Why did you get into comedy?
I’ve always loved making people laugh. I was raised on a diet of sketch shows (French and Saunders, Mitchell and Webb, Monty Python) and took any opportunity I could to be silly for an audience. I have a vivid memory of a very elaborate performance of We Three Kings for the Year 5 talent show (“sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, DYING!”) – I won. I’m drawn to big, playful characters – wigs, costumes, silly voices. At uni I started doing sketch comedy and never really stopped.
How would you describe what you do?
Gentle absurdity. It’s a silly good-natured sending up of recognisable things. In my last show, I brought to life a series of inanimate objects – including an annoying Californian paper straw, a pathetic electric scooter desperate to be unlocked, and an incredibly anxious, sensitive smoke alarm. My new hour merges this kind of absurd character comedy with drag. I’m pretending to be a middle-aged cycling man, complete with Lycra bulges, devastating divorce, outrageous income and zero emotional intelligence.
