520 I'm very sorry. Almost none of the show is about autism. 10 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:45,160 I am, uh, a... real autistic though. 11 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:48,640 I got my certificate for Best Autistic Ever, A*, 12 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:50,200 during the lockdown. 13 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,160 It's been really hard for me, uh, 14 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:54,400 ever since I started telling people I've got it, 15 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:56,160 'cause there's not a lot of representation 16 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:58,440 of hot women within the autistic community, 17 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:02,160 so I figured, "Be the change you want to see in the world." 18 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,320 It's just me and Greta Thunberg, representin'. 19 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:08,200 She solves the climate crisis. 20 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:10,960 I continue to do meaningless jokes about come. 21 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:12,280 We can't all be heroes. 22 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,360 Just briefly, 'cause like I said, the show isn't about autism, 23 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:17,840 but just briefly, the way it works for me 24 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,640 is my version of highly efficient communication 25 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:24,480 seems to be a lot of people's version of very rude indeed. 26 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:26,320 And that's even when I'm tryin' to be... 27 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:28,240 That's when I'm tryin' to be a good person. 28 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:30,560 That's when I'm tryin' to help people out in my life. 29 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:32,960 Like, I was tryin' to comfort my mum one time. 30 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:34,040 She was cryin' 31 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,240 'cause my gran had just been taken into hospital with dementia. 32 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:38,280 Hey, it happens. 33 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:42,320 Now, I don't like touchin' or huggin' my mother in any way whatsoever. 34 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:45,360 Why would I? I'm not datin' the woman. Disgusting! 35 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:46,960 - Hah! 36 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:48,800 I'm not gonna touch my mum! 37 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:55,160 So, as a compromise, I put my hand on the woman's shoulder at arm's length. 38 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:57,760 It's kinda the same thing. 39 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,800 And I said, "Mum, things will only get worse from here." 40 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:06,280 Who's clappin' that? 41 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:11,480 She didn't laugh and clap like you guys. In fact, she cried harder. 42 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:14,000 I know now what I'm supposed to do. 43 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:18,160 'Cause whenever I make a social faux pas, I read up on what you're supposed to do. 44 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:19,640 What you're supposed to do 45 00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:22,680 is tell a comfortin' little lie, aren't ya? 46 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:24,360 Some sort of phony platitude. 47 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,320 Somethin' along the lines of, "Don't worry, Mum." 48 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:29,960 "There's always hope. Rainbows in the sky." 49 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:33,760 "Who knows? You coulda sat Gran by a window on a sunny day." 50 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,160 "She'll enjoy the rays of sun upon her face 51 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:38,400 while her brain deteriorates to slime." 52 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:40,880 Oh no! 53 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:44,040 I don't like the feelin' of lyin'. 54 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,080 I can lie. It's just that any time I attempt it, 55 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:49,840 I always make the lie implausibly big. 56 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,760 It's always somethin' along the lines of, "Don't worry, Mum." 57 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:57,160 "Gran's gonna be appearin' on The Chase a week from now." 58 00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:00,200 "Pack up her wee nightie." 59 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,800 "Wheel her out the hospital. It's gonna be A-OK." 60 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:06,960 Oh dear. 61 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:10,760 Neurotypical people, by the way, you guys have a... 62 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:14,080 what I would describe as a pathological tendency 63 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:16,640 to try and smooth things over at any cost. 64 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:19,840 So sometimes, when I say to a neurotypical person I'm autistic, 65 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:21,120 they'll say back to me, 66 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,760 "Don't worry, Fern. It's a superpower." 67 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:25,360 And I'm like, "Is it?" 68 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:27,720 "Is it really a superpower?" 69 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:29,440 "Would it have been as good a film 70 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,600 if Superman, instead of having superhuman strength 71 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,800 and being able to fly around the world at a moment's notice, 72 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:37,720 instead monologued at you 73 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,520 about the 1960s depressive poet Sylvia Plath, 74 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:46,360 with no ability to register your disinterest in any way whatsoever?" 75 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:49,440 Superpower. 76 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,280 Another important thing I found out about my identity... 77 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,920 'Cause I always get described as "Scottish comedian Fern Brady," 78 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:00,920 and it always grates on me because Brady is a very Irish surname. 79 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:03,760 Uh, I knew that my family were quite Irish. 80 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:07,760 Uh, I really... Like, Scottish comedians, a lot of Scottish people I meet, 81 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:11,960 they're into Burns Night, they love St. Andrew's, kilts, haggis. 82 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:15,400 I really can only connect with you if you, too, are a Catholic. 83 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:19,360 If you had a pedophile sing a cappella at you every Sunday... 84 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:24,400 ♪ In the unity Of the Holy Spirit ♪ 85 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:27,320 ♪ Almighty Father ♪ 86 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:29,400 ...you're my kind of people. 87 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:36,480 So I found out... I did a DNA test, right? One of those online DNA tests. 88 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:37,880 Knew I was a bit Irish. 89 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:40,600 98.3% Irish! 90 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:44,000 Same! - Never lived in Ireland. Yes, high-five! 91 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:46,080 Neither of my parents lived in Ireland. 92 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,840 This is a testimony to the power of sectarianism in Scotland. 93 00:04:49,840 --> 00:04:55,120 It's just Catholics inbreedin' with Catholics again and again and again. 94 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,400 Faces gettin' hairier with each generation. 95 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:03,200 I've never been happier not to be British. I was delighted not to be British. 96 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,160 I'm only 1.7% British, and to be honest, 97 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:08,040 that's from when a homeless guy spat in my eye 98 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:09,760 when I first moved to London. 99 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:13,480 Been goin' to the gym a lot. 100 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:15,240 Uh, I've been tryin' to go to the gym a lot, 101 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:17,760 'cause people take pictures of me when I'm performin', 102 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:19,480 and I want to die when I see them. 103 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:22,920 And, uh, I got banned from my local gym in London 104 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,560 after I tried to fight a man who told me how to deadlift correctly. 105 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:27,680 So... 106 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:29,360 For real! 107 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:31,440 I feel like wearin' a T-shirt that says, 108 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:34,120 "No matter what you see me doing with a barbell, 109 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:36,840 do not approach me, even if I'm doin' this." 110 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:40,520 -"Don't talk to me." 111 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:44,080 I don't know how they're gonna get that on a T-shirt, but you know what I mean. 112 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:47,320 I have to save up my gym visits for when I go on tour to Scotland, 113 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:50,600 where the gyms, they're so luxurious, I want to move home. 114 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:52,560 Know why? They're just empty. 115 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:53,800 Just... 116 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,040 leaves blowin' through them. 117 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,200 There is no Scottish man will dare tell me 118 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,720 how to squat with form in a Scottish gym. 119 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:05,880 The only men in Scottish gyms look like they've been referred there by their GPs 120 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,320 after a heart attack or a health crisis. 121 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:09,880 It's fantastic. 122 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:11,800 'Cause I'm very health-conscious. 123 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:14,800 People are always surprised, uh, when I say this. 124 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:16,600 I'm a very health-conscious person, 125 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:19,760 and I'm gettin' that way more so, uh, 'cause I'm old, 126 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:21,360 and this is a young woman's game. 127 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:25,680 "I'm so old. I'm so depressed to be doin' this show, and I'm so old." 128 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,160 -"I'm 36. I know that's..." 129 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:30,920 Yeah, is that an old man laughin' at that? 130 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:36,720 I could just see your little... little gray face goin', "That's no age at all!" 131 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:38,880 "You look like a fetus to me!" 132 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:41,400 How dare you? 133 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,080 I'm sorry, I know it's not too old, 134 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:48,080 but 36, it is one of those ages where you have to start acceptin', 135 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,240 as a woman, certain things aren't gonna happen for you in life. 136 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:55,280 Your life isn't gonna look exactly the way you always pictured it to look. 137 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:57,600 'Cause I really always pictured myself to be, 138 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,160 and I mean this sincerely, the type of person who attends... 139 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:03,440 Do you know those masked, invite-only orgies 140 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:05,120 for middle-class people? 141 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:09,720 Eyes Wide Shut scenario? 142 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:12,120 I know you know what they are. 143 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:16,120 I truly thought I was gonna have attended one of them by this point in my life. 144 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:21,040 It's not that I'm not gonna attend an orgy now I'm in my mid to late thirties. 145 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:25,880 More that the quality of my orgy invite starts to decline pretty rapidly 146 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:28,680 from here on in, you know? 147 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:30,800 It's not gonna be a masked ball now. 148 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:33,320 It's gonna be a grimy swingers' event 149 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:35,920 that I see advertised on Gumtree in... 150 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,560 somewhere hellish and godforsaken, like Swindon. 151 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:44,160 I've never been to Swindon. 152 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:48,240 I just know that the train gets better when they all get off. 153 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:49,800 - No. 154 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:53,320 "I don't feel frightened now!" 155 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:57,320 I'm gonna have to go to this orgy in Swindon. 156 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:01,560 Some chubby plumber's gonna serve me bacon Frazzles, not... 157 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:06,720 not from the bone china that I wish for, but from a polystyrene bowl. 158 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,920 I'll have to nosh him off. I'll give him a gobble. 159 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,120 I'll do it gratefully, with my sagging, aged face 160 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,200 sinking... sinking towards the grave. 161 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:18,600 Death is comin'. The body knows it. 162 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:23,840 That's what hard about this age. Your face starts to get too baggy for your skull. 163 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:28,840 More and more of my selfies have to be taken at this angle 164 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:31,680 so my face can fall back into my ears, 165 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:35,600 and I can see the real Fern once more. 166 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:37,680 My breasts used to be fantastic. 167 00:08:37,680 --> 00:08:40,480 I'm sorry if that makes any of youse uncomfortable, uh, 168 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,040 but they were crackin', 24/7. 169 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:47,000 Didn't have to worry about what those guys were up to, 'cause they were just... 170 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,120 And then, during lockdown, I believe they got depression, 171 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:55,720 and like everythin' else, they started to wither away towards the ground. 172 00:08:55,720 --> 00:09:00,360 And I had a thought that disturbed me, and I thought, "Hey, I've got money now." 173 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:02,160 "I could get a boob job." 174 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:04,440 Then another little voice went, "Nah." 175 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,080 "Let them rot under your clothes." 176 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:12,240 "They've had their time in the spotlight." 177 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:14,840 "Now it's my time to shine." 178 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:19,240 Edinburgh 2006. That was my boobs' best time. 179 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:21,120 I was a lap dancer back then. 180 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:23,360 They couldn't have wished for a better life. 181 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:25,680 I used to feel bad saying I was a lap dancer 182 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:28,440 to theatergoin' crowds such as yourselves, 183 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,240 but, look, guys, as the years trundle on 184 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:33,760 and you look at what young women are doin' on OnlyFans, 185 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,240 or, I'll be honest, Facebook holiday pictures, you know, 186 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:40,760 me saying I was a stripper 15 years ago 187 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:44,840 is startin' to seem like telling you I was a flapper dancer in the 1920s. 188 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:47,640 Pretty quaint, innit? 189 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:52,280 I kinda always feel older people in the audience goin', 190 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:55,840 "Don't worry. I'd still disown you if you were my daughter." 191 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:59,560 But at the same time, you can feel any Gen Zers in... 192 00:09:59,560 --> 00:10:00,960 - Any young people... Whoo! 193 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:02,680 Yeah! I'll say "strip club" to you, 194 00:10:02,680 --> 00:10:06,000 and you'll be like, "What is this quaint cabaret that you speak of?" 195 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,240 And then you'll make a porno on TikTok 196 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:10,840 and fly off on a hoverboard into the night sky. 197 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:14,600 I don't know what these young people are up to. 198 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:15,760 So, anyway, 199 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:19,000 now my boobs are witherin' away under my clothes 200 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:21,400 like two wizened old ladies. 201 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:23,080 That's how I like to think of them. 202 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:25,400 I like to think of them reminiscing to each other 203 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:29,000 about the glory days in Scottish strip clubs. 204 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:34,080 Like that old woman at the start of Titanic that's just... 205 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:38,160 lookin' back over her life as a mad shagger. 206 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:42,680 They understand. 207 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:45,120 That was the plot of Titanic. 208 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:49,160 Had a great ride on a boat. He didn't make it. 209 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:52,720 "Who cares, man? He was poor!" 210 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:55,520 "Get off my wardrobe door, Jack!" 211 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:01,000 And that's my titties, reminiscin'. 212 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:03,640 Two old ladies. "Do you remember, Eileen, 213 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:07,560 do you remember when men used to pay for a look at us?" 214 00:11:07,560 --> 00:11:10,120 "Oh yes, the glory days." 215 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:12,640 "We were up near Fern's ears." 216 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:16,160 "Now we are sinking nearer her belly button, 217 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:18,560 sinking closer towards the grave, 218 00:11:18,560 --> 00:11:21,240 one of us faster than the other, apparently." 219 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:24,920 "I'll catch you up later, babes." 220 00:11:25,560 --> 00:11:27,440 "Don't be negative, Agnes." 221 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:33,640 "Remember when Colonel Gaddafi's nephews offered us £40 for a private dance?" 222 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:39,360 "Or people claiming to be from the Gaddafi family." 223 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:41,560 Good times. 224 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:46,040 Hey, sometimes audiences think I've made that Gaddafi bit up 225 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:48,200 just to put detail in the set, 226 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:50,200 and it's very offensive to me, 'cause I'm, like, 227 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:54,320 I don't know enough about Libyan politics to have made that up. 228 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:57,120 How do you think I know who Gaddafi is? 229 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:00,240 I met his nephews that night in Big Daddy O's. 230 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:05,200 Big Daddy O's, now a Mexican restaurant 231 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:08,560 'cause gentrification ruins everything for perverts. 232 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:12,760 Anyway, now I'm in my twilight years, 233 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:16,080 movin' into the second half of my life, I've realized... 234 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:17,720 I made a promise to myself 235 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:21,120 that I'm gonna stop bein' such a frightened little goose all the time. 236 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:23,720 'Cause I get told that I seem confident onstage, 237 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:28,400 but I'm a very shy person offstage, and I thought, "It's time to stop." 238 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:31,560 Uh, I love walkin' around at night after my gigs. 239 00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:33,960 I like to try and get my steps in. 240 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:36,640 But if you're a woman who likes walkin' at night, 241 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:40,840 I feel like every evenin' walk is tainted by thoughts of your own murder. 242 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:44,600 It really gets in the way of the de-stressin' part. 243 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:48,120 I feel like you guys are like, "No, we don't think like that all the time." 244 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:49,240 "We just are normal." 245 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:51,040 Okay, uh, number one... 246 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,280 There's two reasons I feel frightened when I'm walkin' around at night. 247 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:56,480 Uh, number one, I have a father 248 00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:59,960 who is unnaturally preoccupied with thoughts of my murder. 249 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:04,080 Uh... I know that parents worry a lot, but hear me out. 250 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:07,800 Any time I phone my dad on a walk, the first thing he says to me is... 251 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:09,240 "Don't get murdered!" 252 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:10,600 - And I'm like... 253 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:13,240 "Dream bigger, Dad." 254 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:14,960 Like... 255 00:13:15,560 --> 00:13:17,040 Uh, women in the audience, 256 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:19,000 if you get nervous walkin' around at night, 257 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:20,800 here's a fact I comfort myself with. 258 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:23,880 I always try to comfort Dad with it. He's never comforted by it. 259 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,440 Statistically, you're so much more likely 260 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,320 to be killed by the guy you came to the gig with tonight, so if anything... 261 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:35,000 get your wee coat and shoes on, get out the door and get those steps in. 262 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:38,640 It's the healthier option in more ways than one. 263 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:44,640 Secondly, uh, my dad, uh has been this way since I was five. 264 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:46,040 On my first day of school, 265 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:49,360 he put a whistle attached to the side of my little schoolbag, 266 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:51,200 and he went, "Listen, hen." 267 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,160 "Any man tries to take you away today, blow your wee whistle." 268 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:57,600 "Blow it hard." 269 00:13:57,600 --> 00:13:59,520 Now, in addition to this 270 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:03,080 creating the most traumatic first day of school memory ever, 271 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:05,120 constantly hypervigilant, 272 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:07,840 waiting to get bundled into the back of a van, 273 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:12,240 was that not like sendin' a soldier into a battlefield armed with a spoon? 274 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:14,560 What was I gonna do? 275 00:14:14,560 --> 00:14:17,400 Blow the pedos away with my merry little tune? 276 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:24,640 They've already overcome so many taboos in becoming child kidnappers. 277 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:26,000 I feel like me going, 278 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:29,040 "Whoo! Whoo!" 279 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:30,800 It's not gonna achieve very much. 280 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:33,520 Instead, it just means I'm an anxious adult. 281 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:35,720 And the other reason that I'm frightened... 282 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:37,960 I think this is a good reason to be frightened, 283 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:39,800 is I live in a place called London. 284 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:41,200 Uh, I've given it... 285 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:44,880 I mean, right, I've given it ten years. It's not growin' on me. 286 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:47,280 I think, after ten years, it's safe to say 287 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:49,960 you either like people being horrible cunts or you don't. 288 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:51,520 - Like, it's just... 289 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:53,440 It doesn't grow on you. 290 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:55,920 It is awful! 291 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:59,400 It's nothing like the London I saw on the TV growing up. 292 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:01,800 I really blame... not the good people of London. 293 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:04,080 You know, the comedy scene's been great to me there. 294 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:07,520 I blame, uh, the Richard Curtis universe of films, 295 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:11,800 which depicts this version of middle-class Englishness 296 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:14,760 that I've yet to see represented in real life. 297 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:17,120 I grew up watching films that were like, 298 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:21,320 "My name's Will. I work in a charming little bookshop in Notting Hill." 299 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,520 "We're all friends on this street." 300 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,320 "Oh, looks great, Will! I love books." 301 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:29,400 "But they batter me for readin' them up here in Scotland." 302 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:34,200 "Let me join you and your conspicuously white group of friends." 303 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:38,720 I arrived in London. No one was pals. 304 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:41,080 Will and the bookshop was nowhere to be seen. 305 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:44,320 Instead, I live in a part of London called, uh, Lewisham, 306 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:46,520 which is devastation everywhere. 307 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:49,520 People arguin' with pita breads in the local Tesco. 308 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,800 Me thinking, "Will they have more friends than me?" 309 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:57,840 A man who chases me through the local council car park so often, 310 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,520 I don't even change facial expression when I run. 311 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:01,880 Uh... 312 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,760 A Muppets Christmas Carol would be more representative 313 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:08,440 of the Dickensian hell that is London 2023 314 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:10,880 than the film Love Actually, know what I'm sayin'? 315 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:13,760 Now, again, not to get onto London. 316 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:17,040 We just need better representations of it in film, 317 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:18,520 and here's how I know this. 318 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:22,240 One of my friends, he went on holiday from Scotland to New York, 319 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:24,960 and when he came back, I said, "How was New York?" 320 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:26,480 And he went, "Oh, it was amazing." 321 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:30,320 "The first thing I did when I got there was I got one of those yellow taxis, 322 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:32,520 and the taxi driver was a bastard, 323 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:34,200 just like in the films!" 324 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:39,560 "You know how they are in the films. "Fuhgeddaboudit! Get me a coffee!" 325 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:47,400 They're bastards just like in the films about New York, 326 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:49,280 and that was when I had the idea, 327 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:53,680 "We need better, more accurate romantic comedies set in London." 328 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:55,840 We need to see a couple fallin' in love 329 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:58,480 on the top of the 185 night bus to Lewisham. 330 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:03,240 "What's that, Henry? Did you say you want to build a life with me?" 331 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,960 "Only I couldn't hear you over the sound of the man saying he's a killing machine 332 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:08,520 at the back of the bus." 333 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:13,440 Then the man chases them, and they flee, gigglin' and holdin' hands. 334 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:16,240 Then they kiss in front of a bin that's on fire, 335 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:20,360 and little girls growin' up in Scotland point to the TV 336 00:17:20,360 --> 00:17:24,920 and say, "That's where I want to live when I grow up." 337 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:26,160 "London." 338 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:30,560 Anyway, I can't just blame London for bein' frightened all the time, 339 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:31,640 and I can't move home. 340 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,640 I've got this dream that, at some point, I'm gonna get to move back home. 341 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:37,560 But you become too London-ized. 342 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:42,240 You become just too much of a horrible bastard to ever leave. 343 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,000 This is how I realized I was too London-ized. 344 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,400 I was eatin' a big breakfast in a café in Glasgow, 345 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:50,720 and an 85-year-old woman came up behind me, 346 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:53,600 and she went, "That looks like a lovely breakfast." 347 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:56,400 And my immediate instinct was to huddle over it. 348 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:57,640 "Get away!" 349 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:00,840 "You can't have my sausages or my resources!" 350 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,520 So I just have to stay in London now. 351 00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:09,400 But I'm an anxious person when I'm on tour. 352 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:12,480 You know, a lot of this job is travelin' around on your own, 353 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:14,400 stayin' in hotels on your own, 354 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,280 and I'm not very good at it. 355 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,440 Like, I was on a train from Edinburgh to Glasgow, 356 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:24,560 uh, and there were three very rowdy, very drunk Scottish men on this train. 357 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:26,240 Something you should know about me, 358 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:29,520 despite the strong accent, I've lived in England 13 years, 359 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:34,120 so I'm now as frightened of drunk Scottish people as all of you. 360 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:38,640 I was lookin' over at these louts. 361 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:40,920 We were the only one in the carriage, right? 362 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:43,160 And I had noise-cancelin' headphones on, 363 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:45,600 but I was imaginin' what they were saying about me. 364 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:47,360 They were definitely saying, 365 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:50,920 "Let's kill this bitch as soon as we get off the train." 366 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:52,680 "Let's do it for fun." 367 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:54,920 I was tremblin'. 368 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:57,840 I eased my headphones off as we pulled into Glasgow, 369 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:00,720 so I could find out what their plans were for me. 370 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:03,760 Do you know what the ringleader was pointin' and shoutin'? 371 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:05,160 He was shoutin', 372 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,080 "All I want to know, boys, 373 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:09,160 what's in brown sauce?" 374 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:11,200 "It's..." 375 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:14,440 "Nobody can tell you." 376 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:19,880 That was when I was like, "Number one, I think my anxiety's gone too far." 377 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:22,640 "Number two, tamarind, innit?" 378 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:24,720 - Uh... 379 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,040 I get it in hotels as well. 380 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:32,120 Like, I often check in to a hotel on a Friday, 381 00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:35,520 and I've got the whole weekend stretchin' out in front of me alone, 382 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:36,640 doing gigs, 383 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:38,720 and very often, I'll check in to a hotel, 384 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:42,160 and I'm the only person there not on a stag do. 385 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:45,680 Uh, I checked in to one recently, and there was, like, 50 of them, 386 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:47,320 just men at their worst. 387 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:49,400 No offense to men individually. 388 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:53,720 But it's very frightenin' when youse are shoutin', "Lads, lads, lads!" 389 00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:55,920 You've got that group mentality. 390 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:59,240 Somethin' in my wee woman's brain just goes, "Oh no, no, no..." 391 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:02,640 "Don't like this. Gotta get away from the stags." 392 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:06,400 And often my nervousness'll get so bad around stag parties 393 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:10,040 that I can't even face eatin' my breakfast around them 394 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:11,360 because they're so frightenin'. 395 00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:14,400 I'll come down to breakfast, and I'll make a good go at it, 396 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:17,560 and then I'll end up just hyperfocusing on my hot bread 397 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:20,800 goin' round and round in the rotatin' toaster of doom! 398 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,520 Then I'll think, "Do you know what? Leave it. Just leave the breakfast." 399 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:27,840 "I'm too intimidated by stag parties." 400 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:31,560 Then, just in the last year, I went, "Get a hold of yourself, Fern." 401 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:34,600 "How could you be intimidated by a stag party?" 402 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:36,840 "At the end of the day, it's a group of men." 403 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:38,760 "They're carryin' out this ritual." 404 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,840 "Yes, they're drinking each other's piss at the breakfast buffet." 405 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,680 "Yes, they're wearin' the Borat costume ten years too late." 406 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:48,360 "They're doin' it all 407 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:51,720 because one of them loves Sarah." 408 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:56,320 "He loves her so much, 409 00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:58,640 he's gonna marry her." 410 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:03,320 "Because he genuinely believes their love will last forever." 411 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:06,200 "That's pathetic." 412 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:14,840 How could I be intimidated by something as pathetic as that? 413 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:20,000 Just a group of lads celebrating Darren's love for Sarah. 414 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,400 I can't imagine gettin' married anythin' other than sarcastically 415 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:29,680 or if Channel 4 paid me to do it for a twisted reality show. 416 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:34,680 And this isn't about me bein' cynical, bitter about men. 417 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:36,640 I'm amazin' at going out with people. 418 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:39,720 If anything, too good at goin' out with people. 419 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,960 I've been goin' out with this guy for ages, like, ten, 11 years. 420 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:44,080 Ages, right? 421 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:46,960 And everyone we know is gettin' married just now. 422 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:51,240 Now, even though I'm 36, I think I'm 18, so I find this a bit dodgy. 423 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:52,880 I'm always sayin' to him, 424 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:55,080 "What's with all these wankers gettin' married?" 425 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:57,040 "What's with all these people?" 426 00:21:57,040 --> 00:21:59,400 He's like, "Do you mean our best friends?" "Yeah." 427 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:04,280 He always responds the same way. He says, "I've told you before." 428 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,720 "Generally, people get married because they want the opportunity 429 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:12,480 to declare their love for one another in front of all their family and friends." 430 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:14,800 He says that... 431 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:16,080 I know, right? 432 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:20,800 I'm laughing, 'cause I would literally have to be on ecstasy 433 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:22,440 to do something like that. 434 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:26,880 Yes, why don't I make a sex tape? 435 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:28,760 But with my emotions! 436 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:35,840 I'm not gonna declare my love in front of all my family and friends. 437 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:37,840 Look, you guys, maybe you got married 438 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,880 and you have family and friends that are nice, normal people 439 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:43,600 that you feel safe bringin' together with alcohol. 440 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:45,000 I don't have that. 441 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:48,440 I'm not gonna declare my love in front of Julie, 442 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,520 the random woman from Milton Keynes Dad married in 2014. 443 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:53,840 I don't even know Julie's surname! 444 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,640 And I have to shell out for her to have salmon or chicken 445 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:01,880 and then send it back, 'cause that's what Julie does. 446 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:09,800 I can't... I'm not gonna declare my love in front of my boyfriend's, uh, uncle, 447 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:13,680 who was in the IRA and is a total liability at family events. 448 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:17,360 So relieved you've heard of the IRA. 449 00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:20,000 They were quite big in the '80s, eh? 450 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:23,000 Oh, d'you know what'd be nice? 451 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,200 I want the whole event to be presided over 452 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,720 by this weird little guy that's not even allowed a girlfriend 453 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:31,120 and is statistically likely to be a sex offender. 454 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:33,440 How romantic! 455 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:40,120 Here's what I can't get my head around. 456 00:23:40,120 --> 00:23:42,720 How do you get married a second time 457 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,080 if you messed up your marriage the first time? 458 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:47,200 - Dad? And... 459 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:50,760 How do you get through the vows at the second weddin' 460 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:54,040 without just pissing yourself laughin'? 461 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:56,200 How do you say it with any earnestness? 462 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,320 "I promise to love, honor, and obey... 463 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,000 LOL, this time, probs!" 464 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,280 And I... It's... Honestly, it's not that I'm not romantic. 465 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:11,240 Uh, it's when I love someone, I love them hard. 466 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:12,880 I love them very intensely. 467 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:17,240 But I don't wanna declare my special, precious love for my boyfriend 468 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,080 in front of a load of people. 469 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:21,040 I think it would cheapen it. 470 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:23,800 Because people fall in love for different reasons, don't they? 471 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:27,280 And sometimes people say why they fell in love at the wedding ceremony. 472 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,080 I don't know. People generally don't invite me to their weddings. 473 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:31,920 - I wonder why. 474 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:35,760 Sometimes people say why they fell in love, 475 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:38,800 and I don't want everyone rolling their eyes at our reception 476 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:41,200 when I say, "Oh, we fell in love 477 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:46,120 after he vastly improved my credit ratin' over a period of about three years." 478 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:50,600 "But I gotta say, I fell hard for him 479 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,840 when he canceled his skiing holiday to get an abortion with me." 480 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:55,840 "A beautiful story!" 481 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:01,640 "Disney are makin' it into an animated film any day now." 482 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:05,320 "The Abortion Princess." 483 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:09,760 Now, this is what I like about livin' in England, 484 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:11,600 is you can say "abortion," 485 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:14,320 and people don't chase you out with, uh, pitchforks 486 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:15,800 as they would in Scotland. 487 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,680 In Scotland, you say "abortion," they think Jesus is watchin'. 488 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:23,080 In England, loads of middle-class people, people with money, 489 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:25,920 you're like, "Yeah, kill the babies!" 490 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:27,480 Whoo! 491 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,520 "Get your degree. Social mobility all the way." 492 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:32,360 Love it. 493 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:36,760 I don't want youse to think that I'm not, you know... uh... 494 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:38,320 that I'm against tradition. 495 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:41,000 I've got a very traditional view of marriage, 496 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,480 and I think it's more traditional than most people, 497 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,360 because I believe that marriage is about the merging of assets 498 00:25:46,360 --> 00:25:49,320 to form a financial power couple! 499 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,840 Whoo! - I saw you noddin' there. 500 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:58,280 That was what it was invented for. It was, uh, bringin' farms together, 501 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:01,600 bringin' family power together, bringin' money together. 502 00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:04,760 Love didn't come into it, man. They just threw that in down the line 503 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:08,000 to trick women into doin' somethin' that's no good for them. 504 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:10,120 Guys, it benefits you. 505 00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:12,880 We check your moles. It's quite an unfair deal. 506 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:16,640 We check the moles on your back. It doesn't benefit women. 507 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,520 The love part of marriage is a trick. Love is a delusion, 508 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:23,680 as evidenced by the number of women 509 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:27,080 who think other women are trying to steal their ugly boyfriends and husbands 510 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:28,600 on a Saturday night. 511 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:30,200 I'll tell you something now. 512 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:32,600 It's never women that are goin' out with male models 513 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:34,600 that get attacks of sexual jealousy. 514 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:38,200 No. It's always ones with sea monsters. 515 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:41,120 Absolute roasters. 516 00:26:41,120 --> 00:26:43,600 The second they've had a bottle of prosecco, 517 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:45,680 "You stay away from my Tony!" 518 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:49,560 "No one wants Big Ugly Tony, babes." 519 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,040 Like, "I'm glad you've pair-bonded." 520 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,320 "But no one wants Big Ugly Tony, and by clingin' on to him--" 521 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:00,880 Like, sexual jealousy is such an undignified emotion. 522 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,040 If you love someone, set them free. 523 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:04,800 I'm always saying that to my boyfriend. 524 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:06,560 "Go! Go! Leave! 525 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:08,760 "Have an affair!" 526 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:12,640 Set them free. Don't cling on to Big Ugly Tony. 527 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,720 By doing so, you look like you're cradlin' a big dirty jobby. 528 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:17,800 - And it's not a good look. 529 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:24,600 I was gonna get a civil partnership for my ten-year anniversary. 530 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,320 You can do that now instead of gettin' married. 531 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:29,640 Uh, I was gonna get a civil partnership, 532 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:32,760 uh, and I started fillin' out the forms for it. 533 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:34,880 You have to fill them out. They're really borin'. 534 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:38,240 You have to sorta be powered through it by romance and stuff. 535 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:41,760 So I was filling it out, thinking of romance and love, 536 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:43,600 and then I got to the final page, 537 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:46,880 and I just realized that I'd left my debit card up the stairs, 538 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:48,920 and I just slammed the laptop shut. 539 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:52,560 Fuck it. Love is powerful, but not as powerful 540 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,800 as this Netflix documentary about Pamela Anderson. 541 00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:00,280 I am gonna get this civil partnership though. 542 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:02,200 I've been meaning to get around to it, 543 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,200 purely because, at the end of the day, 544 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,480 I want what every other little girl wants, man. 545 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:12,400 I want to transfer the right of my father to switch off my life-support machine 546 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,080 over to my partner. 547 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:17,920 'Cause if I'm in a vegetative state, 548 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,480 I trust that my boyfriend's a pragmatic guy, 549 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,160 and he'll have the decency to turn my machine off 550 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,080 or smother me with a pillow while the doctor's out the room 551 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:28,480 and serve a short-to-medium jail sentence 552 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,280 after we launch a successful Guardian campaign. 553 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:36,480 My dad's a hardcore Catholic. He's against euthanasia. 554 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:37,920 He's made that clear. 555 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:40,760 If anythin' happens to me when I'm unmarried, 556 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:43,040 you know what Dad's gonna be doing, man. 557 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:44,960 Wheeling me back and forth. 558 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:46,640 Disneyland. To Lourdes. 559 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,480 Back to Disneyland, back to Lourdes, 560 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,400 forever and ever, while I try and blink out the message, 561 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:55,080 "Let's take this matter to the High Court." 562 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:01,920 "No, no, our daughter's still in there somewhere." 563 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:06,480 "Some days, we sit her by the window on a sunny day." 564 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:10,280 "She enjoys the rays of sun upon her face, 565 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:14,000 as you can tell from her totally immobile expression." 566 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:17,200 I'll be fumblin' for my wee whistle with my mouth. 567 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,200 "Whoooo!" 568 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:23,800 Trying to blink the code for "Kill me now, Daddy!" 569 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:28,760 Glad some of youse like death and decline. 570 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:32,800 Really brings people together, don't it? 571 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:36,960 I've been thinking about death a lot because me and my dad, 572 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:40,160 we're always talkin' about heaven and if heaven exists, 573 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:42,440 and my dad thinks that when we die, 574 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,520 we all become little cherubs with no bodies, 575 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:47,720 just wings comin' out our necks. 576 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:50,600 It's really good hearin' a working-class Scotsman 577 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:53,160 try and defend this crackpot theory. 578 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,480 I don't think that happens when we die. I'm not mental. 579 00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:00,240 I think when we die, 580 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:05,440 what happens is we all become spirits, floatin' around in the afterlife, 581 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,400 waitin' for psychic hotlines to contact us. 582 00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:11,480 That's what happens. 583 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:14,160 I've contacted some of those psychics before. 584 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:17,080 I went to a medium that talks to the dead. 585 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:18,720 He was a very camp medium. 586 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:22,320 He was like, "Is there anyone you wanna get in touch with on the other side?" 587 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:24,480 And I said, "Yes. Uncle John." 588 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,680 "He was my favorite uncle. Died when I was a wee girl." 589 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:28,760 And this guy paused, 590 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:31,360 like he was really gettin' in touch with somethin', 591 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:32,480 and then he went, 592 00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:35,480 "He doesn't really want to talk to you right now." 593 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:43,440 I'm already insecure about being unpopular in the world of the living. 594 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:46,120 So to know that someone 595 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:50,240 with nothing but eternity stretchin' out in front of them 596 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:53,200 still went, "Oh, no, I can't talk to that bitch," 597 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:56,480 it really made me insecure. 598 00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:57,720 But death... 599 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,240 death and decline, it really changes your views 600 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:03,320 on things like love and marriage. 601 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:05,720 'Cause I'm ideologically against marriage. 602 00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:09,480 That probably didn't come across in the first part of the show. 603 00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:11,560 I'm quite a mild-mannered lady. 604 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:14,760 It takes nothing to turn that view around. 605 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:18,280 I was feeling ill at the end of last year, and my doctor... 606 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:19,680 I had all these weird symptoms. 607 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,720 My doctor sent me for an MRI scan of my head. 608 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:23,880 That's never good. 609 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:26,960 He phoned me the same night of the MRI. 610 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:27,920 That's worse. 611 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:31,280 He said, "Oh, this is unexpected, Ms. Brady." 612 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:34,880 "We've found a growth in your brain. You need to come in immediately." 613 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,640 I didn't even listen to the rest of what the guy was sayin'. 614 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:39,920 I just started howling crying. 615 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:43,880 I was like, "I'm gonna die just as my career's getting good, 616 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:47,120 and I've wasted years of my life, 617 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:48,520 years, 618 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:51,160 screenshottin' people I hate on Instagram 619 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:54,760 to WhatsApp to my friends." 620 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:57,760 "State of this cunt." Send. 621 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,600 Oh, but it was a life well lived! 622 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,480 I can tell how many of you have had the same... 623 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:11,320 We're all gonna have the same deathbed memories, aren't we? 624 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:13,200 All our happiest memories in life 625 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:16,360 will just be of us lookin' at our phone over the years, 626 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:18,760 trying not to fall asleep at 3:00 a.m. 627 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:21,680 "I can understand this bitch havin' a birthday, 628 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:23,120 but a birthday week?" 629 00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:24,280 And then... 630 00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:29,360 ...you drop the phone on your massive forehead. 631 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:34,000 You like your archnemesis' post with your massive face. 632 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,560 - You don't even follow her! 633 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,040 That's it, that's what catches me out every time. 634 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:43,880 Well, anyway, so I got this bad news off the doctor. 635 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:45,960 I immediately walked up, cryin'... 636 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:48,440 I walked through to the livin' room to my boyfriend. 637 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:51,320 I was like, "They think I've got brain cancer." 638 00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:52,680 "Do you wanna get married?" 639 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:55,480 "Do you wanna have the most heteronormative weddin' ever?" 640 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:58,520 "I want every degradation. I wanna wear white." 641 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:02,200 "I want Dad to walk me up the aisle, even though he's a mental case." 642 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:04,760 "I want it all." 643 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:07,960 And I thought, "Well, that feminism didn't last long." 644 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:12,640 And my boyfriend, who's meant to be against marriage, too, 645 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:14,880 he was like, "Yes, yes, I will." 646 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:16,400 He was cryin'. 647 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:17,520 Quite poignant. 648 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:19,520 Went to the doctor the next day. 649 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:23,120 This doctor says, "Ah, good morning, Ms. Brady." 650 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:26,360 "We think what's in your head is a small pituitary cyst." 651 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:29,880 "They're very common. I phoned you last night to say it was a worrying growth 652 00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:32,240 'cause if it was me, I would want to know." 653 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:36,920 "That's not... that's not what you said last night, 654 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:41,000 you shit-stirring bitch that thinks he's in an episode of Casualty." 655 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,760 Know what I mean? In these hard-pressed times for the NHS, 656 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:47,600 what maniac phones you up, 657 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:50,160 "Oh! Oh, you might have brain cancer." 658 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:51,440 "Sweet dreams"? 659 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:54,480 Fuckin'... 660 00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:56,720 So I had to leave his office. 661 00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:01,200 I'd already phoned my agent and been like, "Cancel the tour," and everythin'. 662 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:02,840 Went back to the house. 663 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:07,760 My boyfriend was cookin' the dinner. I said, "Listen, this is embarrassin'." 664 00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:09,440 "I'm not dyin'." 665 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:14,840 I don't know what normal person says, "This is embarrassin'. I'm not dyin'." 666 00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:18,960 Um, but I said, "They're gonna do more tests. They're not sure what it is." 667 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,680 "But the... the main point is, is we got engaged last night, right?" 668 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:24,880 "We got engaged last night." 669 00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:27,160 He didn't even look up from stirrin' his dinner. 670 00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:29,520 He went, "Pending diagnosis." 671 00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:38,320 So he's only gonna marry me if I'm terminally ill, 672 00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:40,880 in case anyone missed that. 673 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,040 Not even the first time this has come up. 674 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:46,920 Not even the first time... I don't care about gettin' married. 675 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:48,400 I honestly don't care. 676 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:51,000 But there was one time we were at our friends' weddin', 677 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:53,560 and I was lookin' at the food that they were havin'. 678 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:56,360 They had one of those cakes made entirely out of cheese. 679 00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:57,440 It looked crackin'. 680 00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:01,760 So I said to him, "What do you think we'd have to eat on our weddin' day?" 681 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:04,480 He was like, "Whatever they're putting in your feeding tube 682 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:06,240 that afternoon at the hospital." 683 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:12,400 It's cold. 684 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:20,680 It's hard goin' out with someone a long, long time, uh, sometimes. 685 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:24,520 Like, we broke up about three times during the lockdown. 686 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:26,000 Uh, we got back together 687 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:28,760 'cause I couldn't face startin' over again in my thirties. 688 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:31,560 Love is powerful, 689 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,720 but not as powerful as a five-year fixed-rate interest mortgage. 690 00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:36,280 Not in these times. 691 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:40,520 I just couldn't do it. 692 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:44,200 I was takin' to fit guys online. I was talkin' to famous guys. 693 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:45,880 I can't tell you who. 694 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:49,320 But I thought, "Hey, it's time to start over." 695 00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:50,680 "Get a famous boyfriend." 696 00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:53,560 "Do branded partnerships with him on Instagram." 697 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:55,760 "Get rid of that little prick." 698 00:35:57,720 --> 00:36:00,400 And then I just thought, "I can't. I can't start over." 699 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:02,360 I cannot be bothered with it. 700 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:05,040 I know there'd be all the exciting first dates, 701 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:06,760 all the thrilling first shags. 702 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:09,560 But then there's all the other firsts that come after it, 703 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:11,160 and I cannot face it. 704 00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:16,360 I cannot face holdin' in my farts again for 12 to 18 months 705 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:19,840 until you're quite sure the person's in love with you. 706 00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:22,080 Then, inevitably, one sleepy Sunday morning, 707 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:24,440 you're spoonin' and... phhhbbbth! 708 00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:28,840 "Do you still wanna build a life together, even though I farted on your balls?" 709 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:35,920 Too much vulnerability, man. 710 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:40,960 I can't face meetin' someone's mentally ill mother again 711 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:43,480 and realizing why the guy is attracted to me! 712 00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:50,120 It's good hearing the laughs of mad women in the audience 713 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:52,440 that are, "Ha, that's me!" 714 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:59,440 And it's quite nerve-wrackin' to think of startin' over when-- 715 00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:01,760 I mean, I've been goin' out with someone so long, 716 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:05,400 datin' apps weren't even invented when I was last single. 717 00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:07,760 Uh, and I have such a high standard now 718 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:10,360 when it comes to what I look for in a partner. 719 00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:14,640 Like, I go out with, uh, a proper person now, with a proper job. 720 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:16,200 He's not a male comedian. 721 00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:17,600 Ugh! 722 00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:23,280 High standards. In my early twenties, my standards were very low, 723 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:25,760 and that made dating a lot of people very easy. 724 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:27,600 Like, I remember a guy chattin' me up 725 00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:30,600 outside a nightclub in Edinburgh when I was 21, 726 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:34,240 and I said, "Listen, man, you don't wanna get involved with the likes of me." 727 00:37:34,240 --> 00:37:35,880 "I'm actually a stripper." 728 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:39,000 And he was like, "That's okay. I've been to prison." 729 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:40,960 As if that's the same thing! 730 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:44,600 It's not the same thing, mate. 731 00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:46,640 One of us is an entrepreneur! 732 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:50,960 You try spinning titties into gold. 733 00:37:55,720 --> 00:37:58,360 But, you know, it was lovely gettin' back after a breakup. 734 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:01,440 You really appreciate the other person so much more. 735 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:04,760 You get rid of all your bad habits. You go on date nights. 736 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:07,400 You might even have some bad sexual habits. 737 00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:08,600 Not all the time, 738 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:11,960 but maybe some of the time, if you've been going out a long time. 739 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:15,920 You might rotate through the same two or three comfortable positions 740 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:17,560 over and over again. 741 00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:20,320 Maybe ones where you lie on your side 742 00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:22,200 to avoid lookin' in each other's 743 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:24,480 hate-filled faces. 744 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:28,280 Thumb your pajama bottoms down a couple of inches. 745 00:38:29,720 --> 00:38:32,280 Charmlessly present one bum cheek. 746 00:38:33,720 --> 00:38:37,720 Continue to gaze numbly at whatever screen is in front of your face. 747 00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:40,120 Screenshot another enemy. 748 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:45,120 Then a little voice at the back of your head pipes up, 749 00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:48,160 "Can you mute the cat videos on YouTube, please?" 750 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:51,920 "I'm trying to concentrate here." 751 00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:55,720 You thought, "Well, young me would never have thought 752 00:38:55,720 --> 00:38:58,800 someone would have to concentrate on shagging me." 753 00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:04,560 Then one of you'll say, "Let's jazz things up a bit." 754 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:07,040 "Let's start talking to each other during sex." 755 00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:10,760 This was his idea. I already talk rather a lot at work. 756 00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:14,680 He said to me, "Let's pretend to be other people," 757 00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:17,680 and he said this mid-coitus, right? 758 00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:21,160 And then... Still shaggin' me, if you don't know Latin. 759 00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:26,760 Some intellectuals in, thankfully. 760 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:30,400 ...he went, "Who do you want to be?" 761 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:32,840 And I just panicked, man. I was like, 762 00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:35,080 "Brooklyn Beckham?" 763 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:45,400 I don't know how sexy talk works. 764 00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:49,080 But what I do know is Brooklyn has a crackin' life, 765 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:51,760 filled with nepotism and undeserved opportunity, 766 00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:53,920 thanks to Victoria and David, 767 00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:55,800 and I want a piece of the pie. 768 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:01,480 That little bastard does anything he wants. 769 00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:05,200 I think he's a chef now. 770 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:10,520 The other day, I tried doin' sexual talking again, 771 00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:14,720 and I said to my boyfriend, "What if we pretended I'm a virgin?" 772 00:40:14,720 --> 00:40:17,720 And he was like, "My imagination's not that good, Fern." 773 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:26,800 You know, before goin' out with him, I thought I was a really sexy person 774 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:28,800 just 'cause I'd had... sex! 775 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:30,560 Thought I was a real slag. 776 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:32,920 That's a very Catholic view. 777 00:40:32,920 --> 00:40:35,480 I was like, "I'm dead sexy 'cause I've had sex." 778 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:38,840 I'm not. I'm really vanilla. I'm incredibly borin'. 779 00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:42,800 And I found this out because I got told off for kink shamin'. 780 00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:45,880 Uh, it was on a podcast hosted by Gen Zers. 781 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:48,680 The term "kink shaming" is such a Gen Z concept. 782 00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:51,200 I can't engage with it on any serious level. 783 00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:55,280 So the moment they went, "Actually, Fern, don't kink shame," I was like, 784 00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:59,440 "How about you stop crappin' in each other's mouths then, you little perverts?" 785 00:41:05,240 --> 00:41:08,760 That was when I was like, "Get a Telegraph subscription." 786 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:13,400 But, honestly, like, this is what I mean about gettin' older. 787 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:16,280 I'm like, "Is this where young people's sense of victimhood comes from?" 788 00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:20,000 "That you can't do poo-poo, pee-pee play without me laughin' at it?" 789 00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:23,280 "In my day, we were out protestin' against the war!" 790 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:27,000 Uh, I mean, people in my school were. I think. I don't know. 791 00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:30,360 I don't even know what war I'm referring to there. 792 00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:34,920 And look, I'm sorry if... 793 00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:38,160 'Cause we are in a progressive town, if anyone... 794 00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:40,200 I'm worried someone's gonna be sittin' at the back 795 00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:43,840 with a little above-the-ear beanie, and they're gonna have a little... 796 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:47,120 "Don't kink shame!" 797 00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:50,920 And I'm sorry if you're into the old coprophilia, 798 00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:53,680 but, look, if you grow up Catholic in Scotland, 799 00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:56,160 it's really one step removed from being Amish. 800 00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:57,920 You don't have anything like it here. 801 00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:00,440 You've got Jacob Rees-Mogg. That's your one Catholic. 802 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:01,600 It's not the same. 803 00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:05,920 So it's quite a miracle I turned out to be the shagger I am today. 804 00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:07,040 It's quite brave. 805 00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:10,200 'Cause I got told a lot of sex lies growing up, 806 00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:11,680 and this is one of the biggest ones. 807 00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:13,480 It was told to me by my granny. 808 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:16,760 She was a very sweet woman but deeply religious. 809 00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:18,760 She had two types of holy water. 810 00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:21,120 Everyday use. Special occasions. 811 00:42:22,720 --> 00:42:24,560 Death and comas, all right? 812 00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:28,000 She took me aside one day in the summer holidays when I was 14, 813 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:29,840 and she looked so uncomfortable. 814 00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:32,160 And I didn't wanna make my gran uncomfortable. 815 00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:36,200 And she said, "Oh, hen, I found these things in your room today." 816 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:39,720 "They're no good. They're no good for you. You shouldn't have them." 817 00:42:39,720 --> 00:42:42,840 And I thought, "Uh-oh, she's found my Marlboro Lights." 818 00:42:43,640 --> 00:42:46,080 She hadn't. She'd found a box of tampons. 819 00:42:46,080 --> 00:42:48,160 'Cause I don't know how many of you know... You know. 820 00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:52,520 Uh, old Irish Catholics believe that tampons compromise your virginity, 821 00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:53,640 which is bananas 822 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:57,960 'cause I would kill myself if a dick in any way resembled a tampon. 823 00:42:57,960 --> 00:43:03,480 And that is not intended to shame the micropenis community, 824 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:06,080 none of whom are here tonight anyway. 825 00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:09,440 They're all doing gigs of their own up and down the country, aren't they? 826 00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:13,960 Whoo! Aah! 827 00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:17,600 But for real, it's not intended for that. 828 00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:20,240 I just think it's wildly naive 829 00:43:20,240 --> 00:43:22,680 to assume what a woman looks for in a willy 830 00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:24,600 is what she looks for in a tampon. 831 00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:27,720 I mean, the nightmare scenarios that would ensue 832 00:43:27,720 --> 00:43:30,480 if willies had absorbency! 833 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:36,280 No more casual sex with your partner. 834 00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:38,360 'Cause now, if he's a bit slobby, 835 00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:40,800 you have to nag him any time you want to have sex, 836 00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:42,920 "Will you go wring your willy out in the sink?" 837 00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:44,320 "'Cause it's drippin'." 838 00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:48,440 He'd have to haul himself out of bed, 839 00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:52,080 feelin' dejected, feelin' emasculated, feelin' ashamed. 840 00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:53,720 Trudge off to the bathroom. 841 00:43:53,720 --> 00:43:56,480 "I'm sorry, man. I went for a run in the rain, 842 00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:59,040 and it's soaked through my joggin' bottoms." 843 00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:04,560 He'd have to take his bloated, spongy willy, 844 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:08,320 drape it over the edge of the sink, 845 00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:10,800 and then wring it out dejectedly, 846 00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:14,320 like a barman's dishrag at the end of a shift. 847 00:44:16,840 --> 00:44:18,280 He'd trudge back to bed. 848 00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:21,760 You'll be lyin' there with your hands protectively over your boobs. 849 00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:24,480 "Stop drippin' it on the new wooden floors!" 850 00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:26,920 "Well, we can have sex now." 851 00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:28,880 "I don't even feel like it anymore." 852 00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:32,920 You'd say, "I just want a guy that can keep his dick dry." 853 00:44:34,200 --> 00:44:36,840 It'd become a conversation topic amongst women. 854 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:39,520 "Yeah, her new boyfriend, he don't keep his dick dry." 855 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:42,880 Nicki Minaj would write a hit song about it. 856 00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:46,400 "My Man Keeps His Dick Dry." 857 00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:52,040 It's good goin' out with someone a long time. 858 00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:55,160 It's really comfortin' to be able to come back from tour 859 00:44:55,160 --> 00:44:56,480 and lounge around the house 860 00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:59,280 wearing your boyfriend's hoodie, like a girly girl. 861 00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:03,000 But the other day, I'd been wearin' his hoodie for, like, a solid week, 862 00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:05,600 'cause I'm a skank, and it was gettin' stinky. 863 00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:10,080 I said to him... He was doing the laundry, and I said, "There's your hoodie, pal." 864 00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:12,240 And he said, "That's not my hoodie, Fern." 865 00:45:12,240 --> 00:45:16,080 That was when I thought, "Right enough. You're quite a small-framed man." 866 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:18,360 I'm actually wearin' the very large hoodie 867 00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:21,080 of my elderly Albanian builder, and... 868 00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:25,200 ...had been doing so for a week 869 00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:27,080 in front of the builder... 870 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:30,640 like a psychopath. 871 00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:37,600 Offerin' him cups of tea 872 00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:39,920 wearing his clothes. 873 00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:46,160 Askin' him how the tiling in the en suite was coming along, 874 00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:47,480 dressed as him! 875 00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:53,760 But never mentionin' it for a whole week, 876 00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:57,640 just so the guy thought his mind was playing tricks on him. 877 00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:02,000 Oh God. 878 00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:05,560 That's my way of saying I got a house, right? 879 00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:06,760 I got a house. 880 00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:09,760 It's great. You have a house. 881 00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:12,360 A landlord can't tell you what to do anymore. 882 00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:15,920 I thought, "Right, man. The first thing I'm gonna do is get a dog." 883 00:46:15,920 --> 00:46:18,240 I love dogs. I'm a dog person. 884 00:46:18,240 --> 00:46:19,520 Not a cat person. 885 00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:21,240 I had a cat once at uni. 886 00:46:21,240 --> 00:46:22,600 Uh, it was dreadful. 887 00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:26,160 Uh, well done if you've got a rescue cat and you get on with it. 888 00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:28,440 This cat I got was satanic. 889 00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:31,120 It hissed at me. It let me touch it once a week. 890 00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:33,880 It was like living with a cold Russian whore. 891 00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:37,200 Sex worker. Sorry. 892 00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:45,320 But it was a... it was a mean cat, so I was like, "I'm gonna get a wee dog." 893 00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:48,920 And then my boyfriend said, "You can't. You're away on tour too much." 894 00:46:48,920 --> 00:46:49,960 "Get a cat." 895 00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:51,840 Well, I got a cat. 896 00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:53,800 I got a fancy, luxury cat. 897 00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:56,960 Uh... I didn't get the kind that attacks you for no reason. 898 00:46:56,960 --> 00:47:00,200 I got a lobotomized pedigree cat 899 00:47:00,200 --> 00:47:02,760 that just... you just cradle like a mental patient. 900 00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:04,200 It's amazin'. 901 00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:07,600 I love this cat more than either of my parents. 902 00:47:07,600 --> 00:47:09,440 Within six months, 903 00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:13,040 I had a plumber come round, and he said that the cat looked lonely. 904 00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:16,200 He just made this passing comment, the cat looked lonely. 905 00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:18,960 I immediately bought another cat to help the first cat. 906 00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:22,000 I love my cat so much, I bought him a pet cat, right? 907 00:47:24,240 --> 00:47:26,680 I love him more than you could ever know. 908 00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:28,760 In spite of this, I'm not a cat person. 909 00:47:28,760 --> 00:47:30,600 I'm a dog person without a dog. 910 00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:32,200 Youse understand, right? 911 00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:34,560 The people in my life don't. 912 00:47:34,560 --> 00:47:35,840 As soon as I got the cats 913 00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:38,400 and I started postin' about them on Instagram, 914 00:47:38,400 --> 00:47:39,600 people closest to me, 915 00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:42,960 my mum, my best friend of 20 years, 916 00:47:42,960 --> 00:47:45,400 started calling me a cat lady 917 00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:49,760 and buying me disgustin' cat-themed gifts. 918 00:47:51,520 --> 00:47:53,640 Hideous mugs with cats on them. 919 00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:56,800 Tacky paintings of a woman holding a cat in her lap. 920 00:47:57,320 --> 00:48:00,520 Why would I like that? That's such an offensive gi... 921 00:48:00,520 --> 00:48:02,480 I love my cats 'cause they're great little guys. 922 00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:04,360 I've raised them from when they were kittens. 923 00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:08,160 I've cleaned up their mess. I love them because they have amazing personalities, 924 00:48:08,160 --> 00:48:09,760 not because they're cat-shaped. 925 00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:12,800 It'd be like you guys... You guys are together, right? 926 00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:15,720 You love him. You maybe post about him on social media. 927 00:48:15,720 --> 00:48:20,560 I would never dare give you a calendar of similar-looking bald men... 928 00:48:22,720 --> 00:48:24,360 ...and say to you... 929 00:48:27,720 --> 00:48:29,720 "Why don't you like your present?" 930 00:48:30,360 --> 00:48:32,920 "They all look vaguely like the outline of him." 931 00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:42,400 Do you know what? You're not even really bald, so I'm sorry I said that! 932 00:48:45,680 --> 00:48:47,160 I don't wanna hurt anyone. 933 00:48:47,160 --> 00:48:49,600 Even though I'm quite... I'm quite an edgelord onstage, 934 00:48:49,600 --> 00:48:51,240 I don't wanna hurt anyone. 935 00:48:57,320 --> 00:48:59,800 So I love my cats an embarrassing amount. 936 00:48:59,800 --> 00:49:01,880 I really hate how much I love them, 937 00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:04,520 uh, because I've always hated other... 938 00:49:04,520 --> 00:49:06,360 I don't know why this is. 939 00:49:06,360 --> 00:49:10,280 People that are too, too into animals, the outcomes are never good. 940 00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:12,640 Tiger King, the Australian guy... 941 00:49:15,240 --> 00:49:17,720 D'you know what I mean? It doesn't pan out well for them. 942 00:49:17,720 --> 00:49:20,000 So you don't wanna love animals too much. 943 00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:25,040 There's also a cliché that autistic people can connect with animals more, 944 00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:29,000 and you just love havin' pets more than neurotypical people, 945 00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:30,560 and I do feel that way. 946 00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:34,080 My cats are present with me in a way that humans aren't. 947 00:49:34,080 --> 00:49:37,000 They don't judge me on anything that I say. 948 00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:40,560 I can do so many things with my cats that I can't do with my friends. 949 00:49:40,560 --> 00:49:43,080 I can masturbate in front of them with... 950 00:49:44,560 --> 00:49:47,200 ...no change in their facial expression. 951 00:49:49,760 --> 00:49:54,320 You can't do that with your human friends, unless you're Louis C.K. 952 00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:57,760 - Then you can go back on tour. 953 00:50:00,200 --> 00:50:03,880 But, yeah, um, it's nice, it's nice, the home life I've got now. 954 00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:06,400 I had a very chaotic life when I was younger, 955 00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:10,760 and now I have a nice, borin' home life, just me, the cats, and the boyfriend. 956 00:50:10,760 --> 00:50:12,560 But still, when you're autistic, 957 00:50:12,560 --> 00:50:15,120 you still never really feel like you're gonna fit in. 958 00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:16,400 But in spite of the fact 959 00:50:16,400 --> 00:50:19,800 that I feel confidently that I am, uh, an autistic, 960 00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:21,960 A* Best Autistic Ever, 961 00:50:21,960 --> 00:50:25,880 I was really worried about calling the show Autistic Bikini Queen, 962 00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:28,440 'cause I thought you guys would just look at me 963 00:50:28,440 --> 00:50:30,920 and 'cause I'm not a little boy holdin' a toy train, 964 00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:32,840 lookin' sadly at the ground, 965 00:50:34,640 --> 00:50:37,000 I thought you'd be like, "She's lyin'." 966 00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:40,360 "To get at that lucrative autistic pound." 967 00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:44,280 And then I told my best friend, Alison. 968 00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:47,920 I said, "My audience are gonna think that I'm not autistic." 969 00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:51,000 And Alison's really polite, and she sorta paused for a moment, 970 00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:54,480 and she said, uh, "Don't take this the wrong way, Fern." 971 00:50:55,600 --> 00:50:57,560 "I hope this isn't offensive." 972 00:50:57,560 --> 00:51:00,280 "You don't need to worry about that anymore." 973 00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:04,280 She was like, "Your audience know something's up with you 974 00:51:04,280 --> 00:51:06,960 within a few minutes of you walking onstage." 975 00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:09,920 I thought that was the nicest compliment ever. 976 00:51:09,920 --> 00:51:11,520 I was so pleased with it. 977 00:51:11,520 --> 00:51:13,600 'Cause in the run-up to gettin' diagnosed, 978 00:51:13,600 --> 00:51:16,160 pretty much everyone in my life was sayin', 979 00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:18,880 "If you're not autistic, then what the fuck are you?" 980 00:51:20,720 --> 00:51:24,000 And then it flipped the second I got diagnosed, 981 00:51:24,000 --> 00:51:27,080 and people were like, "Well, you don't look autistic at all." 982 00:51:27,080 --> 00:51:29,280 I'm like, "What do you know about it?" 983 00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:32,320 They have to interview your mum when you get diagnosed, 984 00:51:32,320 --> 00:51:33,480 or one of your parents, 985 00:51:33,480 --> 00:51:35,640 and they interviewed my mum about it. 986 00:51:35,640 --> 00:51:39,440 Uh, they were like, "Oh, did she have any autistic traits as a child?" 987 00:51:39,440 --> 00:51:42,240 My mum came out with this dropdown list 988 00:51:42,240 --> 00:51:45,400 of the most Rain Man shit you've ever heard in your life 989 00:51:46,640 --> 00:51:48,440 that she hadn't thought to mention. 990 00:51:48,440 --> 00:51:52,320 She was like, "Oh, um, well, she used to growl at strangers 991 00:51:52,320 --> 00:51:54,480 when they spoke to her in the street." 992 00:51:55,720 --> 00:51:58,720 "But we just thought she was evil." 993 00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:02,400 ♪ Good old Catholicism In the Middle Ages ♪ 994 00:52:02,400 --> 00:52:04,800 How was I not drowned at birth? 995 00:52:06,160 --> 00:52:08,280 "We just thought she was evil." 996 00:52:09,200 --> 00:52:10,600 I also got told... 997 00:52:11,240 --> 00:52:14,800 I got told I couldn't be autistic 'cause I'd had a boyfriend. 998 00:52:14,800 --> 00:52:18,720 Uh, 'cause apparently, you have to be a sea monster to be autistic. 999 00:52:19,600 --> 00:52:22,760 I thought that one was really mad, because it kinda presumes 1000 00:52:22,760 --> 00:52:26,120 that men are listenin' to a word young women are sayin'. 1001 00:52:28,520 --> 00:52:29,760 Like, I'll give you an example. 1002 00:52:29,760 --> 00:52:32,120 No one listens to me till I got a mic in my hand. 1003 00:52:32,120 --> 00:52:34,200 I remember pulling some guy, 1004 00:52:34,200 --> 00:52:37,840 some idiot I met in a backpackers' hostel when I was a young woman. 1005 00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:40,240 And I pumped him. Sorry to be vulgar! 1006 00:52:41,120 --> 00:52:44,800 And afterwards, he's turned to me, and he said, "Aah!" 1007 00:52:44,800 --> 00:52:46,720 "How was that for you?" 1008 00:52:46,720 --> 00:52:49,480 And I went, "Rubbish. Fucking rubbish, mate." 1009 00:52:49,480 --> 00:52:51,960 And he went, "Ah, good." 1010 00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:57,360 Do you think he was listenin' to me? Do you think he was lookin' for 1011 00:52:57,360 --> 00:53:00,080 the discreet manifestations in autistic women? 1012 00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:01,160 No! 1013 00:53:02,560 --> 00:53:03,920 But, anyway, look, 1014 00:53:03,920 --> 00:53:08,200 uh, I... I'm finally starting to feel okay with my autism. 1015 00:53:08,200 --> 00:53:10,240 Uh, but you still feel left out, you know? 1016 00:53:10,240 --> 00:53:12,720 You still feel like you don't fit in with other women. 1017 00:53:12,720 --> 00:53:15,200 I've given up trying to fit in with other women, by the way. 1018 00:53:15,200 --> 00:53:17,920 Any time I do, it just backfires even worse. 1019 00:53:17,920 --> 00:53:21,800 But the combination of wanting to fit in somehow 1020 00:53:21,800 --> 00:53:25,200 and my recent near-death experience, you know, 1021 00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:27,040 it's made me want to do somethin' 1022 00:53:27,040 --> 00:53:29,920 that makes me feel accepted onstage every night. 1023 00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:33,440 So I've found a way to do it. I need one of you guys to help me. 1024 00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:35,760 All through the show, I've been lookin' at the front row, 1025 00:53:35,760 --> 00:53:38,280 bein' like, "Who looks not insane?" 1026 00:53:39,240 --> 00:53:42,920 "Who looks like they're gonna help me?" It's quite hard with my audience. 1027 00:53:44,880 --> 00:53:46,000 Can you help me? 1028 00:53:47,040 --> 00:53:48,560 Okay. What's your name? 1029 00:53:49,520 --> 00:53:52,600 Okay, Ollie. I'm gonna, uh, play some music. 1030 00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:56,160 Can you play something romantic, something really romantic? Okay. 1031 00:53:56,160 --> 00:53:59,560 - Come up. Give Ollie a round of applause. 1032 00:53:59,560 --> 00:54:01,120 - Take the mic. 1033 00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:08,320 Okay. 1034 00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:13,080 I see you're with your girlfriend there. 1035 00:54:13,680 --> 00:54:14,800 Yeah... 1036 00:54:17,320 --> 00:54:19,680 - Don't look at her anymore. 1037 00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:22,960 Ahem. 1038 00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:25,320 "Dear... Dear Brooklyn Beckham..." 1039 00:54:28,680 --> 00:54:31,840 "I wanted your favorite song to be playing when I did this." 1040 00:54:31,840 --> 00:54:35,600 "Unfortunately, the cost of playing Shania Twain in a theater was too high." 1041 00:54:35,600 --> 00:54:36,680 It's too high. 1042 00:54:36,680 --> 00:54:39,400 "So we're playing this generic crap instead." 1043 00:54:39,960 --> 00:54:42,840 "You have brought more joy to me in the last hour 1044 00:54:42,840 --> 00:54:45,320 than my girlfriend has in the last year." 1045 00:54:47,320 --> 00:54:50,880 "As soon as we leave here tonight, she's getting dumped, haha." 1046 00:54:53,480 --> 00:54:56,120 -"See ya..." - She... she looks really happy about it. 1047 00:54:58,640 --> 00:55:00,520 She's not bothered at all. 1048 00:55:01,160 --> 00:55:02,440 "See ya, babe." 1049 00:55:02,440 --> 00:55:04,320 - Uh... 1050 00:55:05,840 --> 00:55:07,560 "Our love is so special." 1051 00:55:07,560 --> 00:55:10,120 "You are a beautiful, sensitive, charming woman, 1052 00:55:10,120 --> 00:55:13,280 and there's no one else I'd want to fart onto my balls." 1053 00:55:15,520 --> 00:55:18,280 Your voice sounds like it's trembling with emotion. 1054 00:55:18,880 --> 00:55:20,760 Yeah. Uh... 1055 00:55:23,800 --> 00:55:27,280 "I promise to kiss your withered tits every day, 1056 00:55:28,480 --> 00:55:30,520 even when you are a skeleton, 1057 00:55:31,120 --> 00:55:32,640 even when you are dead." 1058 00:55:34,720 --> 00:55:37,520 Oh! Oh! I can't believe this is happening! 1059 00:55:38,840 --> 00:55:41,320 -"That's why I'm proposing to you--" - This is so spontaneous! 1060 00:55:41,320 --> 00:55:43,760 I can't believe you're doing this at my work! 1061 00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:45,560 "I'm proposing with this ring, 1062 00:55:45,560 --> 00:55:48,600 balanced on the pillow I will one day smother you with 1063 00:55:48,600 --> 00:55:50,880 when you are terminally ill." 1064 00:55:50,880 --> 00:55:54,880 Ollie, you don't need to sound happy about it. You sound cheerful. 1065 00:55:54,880 --> 00:55:57,440 I'm just... I'm just nearly at the end. Um... 1066 00:56:00,200 --> 00:56:02,200 "And I'm hoping you will say yes." 1067 00:56:02,200 --> 00:56:06,160 Ah! Ah! Yes! The answer's not on the page. It's in my heart. 1068 00:56:06,160 --> 00:56:09,720 One thousand yeses. Let me touch your chest now, 1069 00:56:09,720 --> 00:56:12,840 so we can get that essential Instagram photo 1070 00:56:12,840 --> 00:56:14,920 to show that I'm a real woman. 1071 00:56:14,920 --> 00:56:17,720 - Your heart's beating really fast. 1072 00:56:18,360 --> 00:56:20,560 Give him a round of applause. He was amazing. 1073 00:56:26,480 --> 00:56:29,320 I finally feel like I've achieved something as a woman. 1074 00:56:29,320 --> 00:56:32,640 You guys have been lovely as well. You've made it such a fun show. 1075 00:56:32,640 --> 00:56:36,000 Enjoy the rest of your night and lives. I've been Fern Brady. Good night!