Josie Long: What Next?

Three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee and self-effacing national treasure Josie Long returns to the R4 airwaves to turn her sharp but affectionate eye on the state of the nation – and world, and planet – as we begin to emerge from two years of upheaval. ‘What’s Next?’ was a slogan stencilled all over major cities by climate change campaigners during the pandemic. It’s a fair question. In this stand-up masterclass – adapted from one of the most lauded Edinburgh Fringe shows in recent years – Josie considers the responsibility we have to our children with the planet in the parlous state it is. She has become a mother herself (the first person ever, to her knowledge, to have not one, but two babies) and, through the prism of new parenthood, there is a lot to be alarmed about - corrupt governments, melting icecaps, health-food entrepreneurs making unsubstantiated claims about dates. And yet, in among all the existential crisis of the world in 2022, Josie finds hope and humanity. A memoir of life-altering experiences broadened out into a manifesto for the direction we take now, post-pandemic, What’s Next deals surehandedly with both the personal and the global, showcasing the talents of a comic with an unusual and much-cherished ability to straddle the playful and the profound. She may not have all the answers to our many societal crises, but nobody poses the questions in quite such an impassioned and entertaining way. Written and performed by Josie Long Produced by Siren Turner and Lianne Coop An Impatient production for BBC Radio 4