Lucy Donna Porter (born 27 January 1973) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She has performed at the

Edinburgh 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 ...

, the

Brighton Festival Brighton Festival is a large, annual, curated multi-arts festival in England. It includes music, theatre, dance, circus, art, film, literature, debate, outdoor and family events, and takes place in venues in the city of Brighton and Hove in Engla ...

and many clubs around Britain. She is also a regular voice on

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' ...

in various panel shows, including '' Quote... Unquote'' and '' The Personality Test''.

Personal life

Porter was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, south London, and attended

Wallington High School for Girls Wallington High School for Girls is an all-girls selective grammar school in the London Borough of Sutton, England, specialising in STEM subjects and Languages. Admissions It is a grammar school, with Richard Booth as the Headmaster since Septem ...

. She is married to Justin Edwards. The couple have two children. She is small, revealing during an appearance on '' QI'' that she is , while her husband is .

Career

After obtaining a degree in English literature from

The University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

, Porter worked as a journalist on '' the Big Issue in The North''. She began to perform stand-up comedy whilst working as a researcher for Granada Television, on programmes such as ''

The Mrs Merton Show ''The Mrs Merton Show'' was a mock talk show starring Caroline Aherne as the elderly host Mrs Dorothy Merton. Originally portrayed as 'Mrs. Murton' in a pilot for Yorkshire TV which was not picked up, Caroline Aherne retooled the character, mak ...

''. Her first performance was at a club in Chester, a location she chose because it was far enough from home that if it went badly, no one would know her. As an actress, she made brief appearances in ''Life's a Pitch'' and '' Absolute Power''. She presented a TV commercial for mobile phone company One2One during the year 2000. Her first high-profile acting role was alongside

Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut with a leading role in ''The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakthrough role as Jason "J.D." D ...

in the stage version of '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' at the

in 2004. She reprised her role of a nurse for the 2005 London production. In 2005, she made regular appearances on ''

Broken News ''Broken News'' is a comedy programme shown on BBC Two in late 2005. The show poked fun at the world of 24-hour rolling news channels. The title of the show is a play on the phrase "breaking news". It had six thirty-minute episodes. Having previo ...

'' as Claudia Van Sant. She has been one of the writers for all nine series of ''

Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections ''Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections'' was a BBC Radio 2 satirical comedy show starring Andy Parsons and Henry Naylor. It also stars Richie Webb, and one female "special guest". Female guests included Lucy Porter, Jo Caulfield, Julia M ...

'', appearing as a special guest performer in many editions. Porter starred in ''The Powder Room'' alongside Julia Morris and

Gina Yashere Regina Obedapo "Gina" Iyashere is a British comedian who has made many appearances on British and American television. Early life Yashere was born and raised in Bethnal Green London to Nigerian parents. Before becoming a comedian, she worked ...

, which was also broadcast on BBC Radio 2. She wrote the scripts for two series of

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

's '' Anthea Turner: Perfect Housewife''. She has appeared on several panel shows, including the first episode of

Rob Brydon Robert Brydon Jones (; born 3 May 1965) is a Welsh actor, comedian, impressionist, presenter, singer and writer. He played Dr Paul Hamilton in the Australian/British comedy series ''Supernova'', Bryn West in the BBC sitcom '' Gavin & Stacey'' ...

's '' Annually Retentive'' (July 2006). She appeared on satirical news quiz show '' Have I Got News For You'' (32nd series, show 7), ''

Never Mind The Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first hos ...

'' and ''

Mock the Week ''Mock the Week'' is a British topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. The programme was present ...

''. In May 2007, Porter became host of a ''

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 ...

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

, ''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 ''Comedy Cuts'' is a comedy programme on the British TV channel ITV2 that aims to provide an opportunity for new comedy performers to present their talents. Featuring 40 performers demonstrating a mix of stand up and sketches, the series is shot ...

'', a programme showcasing the best of the British stand-up comedy circuit. In 2008, she began work as a team captain on the

panel game A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

'' Act Your Age''. Lucy Porter has recorded her stand-up show ''The Good Life'' for a DVD release by independent label Go Faster Stripe, and appeared in the 2008 and 2009 series of ''

Mock The Week ''Mock the Week'' is a British topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. The programme was present ...

''. She was the warm-up act for Mitchell & Webb's television series screenings at the BBC TV Centre. In 2009, Porter took her show ''The Bare Necessities'' on a tour, 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 Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominate ...

as her specialist subject. Porter'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 a self-deprecating reference to the original material, given that she was then married. Porter presented '' FirstPlay'', a weekly digital "magazine" for European customers on the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...

. She hosts the successor show, ''Access'', which is still available weekly on the PlayStation Network. In 2011, Porter competed alongside Ed Byrne in ''

Pointless Celebrities ''Pointless'' is a British television quiz show produced by Banijay subsidiary Remarkable Television for the BBC. It is hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but obscure answers t ...

'', eventually losing in the penultimate round. Porter created ''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. In 2014, she wrote her debut stage play, ''The Fair Intellectual Club'', which premièred at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the

Assembly Rooms In Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the 18th century Britain, 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done ...

, directed by Marilyn Imrie. Porter developed this into a comedy series of the same name for BBC Radio 4, featuring much of the same cast and also directed by Imrie. She has since expressed a desire to write more plays for the Festival in the future. Porter has appeared on three episodes of '' QI'', in series L, M and N. In February 2017, Porter was a guest on Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast. Porter, along with professional quizzer

Jenny Ryan Jenny Alexis Ryan (born 2 April 1982) is an English quizzer, singer and television personality, best known as one of the six chasers on the ITV game show '' The Chase''. In 2019, she competed in the ITV competition series, '' The X Factor: Cel ...

, launched in 2018 ''Fingers On Buzzers'', a podcast about quiz and game shows. Along with Ryan, Porter returned to Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast in early 2019, and they discussed ''Fingers On Buzzers'' and other topics. In March 2021, Porter chaired the Radio 4 panel game '' Just a Minute''. She was the sixth guest host in the first series since the death of

Nicholas Parsons Christopher Nicholas Parsons (10 October 1923 – 28 January 2020) was an English actor, straight man and radio and television presenter. He was the long-running presenter of the comedy radio show '' Just a Minute'' and hosted the game show '' ...

, who had presented almost every episode of the programme since its creation in 1967. On 06 June 2021 she appeared in the fourth episode of the. BBC Radio 4 programm
The Confessional
The series is written and presented by

Stephen Mangan Stephen James Mangan (born 16 May 1968) is an English actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He has played Guy Secretan in ''Green Wing'', Dan Moody in ''I'm Alan Partridge'', Seán Lincoln in '' Episodes'', Bigwig in ''Watership Down'', Postm ...

. On 04 March 2022 she appeared in an episode of '' EastEnders''.

Live shows

;1999: :The Gilded Balloon (Edinburgh Festival Fringe) ;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 also released on DVD) :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 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) ;2018: :Pass It On (Edinburgh Festival Fringe)

References

External links

Lucy Porter's WebsiteLucy Porter's page on Chortle with tour dates, reviews and newsInterview with LeftLion Magazine
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Lucy 1973 births People from Croydon English stand-up comedians Living people Alumni of the University of Manchester English television actresses English women comedians English stage actresses People educated at Wallington High School for Girls 21st-century English comedians 21st-century English actresses Comedians from London Actresses from London