Rosie Wilby (born 1970 in Liverpool) is an English comedian and singer songwriter based in South London.

Career

Born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, Wilby grew up in

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administr ...

, and studied at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

, where one of her contemporaries was fellow comic

Zoe Lyons Zoe (also ZOE, Zoë, Zoé, etc.) can refer to: *ζωή (''zōḗ''), the Ancient Greek word for "life" People * Zoe (name), including list of persons and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Zoe'' (film) * ZOE Broadcast ...

. Moving to North London in 1993, Wilby secured a place on the ft2 Film and Television freelance training scheme and worked on shows including '' Later... with Jools Holland'', and was an extra in British television drama ''

The Politician's Wife ''The Politician's Wife'' is a British television political drama broadcast on Channel 4 in 1995, written by Paula Milne, and starring Trevor Eve and Juliet Stevenson. Milne returned to the same themes in her BBC 2 drama miniseries, ''The Pol ...

''. She went on to work on the BFI/Maya Vision co-production ''A Bit of Scarlet'', before becoming a trainee reporter on BBC Radio 5's ''Out This Week''. Between 1997 and 2000, she was a regular music journalist for ''

Time Out London ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...

'', as well as writing for ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', and had her own column called "Rosie's Pop Diary" in the now defunct ''Making Music'' magazine. As a music journalist, she interviewed, among others,

Beth Orton Elizabeth Caroline Orton (born 14 December 1970) is an English musician, known for her "folktronica" sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit, Andrew Weatherall, ...

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter best known for her folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered the ...

Stereophonics Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley, Wales. The band consists of Kelly Jones (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Richard Jones (bass guitar, harmonica, backing vocals), Adam Zind ...

and the band

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

Music

In 1996 she formed a band named Wilby, which released an album entitled ''Precious Hours'' in July 2000 on her own label, Cat Flap Recordings. The album launch gig at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club was reviewed in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', who praised Wilby's "glorious" voice. Rosie went solo and supported artists including

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Rock music in Ireland, Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved ...

, Jamie Cullum,

Midge Ure James Ure (born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, the diminutive form of his actual name. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s ...

Glenn Tilbrook Glenn Martin Tilbrook (born 31 August 1957) is the lead singer and guitarist of the English band Squeeze, a band formed in the mid-1970s who broke through in the new wave era at the decade's end. He generally wrote the music for Squeeze's son ...

and John Grant's band The Czars. She also performed on the Left Field stage at the

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

in 2005.

Move into comedy

In 2004, after positive comments about her between song banter, she entered the stand-up competition

So You Think You're Funny So You Think You're Funny? (SYTYF) is an annual stand-up comedy competition for new acts. The competition began in 1988 in the United Kingdom. The finals are held every August at The Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past wi ...

and got through to the semi-finals. She also reached the Laughing Horse competition semi-finals in 2005 and then the

Funny Women Funny Women is an online and in-person workshop community dedicated to the support of female comedians. It was founded by Lynne Parker in 2002 as a reaction to misogynistic comments from a comedy promoter. Funny Women helps women find their voice, ...

final in 2006, held at the Comedy Store, compered by

Shappi Khorsandi Shaparak Khorsandi ( fa, شاپرک خرسندی, born 8 June 1973), formerly known as Shappi Khorsandi, is an Iranian-born British comedian and author. She is the daughter of the Iranian political satirist and poet Hadi Khorsandi. Her family le ...

. Other finalists that year included Holly Walsh and

Susan Calman Susan Grace Calman (born 6 November 1974) is a Scottish comedian, television presenter, writer and panellist on a number of BBC Radio 4 shows including ''The News Quiz'' and ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue''. She has written and starred in two se ...

. In 2007, Wilby reached the final of the

Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year The ''Leicester Mercury'' Comedian of the Year is held during the Leicester Comedy Festival every February. All the finalists picked are nominated by the UK's top comedy clubs and must meet certain criteria. The competition is sponsored by the ''Le ...

and the semi-finals of

the Amused Moose ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

competition. She has taken several shows to the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

and on tour around the UK, including a spoof lecture about memory called "I am Nesia" and another spoof lecture about sex, "The Science of Sex", which won a Fringe Report Award 2010 and saw her being invited on to

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by A ...

'' and ''Loose Ends''. The show was revived in 2012 for two performances at the 2012 Green Man Festival in Wales. Her follow-up show, "Rosie's Pop Diary", was based on her music career and later became "How (not) to Make it in Britpop". She spoke about it with Libby Purves on BBC Radio 4's '' Midweek''. In 2011, she co-wrote and co-starred in the short film ''The Bride and Bride'', alongside fellow comic Sarah Campbell, which was screened at the 2011 London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. In 2012, she appeared at the

Bloomsbury Theatre The Bloomsbury Theatre is a theatre on Gordon Street, Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, owned by University College London. The Theatre has a seating capacity of 547 and offers a professional programme of innovative music, drama, come ...

alongside

Jen Brister Jennifer Helen Brister (born 9 February 1975) is a British stand-up comedian, writer and actor from London. Life and career Early life Brister was born in Kingston upon Thames, Greater London, in 1975 to an English father and a Spanish mother ...

and

in aid of a Stonewall UK charity event that was headlined by Sarah Millican. In August 2012, Wilby appeared alongside

Jenny Eclair Jenny Eclair (born Jenny Clare Hargreaves; 16 March 1960) is an English comedian, novelist, and actress, best known for her roles in ''Grumpy Old Women'' between 2004 and 2007 and in '' Loose Women'' in 2011 and 2012. Early life Eclair was born ...

and

Ellie Taylor Eleanor Jane Taylor is an English comedian, television personality, actress, and writer. After appearing on ''Show Me the Funny'' in 2011, Taylor has appeared on numerous television shows, including ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' (2011–2017), ''Fake Rea ...

at the

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as ‘the most beautiful theatre in Lon ...

, part of the season "Ha Ha Hackney". Every year from 2006 to 2012 she appeared at Homotopia Festival in Liverpool, where '' Diva Magazine'' editor Jane Czyzselska described her as a "lesbian Eddie Izzard". She now performs in comedy clubs across the UK and has also performed at Polari literary salon with

Paul Burston Paul Burston is a Welsh journalist and author. He worked for the London gay policing group GALOP and was an activist with ACT UP before moving into journalism. He edited, for some years, the LGBT section of '' Time Out'' and founded the Polar ...

in 2012 and at the South Bank Women of the World (WOW) Festival in 2013.

Radio & Podcasts

Wilby has appeared on BBC Radio 4 ''Woman's Hour'' and ''Loose Ends'', BBC Radio 5,

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...

and BBC London, but is best known for presenting a weekly LGBT magazine show, '' Out in South London'', on London-based non-profit community radio station Resonance FM. Notable guests on the show have included

k.d lang Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical performances. Hits include the so ...

, Sarah Waters, and Peter Tatchell. Wilby appears in the Sound Women 200 List featuring women working in the audio and radio industry. Wilby created her podcast The Breakup Monologues in Dec 2018. Famous guests include

Dolly Alderton Dolly Alderton (born 31 August 1988) is a British journalist, author and podcaster. She is a columnist for ''The Sunday Times''. Her memoir ''Everything I Know About Love'' won a 2018 National Book Award for autobiography and was shortlisted for ...

, Brett Goldstein, Katy Brand,

Richard Herring Richard Keith Herring (born 12 July 1967) is an English stand-up comedian and writer, whose early work includes the comedy double act Lee and Herring (alongside Stewart Lee). He is described by ''The British Theatre Guide'' as "one of the leadin ...

Helen Lederer Helen Margaret Lederer (born 24 September 1954) is an English comedian, writer and actress who emerged as part of the alternative comedy boom at the beginning of the 1980s. Among her television credits are the BBC2 sketch series ''Naked Video'' ...

and

Samantha Baines Samantha Louise Baines (born 1987 in Southwark, London) is an English actress, author and comedian. She is best known for her appearances in ''Magic Mike Live London'', ''The Crown'' (Netflix), '' Lee Nelson's Well Funny People'' (BBC Three), ...

Personal life

Wilby has written about being an openly lesbian performer, and her sexuality features heavily in her creative output. She wrote an article for ''The Guardian'' on being a lesbian comedian and an article in the ''

Independent Online ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format in 2003. The last p ...

'' about "

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

". In 2011 she performed a fusion of stand up and film called ''I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas'' at the

Rich Mix Rich Mix is a charity that offers cinema and cross-arts centre that is located in the East End of London, located in Shoreditch in the Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London, England. Once a vast leather factory, 62,000-square-foot building was t ...

in East London, which explored why Christmas is a far from conventional time for people who are LGBT.

References

External links

Rosie Wilby official website

Rosie Wilby ''Chortle'' profile

Rosie Wilby ''Huffington Post'' profile

Interview with Rosie Wilby in ''British Comedy Guide''

Interview in ''Liverpool Echo''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilby, Rosie 1970 births Living people English women comedians English stand-up comedians English women singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters Alumni of the University of York English LGBT broadcasters English LGBT singers English LGBT songwriters English LGBT comedians English lesbian musicians Lesbian singers Lesbian songwriters Lesbian comedians 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English comedians 21st-century English LGBT people Singers from Liverpool Comedians from Liverpool