Bridget Christie and I are sitting on a bench in Clissold Park in Stoke Newington when she suddenly jumps up and starts demonstrating a recent event. This beautiful plot of north London green space is the venue for Christie’s daily run, and as we discuss the invisibility of middle-aged women (plus the empowerment this sometimes brings), she’s got the perfect example. Running behind a young woman, she spotted a bench-full of workmen up ahead checking her fellow runner out at length, before clocking Christie briefly, looking disinterested, and resuming their conversation.

‘So I stopped running,’ she says, then hilariously mimes walking up and down the length of the bench, running her eyes from the men’s feet to their heads appraisingly. ‘One of them said “hello” in an unsure way, and then I started running again. I enjoyed it so much and it made me so happy. I find these joyful little things every day.’

Speaking to Christie, you can well believe it. At the age of 51, the comedian is enjoying something of a renaissance both personally and professionally. Although to be fair, 2013’s Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning show A Bic For Her was the real turning point after Christie had left behind character comedy to embrace feminism and win a legion of new fans. Since then, a plethora of stage shows, radio programmes and television appearances have cemented her status as a safe comedic pair of hands, with a thought-provoking agenda and right on her side.

But today, bursting with energy on a Saturday morning in the park, you can’t help but feel she has been born again. The catalyst? The menopause. Which, not coincidentally, is the topic of Christie’s new stand-up show Who Am I?, and her much-lauded Channel 4 sitcom, The Change. ‘I now feel more like the true Bridget I was as a child,’ she says. ‘The young me before puberty hit was, I feel, my true self. Then there was this whole middle section between the ages of 11 and 50, and now I feel truly and deeply who I’m supposed to be. And the things that I’d always disliked about myself, I’m just accepting them because they’re me, and I don’t have another me. I’m in the last third of my life now, and I don’t want to waste any more of it giving myself a hard time.’ 

This new-found sense of self-love is, says Christie, ‘a hormonal thing’ which has also left her caring far less what people think of her. Ironically, with five-star reviews pouring in for her funny, poignant and wonderfully bizarre TV show, now would actually be an OK time to concern herself with the opinions of others. It’s also a great time to feel positive about what lies ahead. ‘I’m really excited about my future, my post-menopausal life, and the fact that I’m out the other side and not in my reproductive years,’ she says. ‘And I’m happy to let go of needing to be liked or attractive. There are millions of other people who can be down on me, but I’m not going to be one of them now. And it’s not about being arrogant, because I’ve struggled with confidence most of my life; it’s about self-care.’

That sense of empowerment is something Christie hopes Who Am I? will pass on to her audience. Not just the women of a similar age who will howl with laughter in recognition of the menopause’s many symptoms, but young women for whom all that lies ahead; and, in fact, anyone with a pulse. When Christie first started trying out menopause material at comedy gigs earlier this year, she was unsure how it would go down (mindful of how much of a ‘hard sell’ she found feminism a decade earlier). When she spotted a group of young men in peals of laughter, she enquired what was funny, thinking it might be something other than her. Surprisingly, it was Christie’s depiction of the menopause, which chimed with their own experience.

‘They said, “that’s our mums”, which was very interesting for me,’ recalls Christie. ‘I realised that this subject is relatable to everybody, because it literally does affect every single person on the planet. It’s you, or your wife, or your mum, or your sister. We all respond to things in different ways, of course, and it’s easy for me to say I’ve found it empowering. But if I can change just one other woman’s experience of it, that would make me so happy. I’ve had brain fog, hot flushes, sleep deprivation and anxiety, but I still see it as the most important transition of my life.’

Having found that the early drip-feed of menopause material went well, Christie went on to craft a whole show. But what if it hadn’t? What would she have done? ‘Carried on until it did,’ she says unequivocally. ‘It’s the same as what happened in 2013 with feminism; this shit needs to be said. It’s not just about me, there are millions of people out there who are exactly the same as me. So I want to do a good job for them, and that’s a great motivator to do good work. The fact that women say to me after shows that they feel heard is very special for me.’

Anyone who has watched Christie’s stand-up shows, listened to her radio broadcasts or read her books will know that she is a political animal. So while the menopause may feel like a purely biological issue, recent events in the House Of Commons have taken it into a whole new arena. The rejection of several key recommendations in the ‘Menopause In The Workplace’ report (on the grounds they might ‘discriminate’ against men) has angered many. In particular, the refusal to make it a ‘protected characteristic’ was deemed especially disappointing. How did Christie feel about that, and will we be hearing about it in the show?

‘It just made me so furious. Pregnancy and maternity is a protected characteristic and not all women have babies; but all women will have the menopause. And the discussion around it was so patronising. We lose something like £40m a year from menopausal women taking time off work. So to say it would discriminate against men . . . I think they were just being deliberately provocative. At the moment it’s in my little notebook, but by the time I get to Edinburgh, bits will be in the show; and definitely for the tour in September.’

With The Change currently winning over television audiences and critics alike, her role on Taskmaster bringing in a whole new fanbase, and her three Radio 4 series (Bridget Christie Minds The Gap, Utopia and Mortal) all hitting the spot, does the world of stand-up comedy still feel like home?

‘Oh yes, I can’t wait to get out there. Stand-up is really addictive because you’ll never, ever win. You just have to keep doing it forever. You’ll never get to the point where you think, “that’s it, I’m the best stand-up that I can be”, because every audience and every situation is completely different. And stage time and experience . . . you can’t put a price on that. I never want to lose that feeling, and I don’t think I ever will. The eight-year-old Bridget would want the 51-year-old Bridget to do this, unencumbered by estrogen and societal pressure to do things in a certain way. Other jobs come along, and to get commissions in radio and TV is absolutely incredible, but this is what I’ll be doing until I die.’

Bridget Christie: Who Am I?, The Stand’s New Town Theatre, 2–9 August, 1.50pm. All episodes of The Change are available on All4.