Jenny Eclair motivated to keep working by 'fame and money'
Jenny Eclair has been a stand-up comic for 45 years, and she has admitted her desire for "fame and money" keep her working.
Former 'Loose Women' panellist Jenny Eclair is motivated to keep working by “fame and money”.
The 65-year-old comedian has been making audiences laugh for 45 years, and she still wants to get on stage because enjoys getting paid and being able to thumb her nose at critics.
She explained to Digital Spy's Living Legends British Comedy Legends magazine: "I wanted to be famous from a very, very young age.
"I thought I'd have to be an actress, so I went to drama school, but I'm quite a bad actress.
"I keep thinking I should be able to do it because I've met loads of really quite thick actors, but I can't.
"So, it's fame and money that motivate me, and spite and fury.
"And I literally can't do anything else. There's also pride.
"When you have longevity in your pocket, you can at least turn round [to critics] and say, 'Yes, but I've made a living out of this for 45 years.'
"You don't have to like me, but the fact is this has happened."
Jenny looked up to the likes of comic-and-actress Marti Caine and 'Coronation Street' star Dame Maureen Lipman growing up, and she has said she "loved sitcoms with women in".
But it was when the late 'Dinnerladies' star Victoria Wood was doing stand-up across the UK that left her "really p***** off" and "seethingly jealous".
Asked if Victoria inspired her to perform jokes on stage, the comic said: "I always found women funny, and I loved sitcoms with women in, but until Victoria Wood came along, there wasn't a stand-up.
"I was just really p***** off that she'd done it before me!
"But I knew I wasn't as acceptable as Victoria Wood because, for one thing, I couldn't sing.
"I was instantly, seethingly jealous, and again, of course, when [Dawn] French and [Jennifer] Saunders came along, but I don't think of them as stand-ups."
The 2010 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!' campmate has many achievements to her name, including winning the Time Out Best Newcomer 1989 and being the first woman to win the coveted Perrier Award at the Edinburgh festival in 1995.
However, Jenny still feels she has not "made it to where I would have wanted to get to".]
Asked about the moment when she realised she had become successful, Jenny admitted: "Well ... I'm comparatively successful but not compared to the people I compare myself with.
"So I haven't made it to where I would have wanted to get to.
"But, I'm satisfied with the back catalogue.
"I can breathe out a bit."
