My Comedy Career: Helen Monks

Helen Monks is a writer, actor and comedian known for her roles in Raised By Wolves and Upstart Crow - the TV sitcom, and in the West End. From February, she will appear as Peter Quince in the RSC's A Midsummer Night's Dream in Stratford-upon-Avon until 30 March 2024. Helen is also the co-director of theatre company LUNG.

Tell us what you do in your job.

HELLO. I do acting, writing, mostly being funny, occasionally being serious and sometimes even being funny and serious at the same time. Although that does cost extra.

I also co-run a theatre company called LUNG, which involves a lot of not-so-funny spreadsheets. Unless you count the spreadsheet-related jokes POPPING OFF in the Excel WhatsApp chat I'm in.

How did you first get involved in the comedy industry?

I met the writer Caitlin Moran at a book signing at Birmingham Book Festival when I was 19. I knew she was writing a pilot of a sitcom about her life. I asked if I could audition to be her. I made the good case that I already came included with Doc Martens, black hair and my very own Brummie accent. She, madly, said yes, and wrote her email address in my signed book. Dear reader, I got the job.

What key skills do you need to be able to do your job well?

I think the best trick is try to KILL any self-consciousness. As much as possible, be an unselfconscious motherfucker.

Being kind is also always a good skill to hone. People will want to work with you; you will want to work with you, because even when you do crap acting or a joke doesn't land, you can know you've still had something to offer the world that day.

What has been your biggest career achievement to date?

Definitely Raised by Wolves and I basically learnt everything doing that job. My family from that show are still my family, and we cheerlead each other, take the piss out of each other and remind each other that we're just floating through a big ball in space.

I'm also really proud of a few scripts I've written that are sitting in a desktop folder on my laptop, so any producers reading this CALL ME.

And what has been the biggest challenge/disappointment?

I HAVE A VERY LONG LIST.

I was once a maid in a period drama, quite a lead role, and after I'd done my first take of my first scene, I heard the director shout from offset: 'can we lose the maid?' I was sent home half an hour later.

I was cut from Bridget Jones' Baby. There's a moment where Bridget leaves to go to the shop and then comes back with her shopping bags. I WAS IN THE SHOP. I WAS IN THE SHOP. I mean, I still got to spend half a day in a supermarket with Renee Zellweger, so swings and roundabouts. And I get £3.95 a year in repeat fees.

The worst was probably when I got down to the final ONE for a huge Disney comedy. 4 rounds of auditions and it was my final audition and it was literally only ME left, they were just doing chemistry reads. A week later I found out they had decided to start filming with the role uncast while they looked for someone else. They would have rather spent a week doing panning shots of buildings and landscapes rather than film my face!

All of these are now great pub anecdotes and as soon as you share yours, you learn that everybody has them. They help to test how much complete self-belief you can really truly have, and you honestly must have it. Genuinely, 99.9% of the time, the failure is not down to you. And if you let the voice of self-doubt creep in, you're fucked. So, even on the days you're faking it, love yourself as much as humanly possible. Plus, in my view it's the greatest selfless act because, in the words of Lizzo, 'if you're shining everybody's gonna shine'.

I mean honestly, poor Disney, not getting to work with Helen Monks (yet).

Talk us through a typical day.

Every morning I have a 'huddle' on Zoom at 10am with my theatre company team, Matt and Camille. We talk about what we're doing that day - sometimes meetings, sometimes rehearsals, sometimes spreadsheets, or sometimes I'm zooming in from a dressing room or set because I'm doing some acting. It's really nice to have the routine of our daily huddle because a job in the arts every day is different, so it gives the illusion of control.

At the moment I'm in tech rehearsals in Stratford-Upon-Avon for Midsummer Night's Dream. The tech days are until 10pm, while they figure out lights and sound and magic. I'm really enjoying being part of such a huge company of very talented people. You should come and see the show! We're in at the RSC in Stratford from next week (EEK) until 30th March!

Tell us a trick/secret/resource that you use to make your job quicker/easier.

Stop thinking about your career. There is no such thing as a career in comedy. Or in the arts generally. I find it helps to see yourself as a project manager, managing what project you do next. I always try to think about the project, and what you have to offer the project, and what the project as a whole is trying to achieve, rather than yourself. You'll be so much happier.

How are you paid?

Before this year it was always job to job.

BUT for the first time this year I am PAYE! My theatre company became one of the Arts Council's National Portfolio Organisations which means they pay our core fees for the next 3 years so we are all paid a salary. When I'm doing something like the RSC, I take some time off LUNG, and go back to a freelance contract.

If you could change one thing about the comedy industry, what would it be?

More risk, more risk, more riskkkkkkkkkk.

What tips would you give for anyone looking to work in your area of the industry?

There is no straightforward way in so just jump at whatever you can. Whether it's becoming a runner, starting a course, joining a collective, going up to Caitlin Moran at a book signing. Just put yourself out there and say yes and something will hopefully stick, or open a door.

Don't try and do it on your own. Find your people. Even if it's not to work with, people who are aiming for the same things that you are, that you can go for coffee with. A lot of us try and chase our heroes, but the best thing I did was find friends who were all wanting to make work and we held hands and jumped together.

Find people who feed you, who raise your aspirations, who you respect and ideally you are a smudge jealous of you. Basically, always try to work with people better than you.

And do remember, we're just floating through a big ball in space.

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