Lucy Porter

Lucy Porter

Porter at the premiere of Three and Out on 21 April 2008
Born 27 January 1973
Croydon, England[1]
Occupation Writer, comedian
Spouse(s) Justin Edwards
Children Two
Website
www.lucyporter.co.uk
Porter talking at Bright Club London in November 2011

Lucy Donna Porter (born 27 January 1973) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Brighton Festival and many clubs around Britain. She has also a regular voice on BBC Radio 4 in various panel shows, including Quote... Unquote and The Personality Test.

Her stand-up style is characterised as chatty and charming while dealing with adult themes from a woman's point of view.

Personal life

Porter was born and grew up in Croydon, Surrey. She is married to Justin Edwards. The couple have two children.[2]

She is small, describing herself as 4 ft 11 in (1.50 m) when appearing on The Rob Brydon Show.[3] In September 2009 Lucy appeared on The One Show on BBC One to do a feature on heights.

Career

After a degree in English Literature from Manchester University,[4] and working as a journalist on The Big Issue in The North, Lucy began to perform stand-up comedy whilst working as a researcher for Granada Television, on programmes such as The Mrs Merton Show. Her first performance was at a club in Chester, because that was far enough from home that if it went badly no one would know her.[5]

As an actress, she has made brief appearances in Life's a Pitch and Absolute Power. Her first high profile acting role was alongside Christian Slater in the stage version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2004. She reprised her role of a nurse for the 2005 London production.

In 2005, she made regular appearances on Broken News as Claudia Van Sant.[6]

She has been one of the writers for all nine series of Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections, appearing as a special guest performer in many editions. Porter also starred in The Powder Room alongside Julia Morris and Gina Yashere, which was also broadcast on BBC Radio 2.[7]

She is also the script writer for two series of BBC Three's Anthea Turner: Perfect Housewife.

In July 2006, she appeared in the first episode of Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive panel show-based comedy. She was a panelist on show 7 of satirical news quiz show Have I Got News For You's 32nd series,[8] and has appeared on other popular UK panel shows, such as Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Mock the Week.

In May 2007, Porter became host of a The Guardian podcast, Many Questions and more recently 'The Heckle'. In June 2007, Porter came second in a celebrity edition of The Weakest Link. Porter appeared in 2007 on ITV2's Comedy Cuts, a programme showcasing the best of the British stand-up comedy circuit.

In 2008, Porter began work as a team captain on the BBC Radio 4 panel game Act Your Age.

Lucy Porter has recorded her stand-up show The Good Life for a DVD release by independent label Go Faster Stripe,[9] and appeared in the 2008 and 2009 series of Mock The Week.

She was also regularly seen as the warm-up act for Mitchell & Webb's television series screenings at the BBC TV Centre.

In 2009, Lucy took her show 'The Bare Necessities' on a tour of the UK, playing 30 dates between February and June.

In November 2009, Lucy appeared at LIVEstock 2009: Friends of the Earth’s comedy and music event at the Hammersmith Apollo in support of the green campaign group’s Food Chain Campaign for planet-friendly farming. The same month, Lucy appeared on Celebrity Mastermind, achieving a record-breaking score of 35 with Steve Martin as her specialist subject.

Lucy's marriage at the end of 2009 to her long-term partner, fellow-comedian Justin Edwards, led to a substantial re-write of her successful 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show Fool’s Gold for her 2010 UK tour. In the original script, Lucy claimed she was unlikely to ever marry because of an “allergy to gold”, meaning she would never be able to put on a wedding ring; on tour, she made self-deprecating reference to the original material, given that she was then married.[10]

Lucy was also the presenter of FirstPlay, a weekly digital "magazine" for European customers on the PlayStation 3. She also hosts the successor show, 'Access', which is still available weekly on the PlayStation Network.

In 2011, Lucy worked alongside Ed Byrne as partners in Pointless Celebrities, eventually losing in the penultimate round.

Lucy is also the creator of Screaming with Laughter, an afternoon mother and baby comedy club. The club tours the country to play for parents with infants under a year old.[11]

In 2014, Lucy wrote her debut stage play, The Fair Intellectual Club, which premièred at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014 at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, directed by Marilyn Imrie. Porter has since expressed a desire to write more plays for the Festival in the future.

Live shows

2002
The Stonewall Gala
2003
Live At The Underbelly (Edinburgh Festival Fringe)
2004
Lady Luck (Edinburgh Festival Fringe)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
2005
Happiness
Stand Up For Freedom
2006
The Good Life (UK tour)
Stand Up For Freedom
2007
Lucy Porter's Love In (UK tour)
2008
Lucy And Des Show Off
The Bare Necessities (Edinburgh Festival Fringe)
2009
The Bare Necessities (UK tour)
(6–31 August) Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Fool's Gold[12]
(12 November) LIVEstock 2009, Friends of the Earth's comedy and music event
2010
Fool's Gold (UK tour)
2012
People Person (Edinburgh Festival Fringe)
2013
People Person (UK tour)
Northern Soul (Edinburgh Festival Fringe)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lucy Porter.
  1. ↑ "Celebrity Fifteen to One". 20 June 2014. Channel 4. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ "My Secret Life: Lucy Porter, comedian, 37". The Independent. 2010-11-06. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  3. ↑ "The Rob Brydon Show". Series 1. Episode 5. 15 October 2010. BBC Two. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ Katbamna, Mira (2008-08-14). "Celebrities tell us about their first year at university". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2010-04-09.
  5. ↑ George, Sabrina. "LUCY PORTER CHATS WITH SABRINA - PART 1" (MP3). New Comedy Radio. Retrieved 2006-12-11.
  6. ↑ "Lucy Porter". BBC Comedy Guide. Retrieved 2006-12-11.
  7. ↑ "The Powder Room". epguides.com. Retrieved 2006-12-11.
  8. ↑ "Have I Got News for You (1990)". Episode World. Retrieved 2006-12-11.
  9. ↑ "The Good Life". Go Faster Stripe. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
  10. ↑ London Evening Standard, Friday 9 April 2010, p.34.
  11. ↑ "Screaming with Laughter". Retrieved 2011-12-05.
  12. ↑ http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/event/10000325-lucy-porter-fools-gold/

External links