Setting out on a UK Tour with Big Girls Pants, Lauren Pattison shares her thoughts with Pepper&Salt on her new hour, giving us insight into her writing and comedy processes for this show.
How would you summarise your show?
Big Girl Pants is a show about turning thirty and wanting to be a bit braver, a bit less anxious. It’s about wanting to make the best of what’s to come.
What inspired Big Girl Pants?
The way I tend to write shows is I find bits I want to talk about, and then work out a way to thread it together, so the material inspires a theme, rather than a theme inspiring the material. That way I make sure I’m talking about what I actually want to talk about, rather than forcing bits in! When I looked at the main things I wanted to talk about, I got the vibe there was an undercurrent of wanting to get on top of the anxiety, wanting to get better at facing your fears, wanting to evolve into the best version of yourself you can be. I am not scared of getting older, I’m just scared of everything else in life, and I wanted it to be this positive celebration of getting older and navigating life.
If it’s not too much of a spoiler, in reference to your show, what exactly do you mean by the phrase ‘bigger, bolder and blonder’?
The honest truth is you have to write the descriptions of your show months before you have written the show so find yourself writing something catchy and enticing in the hope of hooking people in. But that doesn’t mean the statement itself isn’t true, and that’s why I’ve kept it – I think it’s important to always want to improve as a stand up, my goal is always to feel I’ve written a show that I believe to be better than the last, so that’s what’s meant by coming back bigger. I want people to come away who’ve seen me before and go ‘wow, she gets better every time!’ Bolder, I always want to be looking at what I tackle material wise as a stand up and what I’ve got to say. Can I challenge myself to write about things or talk about things I wouldn’t have dreamed of before? And blonder, because it was a third thing that began with a B. However I have now dyed my hair a bit browner, so that might be the only one of the three that turns out to be a lie, we’ll see if I fancy going blonde again at my next hairdressers appointment.
How do you balance the ‘wickedness and warmth’ in your material?
I’m not the kind of comedian who sets out to be mean or cause upset, so it’s always about making sure I’m coming at anything with the right intentions and in the right tone. When I’m writing, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with occasionally being a bit cheeky and toeing the line, as long as I’m not stampeding over it trying to get a reaction out of some huge shock factor for the sake of it. That’s not my style at all. Just be funny, and try not to be a dick (if I can say that!)
” The main thing I wanted to look at is how to make sure I was going into the next decade of my life with more confidence and less anxiety than the last.”
Please correct me if I’m wrong but from the outset this hour seems almost like a ‘coming of age’ hour. What are you explicitly hoping to explore or deconstruct, either in terms of tropes or subject matter?
I didn’t write it as a coming of age hour, but it’s something I’ve heard people say so it must have turned out that way! I quite like that though, I like when the audience takes something from it that maybe you didn’t see ‘cause you were too close to it when writing. The main thing I wanted to look at is how to make sure I was going into the next decade of my life with more confidence and less anxiety than the last.
How does this show feed into or stand in contrast to your previous work?
I feel like all my shows are snapshots of my life, what was going on at a particular time. Previously I’ve had a heartbreak show, a show about being proud of achieving your dreams and a show about life going haywire thanks to Covid. I think that’s why my shows are quite authentic, I see them as almost catch ups with my audience about what’s been going on in life. It’s partly why I felt I had to address turning thirty in the show, I’ve grown up doing stand up and it felt almost odd not to make something of it!
What was the aim or approach that you took when writing this hour?
My aim is always to write a good solid, funny hour of stand up that people will enjoy. I don’t have a set approach to writing comedy really – the whole thing is very trial and error! You try and tweak and chop and change until you and the audience are happy with what you’ve got. It can be stressful but it’s worth it when it comes together.
Favourite moment or joke in the show?
I think my favourite routine is about going for a colposcopy (note, no that is not the same as a colonoscopy!) It was something I was so worried about, and without giving away any spoilers I found that by going into it with as positive an attitude as I could, and maybe having some moral support on hand, I ended up managing to find laughter in what I thought was going to be a scary situation. I never dreamed I’d end up writing material about it, but I gave it a go and I was chuffed how well it went down with audiences. I also was really proud to write material about something like that – I think it normalises talking about these kinds of things which is so important.
What are you looking forward to on this tour?
I’ve added a few places that I’ve gigged in before on weekend clubs, but have never taken a tour show there before so I’m looking forward to that. I’m looking forward to introducing some of my favourite acts as tour support too, I think it is so important to have one. I know I’m far from a household name, but I’m lucky enough to be beginning to get to the point where I can tour and some people will (hopefully!) come see me, so why wouldn’t I want to bring someone great and hopefully get them some new fans who can then in turn support them on their comedy journey? I was lucky enough to get to do tour support for people earlier in my career and it was so great to be trusted with someone’s audience and to pick up some lovely new followers; I found it so helpful in my development as a comedian.
What can audiences expect from this hour?
A show packed with humour and a good sprinkling of heart.
Pepper & Salt 
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