The ScotsCare Podcast - Eleanor Morton
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[Music] Hello I’m Marcus Railton and this is the Scotscare podcast. Scotscare is the only charity dedicated to helping disadvantaged Scots in London through a range of support including mental health therapy, financial grants, advocacy, sheltered housing for older Scots, job coaching, social events, befriending and support for Children and Families. The Charity’s been running for 400 years to help break the cycle of poverty experienced by some Scots.
In this series of the scotscare podcast I’ll be chatting to celebrities and supporters of the charity that have also forged a life in the capital away from home and about the ups and downs that can bring.
Scotscare: supporting Scots away from home in London.
Today is the comedian writer and actor Eleanor Morton timeout has hailed her as a rising star while the Guardian have called her charmingly Whimsical she’s not afraid of being at the sharp end of Comedy having performed numerous times at the Edinburgh festival and always to rave reviews her Twitter feed has over a hundred and twenty thousand subscribers with her beautifully subtle comedy videos regularly attracting tens of thousands of views it’s a delight to be able to speak to her today Scott here hi Eleaor, thanks for doing this that’s
all right thanks for having me well it’s great to have you on the podcast it’s a
kind of new thing for us the thing I had was that you’ve moved back to Edinburgh
yeah sort of uh not really the not really what the podcast is about but
yeah I uh I was in London for eight years and I moved back on Monday before
kind of drove that because I do and I shouldn’t say this out loud because I
was born and brought up in Glasgow but I
do love Edinburgh
that’s all right I mean I think it
always struck me as a really weird
rivalry because I think there’s such
different cities that uh you can’t
really compare them but yeah I uh I’d
always wanted to live back in Edinburgh
since I’ve never lived here as an adult
I’ve only lived here as a child and I’ve
uh I just I just really like it I mean
if you like it you get why and also my
my landlady was selling so I kind of had
to move I like the phone you can kind of
walk about it it feels well you can’t
you certainly can’t park but you can
certainly walk about it and it feels
really comfortable yeah yeah it’s uh
it’s it’s a nice compact City and um I’m
lazy so yeah I like uh I like a place I
can walk around in half an hour you know
now let’s let’s get the elephant in the
room out of the way because I know you
I’ve watched a lot of your your stuff
and you do mention the accent you just
don’t yeah why don’t you sound Scottish
it’s uh it’s a number of boring reasons
my parents are both well so yeah my dad
is was brought up in London so my
parents are both broken England by
Scottish families so I’ve kind of got
this unfair thing where I’ve got an
accent that doesn’t really kind of uh
make any sense but
um yeah I mean you you know Edinburgh
you know it’s full of English people
anyway so I think it’s not as if I was
um surrounded by
heavy heavy accents to to make me change
mine but yeah it’s not a it’s not a very
exciting story it’s just uh what happens
with a lot of people I think it kind of
um families move up and down
where do you feel at home because you
know what I was having this conversation
with my friend Debbie the other day and
she’s a fan of Scott and she lives she
lives in London yeah and she said she
goes home she actually she she’s from
Bucky and in Aberdeen and uh she says
when I go home to to Bucky I love it but
I don’t think I could be there anymore
and then when I come back when I come
back to London
I love it but I I don’t feel 100 English
in a Londoner yeah I’m kind of Trapped
in this this kind of Nether world I know
what she means I I think I I did enjoy
living in London but I never felt it’s
such a massive place it’s hard to feel
100 at home there but I think Edinburgh
definitely that’s kind of an easy choice
for me because
um I just really like everything about
Edinburgh well not everything obviously
but um
I think if you’re from Bucky it’s uh
you’re gonna have a really it’s that’s a
real difference London and Bucky are
very different places and also like
maybe different Bucky you just deserve
whatever you get in my opinion
but you know once you’ve lived in London
it’s going to be hard to go back to
somewhere like that and kind of feel
like you’re still with everything that’s
happening you know whereas edinburgh’s
got a bit more going on I think I can
say that’s not controversial if I say
that Edinburgh is a bit more exciting
than Bucky is it I think that’s I think
I don’t think anyone could argue with it
yeah when you said eight years in London
when you first moved was it a culture
shock for you because I I mean I moved
from Glasgow I think I was yeah 28 when
I moved I I’ve been here 20 years and I
still remember one of the first days I
was sitting in a pretty monkey it was
just off uh Wells Street in SoHo and I
bought a copy but this is so long ago
I’d actually I was looking for a flat
and I bought a copy of loot because you
didn’t go online then you actually
looked at a newspaper to find a flat
yeah and I bought a sandwich and
everything just seemed so fast and so
crazy and so expensive and I was up yeah
terrified yeah it was uh I’d not been to
London until the first time I ever went
was when I was 16 and I moved when I was
22 and
I think because I’m from a very small
City it was it was just mad it was I
remember being on the tube and just
being so overwhelmed by like how many
people were there how fast everything
was how everyone kind of you know they
they just they want you to get out of
their way
and then the other stuff was just weird
like I didn’t expect like the the
opening hours really threw me off for a
city that’s meant to be like one of the
major capitals of the world they they
close at like 11 on a Saturday and that
was that was confusing and also like a
couple of shops I’d never seen before
and and also being in in the in the
really fancy bits just never having seen
that much wealth and stuff was kind of
weird like edinburgh’s got fancy bits
but they’re not big enough that you kind
of lose sight of anything you know
whereas in London you can go into like I
don’t know Chelsea or wherever all the
designer shops are and you kind of feel
like this is this is mad this is
completely different yeah
you walk through Knightsbridge and it’s
it’s a different existence altogether
isn’t it yeah and I also will say the
levels of homelessness I think really
uh threw me a bit like I was not ex I’d
never lived anywhere before where there
was that much you know homelessness
um yeah and it was quite yeah that was
quite tricky really difficult to look at
yeah and you know what when I go back I
I grew up in Glasgow as I said and I I
didn’t know you see when I go back to
Glasgow now I yes I see lots of homeless
in Glasgow yeah which I and I don’t know
whether no I’ve not forgotten about it
it just wasn’t there and it’s yeah back
with a vengeance and it’s I think so
yeah yeah it was just just getting used
to everything really was but it you know
it was also a real novelty of being in a
place that you’d seen on TV and uh yeah
I get that famous places that you’ve you
know heard about that you actually get
to go to it was quite exciting because
I’m really into history so it was really
cool to be in a place where all these
things happen that you’d heard about
[Music]
Scott’s care
working to make London life better for
Scots and their children
well can I talk about your career and
how you actually made this was there a
kind of defining moment when you said to
your mum and dad I’m going to be a
comedian and they went oh no don’t do
that because it’s not it’s not an easy
career choice to make no it’s uh it’s
definitely not but they have I think my
parents are pretty pretty nice they were
kind of like I think they were aware
that if they didn’t sort of support
whatever I was doing I would do it
anyway so they might as well be nice
about it but um no I think when I was
like 14 15 I always wanted to be a
performer and then I kind of got into
comedy uh stand up people like Dylan
Moran and Bill Bailey were quite big at
that time
um yeah and I just felt like it would
really be something I wanted to try and
I do remember the first time I told my
mum I think she was a bit like uh okay
like I don’t think she pictured that
something I’d be
any good at or something I would enjoy
doing I think she thought it was quite a
scary thing to do so I think it’s a
terrifying thing to do yeah a lot of
people do see what do you know what I
heard I was listening to a comedian and
it was it was Gilbert Gottfried who
passed away recently yeah he was talking
about material that you do and I wonder
I thought oh I get to ask Eleanor this
yeah he was talking about you do
material and you go in and he goes and
you kill and it’s brilliant and it does
so well and then you go and then you do
the same jokes on a different venue the
night after and you just die of yeah
have you ever had that yeah I mean I
mean not not constantly but but enough
to know uh I think all comedians do they
have you know you might not like kill it
one night and die the next but you
definitely get different levels of
reaction and it’s it’s kind of about
like how much Faith you have in your
material you know if it always dies you
should probably stop doing it but um
if it’s not funny don’t do it yeah if
it’s uh if it generally does well you’re
probably you’re you know the audience
are probably the ones who are in the
wrong headspace that night there’s so
many different reasons you can die you
can die because you’re not funny but you
can die because like the room is a bit
weird uh or the audience are too drunk
or uh just you know lots of or you know
they’re just you’re not what they were
expecting yeah so yeah you’ve really
just gotta go in and hope for the best I
suppose do you think it’s good is it
getting tougher you know I read on
social media a lot about walk comedy and
things you can say and things you can’t
see are you when you write new material
are you aware of oh maybe I or how far
can I push the envelope I suppose
suppose I’ve never really you know I
never the thing is I think comedy the
important thing is it should be funny
more than anything else and um if if you
if you’re just there to shock people or
upset them I think yeah you get a
reaction but you’ve not you’ve not
really done your job so I I think I just
like I like what’s funny or what I think
it’s funny and um I you know I’m not
really a edgy comedian so it’s not like
I’ve ever had to kind of go oh I hope I
hope this is uh uh no one’s gonna get
upset by this but I think you can say
the thing is you can make a joke about
anything you want absolutely anything
you want it all depends on how good you
are at making jokes and how you frame it
and I think I think there’s a
misconception that we can’t say anything
I don’t think that’s true I think I
think it’s more that it’s more that you
know you’ve got the freedom of speech to
say whatever you want and the audience
have this freedom of speech to maybe not
enjoy it um
so so no I I don’t I don’t find it
trickier but
um you know I think I think we’re
rethinking How We Do comedy and and what
what it means to who who the subjects
are and things like that and I think
that’s good I think it’s good to talk
about that kind of stuff because you
know it’s always changing it’s it’s it’s
a it’s a media it’s the medium that
dates the the fastest so yes you’re
always going to make sure you’re kind of
trying something new I remember you
mentioned Dylan Moran I remember seeing
Dylan Moran at the Edinburgh Festival in
the 90s and I think it was one of my
kind of first experiences of going to
see proper live snow
and I thought it was brilliant I thought
I thought he is he’s the best thing I’ve
ever seen but I think he is quite a dark
sense of fear and yeah and then and then
and onto that I was talking to someone
the other day who is a TV director for
big live shows and he had this theory
that the more intense your job is you
tend to have a darker sense of humor
like nurses or firemen oh yeah or
definitely or sometimes Comedians and do
you think that kind of lends itself to a
dark sense of humor yeah I actually I
think I have a really dark sense of
humor I I don’t think I’m like a an
offensive or edgy comedian but I think I
have a very I enjoy I think because I’m
quite I think also you’ve got a dark
sense of humor I’m quite an anxious
person you know I’m quite scared of the
world and I think humor is a is a way of
me
tackling that so I like to kind of try
and turn anything you can into I think
it’s just you know it’s the way it’s a
coping mechanism it’s like as human
beings there is a point where you have
to laugh at stuff because otherwise you
kind of go a bit mad and um I totally
think that you know I have friends who
are uh doctors and I’ve friends who have
kind of jobs like that and yeah they
they absolutely have really dark sense
of humor because because you have to
otherwise you know it would just it
would be such a you couldn’t do the job
I don’t think yeah and I think that’s
sometimes what makes really good
comedians great comedians is that they
can see the darks which seems kind of
ironic that they can see the dark side
of life but that’s what makes it funny
yeah I think there’s a kind of you know
there’s a kind of collective
feeling when we can all laugh at
something that we’re all also struggling
with maybe really helps like
people deal with that kind of stuff like
during I don’t know
I’m just trying to think during the
second world war you know there was lots
of
making fun of of the enemy and stuff and
that was that was because people were
also really scared and they didn’t want
to think about you know how much how
scary everything was so
yeah it makes sense and I think today we
we live in this you know I’ve got three
children and I kind of worry about my
children growing up in this this Society
where everything you know you have an
insta life and what you see on Facebook
yeah absolutely reflect uh and it
reflect reality and everybody’s perfect
and all photos of Photoshopped and it
kind of what I liked about a lot of the
stuff I watched about yours is you you
tap into the insecurities of life and I
think I think that’s what the audience
really reacted kind of went oh yeah it’s
okay to fail or to not be perfect yeah I
think so I think the thing about comedy
is it can’t be too polished or perfect
because it’s just not as fun you know
the the nicer it looks the less funny it
is and I think um
I do think there’s I I’m so glad I’m not
a teenager today I mean being a teenager
like 15 years ago was hard but I can’t
imagine the I don’t know how old your
kids are but like you know the social
media that they are exposed to
um and just this kind of pressure to be
the best at everything and and you know
the best version of yourself is is crazy
so yeah there’s a real there’s a I guess
you get to play around with that with
comedy because you’re
holding up a mirror to to that kind of
stuff and saying hey it’s actually it’s
not perfect and it’s kind of funny isn’t
it that it’s not and it’s okay to be not
perfect and yeah I think one of the
things you did
is you were you were talking about
trying stuff and not sticking at it that
really touched a nerve with me yeah I’d
I want to be one of these people because
I you know we’re a member of a gym which
you know I just don’t go to and when I
when I do go I go once and then I go
three months later and I still see the
same people and they’re doing the same
thing and they look fantastic and yeah I
and you know when it’s I want to stick
at stuff and can’t and I love the stuff
that you were talking about about that
kind of smugness of people that do yoga
and that just I love that well I think
there’s uh there’s a trend just now that
um it’s called that girl and it’s sort
of a millennial Trend where 20-something
girls kind of post their whole perfect
lives on on social media you know their
breakfasts and their meditations and
their workouts and everything and it’s
um it’s just mad that we’ve uh yeah
we’re totally expecting people people I
think people do have a sense of
achievement about those things not that
it’s bad but you know it’s it’s also
funny because we get so competitive
about everything and it’s it’s uh just
because uh
someone else is really good at the gym
doesn’t mean doesn’t really have any
reflection on any of us but we how have
this Obsession as a society where we’re
all kind of trying to outdo each other
and then obviously failing or lying to
ourselves about it because uh because
it’s hard isn’t it these days because
everything’s online and everything’s
yeah visible well yeah yeah it used to
be like if you failed at your diet or
whatever no one needed to know but now
it’s kind of like if you’ve been
tracking it program your progress on
Instagram or whatever then everyone
there’s there’s so much more
incentive it’s pressure to be perfect
and that’s really scary I think what I
loved that you said I actually laughed
out louder was that you talk about
achieving the same level of smugness
through yoga by just carrying the rolled
up mat around
the phrase you used was was a burrito of
privilege that is genius thank you yeah
I like the uh well I used to live in in
London the last place I lived in was in
Lavender Hill which was a very Yummy
Mummy place and I just felt a bit just
going out in my normal clothes to go to
the shops was just felt like um
depressing because everyone is very kind
of upper middle class yummy mummies
they’ve all got their workout gear on
you know lots of professionals and it uh
just you know I could I stopped jogging
because uh I just felt like uh I was
doing it wrong because I um wasn’t as as
perfect as these people so yeah uh yeah
I get that when I turn up to pick up my
kids it’s like everybody looks like
they’ve just ram-rated Sweaty Betty yeah
exactly exactly the kids turned out and
you know and they still got like
porridge in her hair for the morning
yeah it’s uh I mean that’s the thing
about London as well it’s it’s got you
know places like that that you don’t
that you get in Scotland but again not
on the same scale so yeah and what I
also like that you were talking about is
just the ability to be stronger in
yourself and and still and having having
principles like you you did this piece
about the meeting the racist women on
the train oh yeah that’s right you
really wanted to say that’s not right
you can’t you can’t say these things I
don’t believe in that you’re completely
out of order but you ended up not really
seeing these things at all you know not
agreeing with her of course but yeah but
not having the guts to or being too
polite do you think is that what we are
yeah and I also think I also think in
your head you always you always imagine
what you’d be like in a situation like
that
and um you know you never live up to
your own expectations because often
people aren’t
you know she wasn’t trying to be um
antagonistic or aggressive uh she was
she thought I was going to agree with
her so yeah I think I think you can just
be caught off guard and also there is
like a definitely a politeness there
where in in Britain in general I think
we’re all a bit awkward about everything
yeah to the point where we kind of you
know we’d rather uh sneak away so I
don’t know I mean maybe if I met her
again it would be different but I doubt
that will happen well this this is it
yeah was it the French have a phrase for
that they call it the spirit of the
stairs the spirit that was it oh yes yes
yeah yeah it’s the smart thing you
thought of after you’ve left exactly
yeah and we all have this idea of
ourselves as oh I’d say that or I’d do
that but actually most the time you
wouldn’t you’d run away you know what I
and I don’t I don’t know what kind of
person that makes you if you do say
these things I I used to work with a guy
and he was very good at saying no you
would say Alan do you do you want to do
you want to do this or I’ll link it and
you go no I’ll tell you right I’m not
going to do that and you’ll be like Alan
are you coming for a coffee no I don’t
want to come for a coffee
and let me tell you it would tell you
really still so be phenomenally blunt
and there was part of me that kind of
envied it but yeah and there was another
part where a lot of people just didn’t
like him because I think to a certain
extent you have to be polite in society
don’t you yeah you do you well and and
again especially in in Britain we’re
very um overly polite and uh yeah I
think I think we especially get a bit
freaked out when people are very uh
blunt like that even though it probably
saves everyone a lot of time and effort
you know if people just say exactly what
they think
um because I know quite a few um people
from uh not to generalize about
Europeans but most of the Europeans I’ve
ever met are very a much clearer you
know they’re much less into uh sort of
pussy-fussing around things and um I
kind of like it I think because I
personally am bad at yeah at
confrontational or being I’m trying to
get better at you know saying no and
being good at that but yeah I definitely
admire people who because the thing is
like if people don’t like him because he
does that he probably doesn’t care and
that’s also kind of refreshing you know
Scott’s care
helping to break the cycle of
deprivation for Scots in London
can we go back and talk about um social
media because I was looking at your your
social media presence your Twitter feed
and going back to what we’re talking
about earlier you do have a beautifully
gentle Style on there and you also
nailed the Scottish accent phenomenally
and stuff thank you there’s a few of
them which I said I was just thinking oh
they were killing me the stuff about The
Distillery and yeah yeah Craig the tour
guide yeah the the Sterling Castle it’s
just beautiful stuff and if you know if
anyone’s listening to this go and look
at it because it’s great but your views
are through the roof the last time I
looked at the Distillery one it was 2.3
million views
yeah it that one really um took off I
think probably because it’s quite a
familiar concept I think it it’s quite I
think Americans were really into it I
think they’ve all been on Distillery
tours so they could uh they knew what
was happening
um but um but yeah it’s it’s been kind
of crazy it’s kind of it all started in
lockdown when I was you know bored and
not obviously working live so
trying to keep creative and um just
started doing what I thought was funny
basically on on on Twitter and uh yeah
it blew up and it’s it’s quite it’s
quite cool and kind of strange to see
how attached people can get to uh to
that character specifically
um and how hard you have to work at
getting the numbers is is that something
separate that you do you have a kind of
like personal marketing plan to push the
numbers up oh I don’t think I’m I don’t
think I’m Savvy enough for that but I do
I mean with that kind of thing you can
kind of never tell what’s going to do
well and what isn’t um but I do try and
post regularly because uh you know I
think it’s people like when you’re
consistent so they they know they can
come back and watch more but yeah I mean
I I don’t have any secret formula I
think it’s just a mixture of yeah good
luck and sometimes you get retweeted by
people who who have a big following and
and that’s really cool and that means
more people will see it
um but yeah just just as long as people
enjoy it really and we were talking
about how social media can be a real
double-edged sword are you able to you
know people tend to lose their minds a
little on social media are you able to
keep that at arm’s land from anyone as
criticizes you are do you take these
things personally or do you just not
read them well I it really depends what
people say I think some some stuff
doesn’t bother me because it’s kind of
like I don’t think it’s true or I just
you know it’s not something that touches
the nerve but I think you know there’s
that old saying of like never take never
take con uh criticism from someone you
wouldn’t take advice from or whatever it
was so yeah I I mean when people are
just deliberately nasty that’s kind of
like that’s almost more hurtful in a way
because they’ve set out to upset you but
it’s also
it shouldn’t also be less hurtful
because you know they’re just being
they’re obviously unhappy um I try I try
my best to not get to what’s happening
because you can you can completely
absolutely live online and
um it’s very easy to get caught up in it
but I try my best not to because I think
ultimately I just want to do
what I do and people will enjoy it or
they won’t enjoy it and that’s that’s
cool I do think it’s odd when people
feel the need to comment stuff sometimes
because I think I’ve I’ve never been you
know I’ve never watched a video that I
didn’t enjoy and thought I should tell
them that you know I’ve just kind of
left it so my mother used to say that to
me if you can’t say it yeah don’t say
anything at all that’s that’s it yeah
and it’s uh I think that’s an adage I
love buy so so yeah it’s not been too
bad it’s more weird when just knowing
that people are aware of you is quite
weird because you know obviously I’m
pretty
uh completely unknown and now I’ve got a
bit of a profile and that’s that’s quite
weird like knowing that I read that
you’ve got a masters in screenwriting
writing and I was wondering you know do
you watch television and become dismayed
by it
um I haven’t watched a lot of
terrestrial TV in a while because I
haven’t had one but um but I just got
back to my parents and I’ve been
watching uh I’ve been watching TV and
I’ve uh I just I’ve remembered all that
stuff that you know daytime TV and
insurance adverts and things I
completely forgotten existed I don’t
think I despair I think I enjoy a lot of
stuff I think I feel quite a lot of
pressure to watch a lot of there’s so
much out there now
that you can never really catch up with
everything and that’s quite stressful so
there’s a lot of great comedy and drama
that I just haven’t seen yet because I
don’t have time and that is kind of a
shame because that should be my job you
know should be watching as much as
possible
um but it is tough I get that and I I
just wonder whether with the Masters in
screenwriting and I know you’re so busy
but do you see at one point do you fancy
writing a drama or writing a movie can
you see yeah something like that no
absolutely I mean it’s one of those
things that kind of one day sort of idea
might happen but um uh I mean I know you
know I’ve written a couple of sitcom
pilots and things and
um you know the the way these things
work is it’s difficult to get stuff made
but but yeah I I’d love to um to do that
one day I think right now I’m kind of
focused more on uh comedy and Live
Comedy but yeah it feels like something
I have to really sit down and
concentrate on which I’m quite bad at oh
yeah Edinburgh this year will you be
playing Edinburgh I will yeah I’m doing
um uh I’m doing a run of my stand-up
show Eleanor Morton has peaked which is
on every day apart from Tuesdays at the
monkey Barrel at 12 40 and I’m doing
um the Craig the tour guide I’m doing a
one-off show on the 15th at the stand
um of him which is the first time I’ve
done anything of that live so it’s gonna
be interesting
uh and I’ve kind of set myself up for a
for trouble because I I’ve realized I I
now have to write two shows I have to
write two hours wow um yeah so that’s a
lot of time to fill
but uh hopefully it should be all right
I’m hoping Craig will have some fans in
so they’ll be excited to see him and and
that’ll cover any any patches but I’m
doing my best for anyone who’s not seen
your Twitter feed we’re if they’re
listening now where can they actually go
to uh I am at Eleanor Morton on Twitter
but I’m all it’s also all on YouTube
and Instagram and Tick Tock
um also just Eleanor Morton so if you
put my name into any of those I think I
should show up
um if you can’t be bothered you know
scrolling through my Twitter it’s all
it’s all on YouTube so that’s a bit
easier thank you very much for chatting
thank you cheers bye-bye bye
[Music]
supporting London Scots with financial
grants welfare advice counseling
sheltered housing jobs coaching and
family support
[Music]