Justine Stafford is an Irish comedian, writer, podcaster and television presenter.

Early and personal life

From Kilbeg, just outside

Nobber Nobber ( – referring to the description by the local native Irish population, to the development of moat around a Norman castle) is a village in north County Meath, Ireland. The village is located near a river called the Dee () and near White ...

, in

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

, Ireland. Stafford grew up on a farm. She has one brother, called Lorcán. She attended Kilbeg National School where she was introduced to a

short-film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

project for primary schools called ''Fis Films'' for which she won a national prize in Dublin. She began making her own comedy films after receiving a Camcorder the following Christmas, aged 11. From 13 Stafford suffered from

anorexia Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gre ...

and around this time won an award at Ireland’s Youth Film Festival called ''Fresh Films'', held in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

. Stafford subsequently was the Irish representative taking her winning short film to an international youth film festival held in South Korea. In March, 2021 Stafford herself co-hosted the Ireland's Young Filmmaker of the Year Awards online.

Career

On-line

Stafford studied film and broadcasting at the

Dublin Institute of Technology Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT, ga, Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Bhaile Átha Cliath) was a major third-level institution in Dublin, Ireland. On 1 January 2019 DIT was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the Technological Un ...

after which worked for the radio station ''

FM104 FM104 is an independent local radio station broadcast across Dublin, Ireland, on the frequency 104.4 MHz. It is operated by Capital Radio Productions Limited (unconnected with, and not to be confused with, Capital Radio plc), and is a sub ...

'' and spent five years at '' JOE.ie'' as senior social creative and content creator. She became a comedic presence on social media, including for posts based on comedically creative Halloween costumes, social commentary, and satire on popular television programmes. Since June 2021 Stafford has co-hosted, with Martin Angolo and Dermot Ward, the podcast ''The Substantial Meal''. With shows available online as well as performed at live events and festivals, Stafford described the format as “three friends recreating the atmosphere of being in a pub by sharing embarrassing stories, giving life advice and solving the world's big problems.”

Film and television

In 2019 Stafford was a finalist in Irish TV's ''Stand Up And Be Funny'' competition. In 2021 Stafford co-hosted television food game show ''Battle of the Food Trucks'' with James Patrice on RTE Player. The series was renewed for a second season that aired in 2022. In 2021 Stafford also had a role in Irish film ''

Poster Boys ''Poster Boys'' is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language comedy film written, co-produced and directed by Shreyas Talpade in his directorial debut. The film features Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Shreyas Talpade along with Sonali Kulkarni, Samikssha Batnagar ...

'', starring

Keith Duffy Keith Peter Thomas Francis Julian John Duffy (born 1 October 1974) is an Irish singer, actor, radio and television presenter and drummer who began his professional music career as part of Irish boy band Boyzone alongside Ronan Keating, Mikey ...

, amongst others. In 2022 Stafford appeared with Emma Doran and

Michael Fry Michael Fry is an American cartoonist, online media entrepreneur, and screenwriter. He is best known for the syndicated comic strips ''Committed (comic strip), Committed'' and ''Over the Hedge'', the latter of which is a collaboration with T. Lew ...

on the

RTÉ 2 (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

sketch series ''No Worries If Not!'' The series was, according to RTÉ director of content Jim Jennings, “a vehicle for young comedy talent”, with a

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

format that may have been enhanced, Stafford noted, by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

that had “created a rich period for the phenomenon of the online comedy video”. Stafford also appeared on both series of RTÉ player comedy series ''Darren & Joe's Free Gaff'' in 2021 and 2022. In February 2023 Stafford appeared on a Valentine’s Day special edition of the '' Late Late Show'' and added "an honestly impressive and possibly Guinness Book of Records-worthy number of innuendoes into such a brief window", and “salty double-entendres”.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stafford, Justine Living people Writers from County Meath Actors from County Meath Irish stand-up comedians Irish comedy writers Irish satirists Irish television writers Irish women television writers 21st-century Irish actresses Irish women podcasters Irish women television presenters Irish women comedians 21st-century Irish women writers Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of Dublin Institute of Technology