Jen Brister: Waves

The past year or so has not been kind to anyone, but for Jen Brister it has been fraught even by lockdown standards. The (non-biological) mother of young, entitled, noisy twin boys - as documented in her successful book The Other Mother - has been trapped in the maelstrom of extreme parenting, her explosive and sharp-tongued wit silenced by the chopping up of vegetables and the whir of the washing machine.

But Jen has found an unusual refuge from all this strain: sea swimming. In the almost always freezing waters of the English Channel, she has found herself not just physically but also mentally freed from the unusual pressures of the present situation. Despite being instinctively resistant to concepts like 'mindfulness' and 'living in the moment', this acid-tongued comic has - against her own will, and accidentally - embraced them. 'Swimming has become my constant. Well, that and drinking. But, anyway, let's get back to the swimming'.

Recording for Jen's Radio 4 solo show debut, one of our most high-octane comedians vents a year's worth of stand-up spleen upon an audience in her home town of Brighton - and then shakes off those frustrations by taking us (figuratively) deep-sea swimming. A comic voyage of self-discovery, but also a surprisingly profound examination of the relationship between body and mind.