{"id":268407,"date":"2026-02-01T08:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/268407\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T08:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:01:08","slug":"rosie-jones-looks-back-without-realising-it-id-been-workshopping-jokes-down-the-pub-saying-im-not-disabled-im-drunk-rosie-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/268407\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosie Jones looks back: \u2018Without realising it, I\u2019d been workshopping jokes down the pub, saying, I\u2019m not disabled, I\u2019m drunk\u2019 | Rosie Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rosie Jones in 1993 and 2025, standing up holding on to a rollator, smiling at the camera<\/a>Rosie Jones in 1993 and 2025. Later photograph: P\u00e5l Hansen\/The Guardian. Styling: Andie Redman. Hair and makeup: Lou Blake. Archive photograph: courtesy of Rosie Jones<\/p>\n

Born in 1990 in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, Rosie Jones<\/a> began her career working in television as a researcher on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, before moving into live comedy. Her television appearances include Live at the Apollo, The Last Leg, Taskmaster and the Tokyo Paralympics. She has published a series of children\u2019s books, titled The Amazing Edie Eckhart, and\u00a0hosts the new series of Out of Order on Comedy Central.<\/p>\n

This was taken in my childhood home in Bridlington. My family had moved in not long before the photo was taken, hence the very empty living room in the background. I should also acknowledge my incredible outfit: Mr Men trousers, paired with a black velvet hat. It makes me really fond of my mum. She took so much pride in putting me in ridiculous clothes.<\/p>\n

I was a smiley, happy child. I\u2019ve had cerebral palsy since birth, so I\u2019ve never known any other reality. At three years old I went to a disabled nursery connected to a disabled school, and I\u00a0remember thinking, \u201cWhy am I here?\u201d At the end of the day, the teacher brought my parents in and said, \u201cRosie should be in a mainstream school.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was five when the Disability Discrimination Act came in. If\u00a0I\u2019d\u00a0been\u00a0born 10 years earlier, I\u00a0probably would have gone to that disabled school, which would have led to fewer opportunities for me in the long run. Instead, the mainstream school was given a lot of funding by the government. I was one of a few disabled children in my year, so I had a\u00a0teacher\u2019s aide, one-to one, for my entire primary school experience. I\u00a0couldn\u2019t hand-write because of my cerebral palsy, but I was given a\u00a0laptop so I never missed out on any of my education. It breaks my heart to think of the disabled people starting school today. The funding they need to succeed simply isn\u2019t there any more.<\/p>\n

Being disabled, I couldn\u2019t walk or talk properly, but I realised that if I\u00a0made a funny face or said something silly, getting laughter from people was all I needed. I was hooked on being funny. My training started at home: my dad, bless him \u2013 a good man, not a\u00a0funny bone in his body \u2013 was out of the game. My mum and my brother, however, were always cracking jokes and doing characters. Not to be arrogant or a dickhead, but it was me setting them up for the punchline. This continued as a teenager at school. I wanted to be surrounded by laughter, but I didn\u2019t necessarily want to be the one in the spotlight because I already had so much unwanted attention. Feeding other people the lines made me feel far more comfortable.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very liberal and vocal in my beliefs and my politics, so with the rise of the right, I get abused online every day<\/p>\n

At the start of my career, I was working on 8 Out of 10 Cats, writing jokes for Jimmy Carr. Alongside my full-time job as a TV researcher, I\u00a0was doing a postgraduate diploma in comedy writing at the National Film and Television<\/a> School. I was taught by an amazing man, Bill Dare, who sadly isn\u2019t with us any more. In the best possible way, he was a grumpy bugger. I\u2019d hand in my sketches or jokes and he would take one look and go, \u201cNo, it\u2019s shit.\u201d It didn\u2019t put me off \u2013 I was in my element, surrounded by other comedy writers and going to the pub after class. One night, when I was telling everyone a story as we had a drink, Bill\u00a0looked at me and said, \u201cYou\u2019re a\u00a0standup. Go and try standup comedy.\u201d I thought, \u201cWell, now I\u2019ve got to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After that, I became more aware of how internalised ableism had shaped me and my perception of who I could become. I grew stronger in my confidence and realised, \u201cWhy the fuck can\u2019t I be the one telling the joke?\u201d I already had a bit of material ready. Without acknowledging it, I\u00a0had been workshopping jokes down the pub for years. For example, \u201cOh, I\u2019m not disabled, I\u2019m drunk.\u201d Those lines were ones I\u2019d use as a defence mechanism to show people that I\u00a0might have a disability, but I was an alert, intelligent and extremely foolish person, too.<\/p>\n

During those first five years of gigging, I barely slept. I was working in TV during the day, doing standup five days a week, then I would get home and do my homework for the comedy writing course. It was hard, but worth it. Whenever I meet aspiring standups and they say to me, \u201cI want to be rich and famous. How do I do that?\u201d I\u00a0always reply, \u201cYou literally need to go to Reading on a Wednesday night, perform to four people who fucking hate you, cry on the train home and be \u00a340 out of pocket.\u201d If you can do that and wake up the next day thinking, \u201cWe go again\u201d \u2013 then that means standup comedy is for you.<\/p>\n

Being famous was never something I wanted. Standup is just a hobby that got out of hand. The upside of having an audience is that people listen. We live in a world where disabled people are often left out of the conversation \u2013 even conversations about disability. Through my career, I\u2019m able to go on TV or write for newspapers, and people pay attention to what I say. It\u00a0also matters when someone comes up to me and tells me, \u201cThank you for the representation.\u201d Growing up, I\u00a0rarely saw disabled characters in the media, and when I did, they were usually victims or treated as vulnerable. It would have blown my mind to see an independent disabled adult \u2013 swearing, talking about sex, drinking, smoking and having flaws \u2013 on primetime TV.<\/p>\n

The other side of fame is that I attract a lot of negativity. I\u2019m very liberal and vocal in my politics, so with the rise of the right, I get abused online every day. I\u2019ve got to work hard on my mental health and choose not to expose myself to social media. It\u2019s also made me quite anxious when I go out. Sometimes my friends will suggest we go into a pub and I\u2019ll think, \u201cIt looks a\u00a0bit busy, let\u2019s not.\u201d I don\u2019t always feel like I\u2019m in the frame of mind to deal with strangers coming over to me, because I never know what will happen. Sometimes people want to take photos, but a lot of people hug or kiss me. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s because I\u2019m\u00a0small, a woman, disabled, or because I\u00a0have a friendly persona, but there are even times when people try to pick me up. I\u2019m sure it comes with good intentions, but I often have to say, \u201cYou know what, can you put me down, please?\u201d In an ideal world, I\u00a0would like the fame that means I have power that influences representation, without having the online abuse and boundary crossing.<\/p>\n

When I look back at this photo, I\u00a0feel inspired. I\u2019ve got such a love-hate \u2013 emphasis on hate \u2013 relationship with mobility aids. If\u00a0they\u2019re offered to me now, I\u00a0think, \u201cI can walk, so why would I use an aid\u00a0when that\u2019s a\u00a0physical embodiment of disability?\u201d That wasn\u2019t how I felt back then. Mobility aids were simply tools that helped me get around. Over the years, they became negative symbols of disability. That internalised ableism is something I\u2019m trying to shed through therapy. When I see how happily I\u2019m using my\u00a0rollator at the age of three, I\u00a0realise that 35-year-old Rosie could learn a\u00a0lot\u00a0from her younger self.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rosie Jones in 1993 and 2025, standing up holding on to a rollator, smiling at the cameraRosie Jones…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-268407","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}