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Ana Brito (Madrid, 1990) can speak for herself about the fact that an opportunity comes out of a crisis. The personal experiences of the creator of El Show de Briten have made her equally familiar with the summits and the subsoil. Perhaps it is these experiences that bring us face to face with a non-conformist person, with a level-headedness and intelligence that shine in their own right.
In 2020 she was fired from her last job as an employee and decided to use the networks for what she had always wanted: to talk about whatever she wanted with humour. And voilà. Almost three years later, with more than 270,000 followers on Instagram, the Madrid native can say loud and clear that she makes a living out of making others laugh with everyday humour. We chat with her about her rise on the Spanish comedy scene at La Cresta bar.
In his first blog entry in 2013, he said: “My aim is to talk about whatever I want, whenever I want and however I want with a lot of humour and also with a little bit of bad humour”. In 2021, FORBES magazine, also from this publisher, included him among its “100 Best Influencers”.
It’s incredible, how cool! I started the blog in 2008, after finishing university in the middle of the economic crisis, when, of course, nobody was hiring me. It was an escape route at a time when I was unemployed and I took it as a tool to entertain and entertain myself. If I think about it, it’s a bit like what happened to me afterwards: without any pretensions, I created the Briten Show and look where it has taken me!
But getting here has not been easy. Apart from taking risks, you have trained to be able to make a living from humour. What has this path been like?
It’s a path where you never stop learning. I have to train constantly, with scriptwriting and improvisation courses, listening to podcasts to understand the industry and where I want to go, or reading. It’s all about training and constantly looking for references. This is where the ideas and decisions I make come from.
How much does humour drink from performance?
Very much so. I consider that I enrich the texts a lot by imitating: from accents, disguises, characters or changing voices. I soak it up and I love to see it in other comedians. I’ve always been creating characters in my environment since I was little, although, of course, I never thought I would make a living out of it, but it’s something I’ve always loved.
How do you manage success?
Everything is a learning process and I still don’t quite believe it because what is success? Success is achieving my goals; I am a very dreamy person and many of them are coming true, but I am not a conformist and I am always looking for new challenges. For me, success is to be constantly evolving.
What is Ana Brito’s ceiling?
I don’t see myself doing the same thing all my life, monotony bores me. Part of my personality is to evolve and do new things, so I don’t think there is a ceiling but a natural evolution that I still don’t know where it will end, but I’m sure it will end in something different.
Now, in addition to El Show de Britten, you have a podcast shared with Xuso Jones, Poco se habla! You’ve done the exercise the other way round, as vocalists in bands do, why?
It was really something very organic, we met and it was a very immediate connection. I saw it very clearly from the beginning because it came very naturally. Our podcast brings a lot of surprises because, normally, we tend to have preconceived ideas about someone – both good and bad – and in these formats we get the lesson that not everything is what it seems and that you have to learn not to judge.
How do you get guests to open up so much?
I think that both Xuso and I have the gift of making people feel at home, we know how to treat everyone equally and we are very close people. We never start with the guest’s background, we go more personal, we talk as if we were friends and that makes people feel comfortable and we go into subjects that we would never have imagined.
Why is everyday humour so successful?
You have to know how to laugh at yourself and people tend to be more dramatic than humorous in their daily lives. So, when they come across this humour, they empathise and identify with it, it’s like a kind of liberation.
Do you know how to laugh at yourself?
Absolutely, all the time.
What would you say to your last boss if you were facing him right now?
I always tease him. When he asks me to do something together I tell him that I’m very expensive now (laughs), but we get along great.
Do you think that women finally have the place they deserve in comedy?
Of course. Social media has helped a lot to give a voice to people with natural talent, who would not have been able to reach the public without these platforms. People consume what they want to see, so I don’t think it’s a coincidence that so many female voices have emerged in recent times. And it’s about time!
Have you found any doors closed to you because you are a woman?
Not in my case, but I don’t pay attention to closed doors but to the opportunities of open doors. Not everything is for everyone, I don’t waste my time on “why not for me? I think we are in an industry where we can each find our own niche, where we feel most comfortable, and that doesn’t mean we have to feel worse than the other.
What does Ana Brito’s humour eat?
My humour drinks a lot from digital content, although I watch less of it than I would like to because I can’t afford it. I’m also a big fan of American late night shows. The world of entertainment has always driven me crazy.
Is it one of the fixed ones in the aperitif?
I don’t have the tradition because it has never been done in my house, but it is a custom that I love to adapt with my friends who do practice it and I am a vermouth drinker.
What inspires you more, a beer in Lavapiés or a pijo in Formentera?
I’ve already talked a lot about the posh Formentera, so we’re going to Lavapiés to see what we can find (laughs).
Photo: Pablo Lorente.