„If you want to do anything interesting or scary, some of the biggest hurdles — and certainly the ones you can control the most easily — are in your own mind.“

Viv Groskop gehört zu den Frauen, die viele beneiden. Denn sie hat die Fähigkeit auf einer Bühne das Publikum zu begeistern. So hat sie es geschafft, neben der Arbeit als Journalistin eine erfolgreiche Karriere als Stand-up-Comedian in England zu starten. Wurde sie mit dem Bühnentalent geboren? Fehlanzeige.

Nachdem ihr Buch „How to Own the Room“ auf englisch ein Bestseller wurde, gibt es das Buch nun endlich auch auf deutsch. Im Interview, welches trotz hervorragender Deutschkenntnisse auf englisch beantwortet wurde, erzählt sie uns, welche persönlichen und beruflichen Hürden sie überwinden musste und warum jede Frau auf der Bühne bestehen kann.

FiF: Frau Groskop, in Ihrer Heimat England sind Sie bereits sehr bekannt, jetzt endlich erscheint Ihr Bestseller „How to Own the Room“ auch in deutscher Sprache. Erzählen Sie uns kurz Ihren Lebenslauf bis hierher.

My early career was as a journalist. I had a sort of mid-life crisis in my mid thirties just after the financial crash of 2008 when I lost a big writing contract. I had always dreamed of doing stand-up comedy. At that point I had nothing to lose professionally so I did 100 gigs in 100 consecutive nights. On a personal scale that was probably very stupid: I had three children under the age of six and the experience almost cost me my marriage. But it led to a new career on stage and in TV and radio and gave me a ton of knowledge and skills that I wanted to pass on to others. (I am still married and my children turned out fine. So far.)

FiF: Journalistin und gleichzeitig Stand-up-Comedian können nicht viele von sich behaupten. Welche Hürden mussten Sie auf dem eher ungewöhnlichen Weg zur Stand-up Comedian überspringen?

If you want to do anything interesting or scary, some of the biggest hurdles — and certainly the ones you can control the most easily — are in your own mind. That is true whether you are performing for 2,000 people or doing a presentation in front of three colleagues. I had to learn to be less self-conscious and less self-obsessed, to take the focus off myself, learn to look after the audience, to take myself less seriously.

FiF: Hatten Sie dabei das Gefühl, dass Sie als Frau mehr belächelt und weniger ernst genommen wurden?

The situation for women in comedy is changing fast. It’s about time. But you still get people — men and women — who come up to you at the end of a show and say, “I don’t usually like women comedians. But you were OK.” It’s so patronising and depressing. I always think, “Have you ever actually met a woman in real life?” Because most women are extremely funny, including my mum, my sister, my daughter… You have to learn to ignore these things because otherwise they would drive you crazy.

FiF: Welches war denn bisher Ihre verrückteste Situation/Frage/Gespräch, bei dem Sie erkannt haben, dass Frauen im Business anders behandelt werden?

Young women have told me terrible, strange things that bosses have said to them. The weirdest? “You sit there in meetings looking like a wolf.” (What does this even mean?) I think women are often on the receiving end of unsolicited „helpful advice” or “constructive feedback” that is in reality just passive aggression. See also: overly personal remarks designed to undermine you. Women are also frequently mistaken for being more junior than they are. Awkward! And so annoying.

FiF: In Ihrem Buch „How to Own the Room“ nehmen Sie bewusst auch weitere starke Frauen auf und lassen Ihre LeserInnen von ihnen lernen. Ist es denn möglich die Stärken einer Angela Merkel oder Oprah Winfrey auf einer Bühne zu übernehmen?

The lesson to take from speakers like Angela Merkel and Oprah Winfrey is that no two styles are the same. It’s OK to find your own style. There is no one definition of success or power. In How to Own the Room I highlight hundreds of examples of different kinds of women in all walks of life to show that there is no mythical singular “standard.” Of course these great speakers often have certain traits in common: stillness, clarity of thought, relaxed authenticity. But power and presence look different on each and every one of us.

FiF: Sie haben schon viele Menschen auf Bühnen oder bei Vorträgen beobachten können. Wo sehen Sie den gravierendsten Unterschied zwischen Männern und Frauen?

When it comes to the physical practicalities of public speaking (how you breathe, stand, speak) the differences between men and women are negligible. The biggest difference, however, is psychological. And in my experience it is gigantic. Women are hyper-aware of their insecurities and talk about them very easily. They wear those doubts very close to the surface. With men, those doubts are there. But they are either deeply buried or easily dismissed. 

FiF: Sie kennen das Gefühl erfolgreich auf der Bühne zu stehen, den Raum also einzunehmen. Warum raten Sie anderen Frauen sich der Angst oder Nervosität zu stellen? Was macht das Gefühl einer herausragenden Bühnenpräsenz mit einem selbst?

The quickest trick to finding ease on stage is to think less about yourself and more about what other people want and need from you. Care about them, their attention span, their focus, their emotional state. Care less about yourself and your anxiety. Don’t think: “What do I want to say?” Think: “What do they need to hear?” The best moments come when you don’t make it about yourself.

FiF: Haben Sie ein Produkt/Buch/Hilfsmittel, welches Ihren Arbeitsalltag deutlich erleichtert hat und Sie jeder Kollegin empfehlen würden? 

Wear clothes with pockets and/or wear a belt, especially if you don’t usually wear a jacket. Clip-on microphones are expressly designed for jacket-wearers (with an inside pocket) and you always need somewhere to put a mic pack. Please can someone design a microphone that fits to the front of a dress so that sound technicians don’t have to root around at the back of my bra strap? Thanks.