A new start after 60: Menopausal and out of work, I sat crying in my car. Now, I’m a standup comedian

When Barbara Scully tried to get a job after years as a stay-at-home mum, no one would hire her. So she made her own work as a writer and broadcaster – and soon found herself on TV and stage If anyone had told Barbara Scully five years ago that she would soon be enjoying her “sixth career” – this time as a standup comedian, or comic storyteller – she would have laughed in their face.

“But once you get to 60, you realise that failure isn’t a big deal,” she says. “As long as nobody’s going to die, that’s grand. ” Scully, who lives in Dublin, is now performing her one-woman show Because I’m Worth It around Ireland to capacity audiences of up to 200 people. “I’m on a mission to try to tell women in particular not to fear getting older, to embrace it, to push back against all the bullshit about how you…