This is a blog about creativity. And death.
Back in February, one of the most brilliant, creative, accomplished, energetic and lovely souls ever made in this town was taken from us far too young. A few days ago, we went to her funeral.
Let me talk about funeral goals… this was the best one I’ve ever been to. Such an outpouring of love from all, and touching stories from her brother, cousins and close friends; music; poetry; the most amazing montage video full of photos of Katy pratting about with cherry bakewells, pretending to eat rainbows… or being brilliant acting on stage, or fierce roller-derby skating, or doing comedy, or giggling to herself like Peter Griffin as she’s moving her boat up through Bugbrooke. The funeral crowd wore bright colours and red noses to honour her, as she was a huge fan of clowning and had been to Ecole Phillipe Gaulier a couple of times. We were surrounded by photos of Katy, and of her famous scarves and t-shirts. We finally said goodbye to her in a green burial site, where everyone becomes a tree. The little woodland is next to a llama farm. I think she’d love that.
I’ve been thinking about Katy a lot, and about how she buzzed with energy, and knew so many different circles of people because she tried her hand at so many creative things. She had her different passions, but also very clearly lots of awesome talent. She was a vital cog in the creative pool of Northampton for sure. I often crossed her path in comedy, acting, and pub stuff. Oh and Lush where she worked. I am often in there, buying something that smells delicious.
And then a couple of days ago, I found myself watching a YouTube called Diary of a CEO, where Jimmy Carr was being interviewed. At first, I found it inspirational – he has such a strong work ethic and an obvious ambition that has made him the success he is today. He was full of profound sagacity on the topic of working seriously and putting the hours in. I think I would agree with a lot of what he says, too (ignoring the fact that all that hard work resulted in some jokes that seem to have been written for the sake of contention, but each to their own). I don’t really think his style is my cup of tea, that’s about it really.
A lot of comedians really look up to Jimmy, mainly because of that work ethic and ambition and want to emulate that, and so get frustrated by the fact that often it’s just not practical to commit to comedy like it’s a full-time job when you also have other responsibilities… However, I was really struck by a story Jimmy told about a talented man who realised that he wanted to dedicate 5 years to raising his son instead of work, so he did. Jimmy’s eyes sparkle when he reveals what he feels is the punchline, for that man was John Lennon. “How beautiful for Sean!” Jimmy enthuses. I can’t quite work out why this was a great example for Jimmy. Was it because a man raised his child, but look it was John Lennon? A cool guy raised his child, so if you want to do that too, look a cool guy also did it. Or was it that John Lennon could afford to take a bit off time off work because he was John Lennon and had already proved himself? Could you take 5 years out to raise your son, but only once you were sure you were one of the greatest songwriters of all time? What if you haven’t yet proved that to yourself? What, you don’t get to take the time to raise your son? What do you mean, like he did with Julian? (BTW, I see Julian and Sean working together and being awesome creating music. Go them!)
I think that may be because although I admire people with a strong work ethic, I think I am not someone who finds the idea of an extreme singular focus terribly appealing myself. I also think those that do can’t often square their sense of dedication and commitment with having multi-faceted lives and multiple skills and interests, so they tend to ignore the aspects that don’t fit that vision they have of themselves. Of course, some people can be unfocused and all over the place, or unable to learn how to do something properly, but I don’t think that’s what Jimmy is talking about when he mentions his peers from comedy doing “four or five different things.” He can’t understand someone who wants to “write a book” as though they are diminishing the possibility of achieving ultimate success in comedy. I don’t know about that at all. I think about people like Josie Long, pioneering short fiction, or Robin Ince with his fantastic non-fiction writing, filmmaking and radio shows, or James Acaster, with his tetralogy of Netflix specials, his sitcom writing, his various podcasts, his books, his music, and his nascent career in Hollywood and think, well why would you want to pigeonhole yourself if you can be brilliant at lots of things and have great fun doing them all?
I think I really agree with Jimmy Carr’s point about being aware of your own mortality, but again, I think we may have different reasons.
Anyway, it’s an interesting chat, but I think creatively I need to find a different way of being. I think, as many of us said at her funeral, I would like to be more Katy.
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