Helen Lederer: I regret being a feeble people-pleaser

“It’s interesting when people ask: ‘What makes you happy?’ as it isn’t really an ambition of mine,” says Helen Lederer. “I would say my ambition would be the absence of anxiety.” Sadly for the comedian, actress and writer, there is not much chance of that: anxiety seems to come as part and parcel of her current show – a podcast recorded in front of a live audience. “I’m familiar with adrenaline – which means I’m familiar with anxiety. “Obviously, there is a relief when you’re not charged up,” she says, “but unless you are, nothing gets done. So I just accept that my life is going to have that adrenaline and go for it. “At this late stage of my life” – Lederer, who is 72, adds – “I’m actually doing what I wish I’d had the balls to do when I started stand-up when I was 30. What could possibly go wrong? Well, everything, but f**k it.” Anyone familiar with Lederer’s work will find it no surprise that she is as entertaining and irreverent during our chat as she is on stage and screen. Emerging from the 80s alternative comedy scene, she is best known for playing dippy magazine editor Catriona in Absolutely Fabulous, but her credits also include The Young Ones, Bottom, French & Saunders and Naked Video. In a career spanning four decades, she also founded the Comedy Women in Print Prize in 2018, which celebrates women’s comic writing, and is the author of novels, columns and a memoir, Not That I’m Bitter.Her recently launched live podcast, Eff It, celebrates the rejection of people-pleasing and sacking off permission. It is a subject with which she is well acquainted. “I regret being feeble and a people-pleaser,” she tells me. “When I was younger, I was cautious – I wanted to be part of the establishment and to secure gainful employment that was largely commissioned by men for sitcoms that were largely written by men.” Fellow comic Rik Mayall famously warned Lederer: “Don’t crash my laughs” – and trying to succeed in an industry where women weren’t taken as seriously meant taking a different tack. “I’d go to meetings and be really well-behaved, as I was brought up to be – and I would just stay in that lane. Helen Lederer’s new podcast “But I’m in my ‘eff it’ era now,” she adds. “If a person stands up for a principle that is not universally accepted, I take my hat off to them. I do applaud the rebels – but there’s a cost.” Revelling in bad decisions is something Lederer approaches with a sense of levity. “I’ve made some errors in my past, and I can look back and think: ‘Ooh, I could have handled that better,’” she says. “But I find mistakes quite funny – probably as some kind of hysterical denial or psychological protection.” Despite her extensive career, Lederer admits to comparing her trajectory with that of her peers. “I think everyone does that comparison thing – it’s human nature,” she says. “I talk about being in the B-team in I’m Not Bitter, but nobody likes an angry person, so I’m kind of accepting of it,” she says. “I never quite knew why I didn’t get what I wanted – I would love to have written and been in a sitcom. Sometimes it’s luck, though mostly it’s injustice.” Helen attends Eff It Live With Helen Lederer And Friends at Phoenix Arts Club (Photo: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty) She admits to being “amazed” when she watches Live at the Apollo, “a window into the best of the best from the stand-up circuit, I assume. I’m amazed that people can riff on a small subject, like going to the shops, for a 20-minute routine. That’s not to put it down – maybe you can make it utterly hilarious and ground-breaking – I’m just surprised by what is accepted and not challenged. “When I was younger, I didn’t do overt feminist stuff because I felt that could alienate people, so I talked about sunbeds and self-help tapes a lot. It was the 80s and you reflect the generation you’re in and all the angst that comes with it.” As for what makes her laugh, “I like absurdity. My definition of what I think is funny is somebody walking along the road, falling over and then pretending they haven’t. Things that go wrong and how you have to cover them.” Has getting older made her more confident – or simply more willing to admit when she doubts herself? “I think I’m closer to just being truthful because I’ve got nothing to protect any more,” she says. “When really famous people write a memoir, they probably have to be very careful and just list all their successes – whereas I literally put everything in mine.” In terms of outstanding ambitions, one stands out: “I want to get ‘eff it’ into the Cambridge Dictionary.” Eff It is filmed live at London’s Phoenix Arts Club. The podcast is available through all major providers