Quotes

Most of my world is in London, and I feel like this is where I went mad and ended up finding myself.

Some people get into comedy because they love comedy. Then there are people who have a message and have realised that if they can be funny, maybe people will listen to it. And then there are people like me, who are just addicted to making people laugh.

An hour show panics me a lot less than five minutes at the O2. How do you put yourself across and make sure people have a good time in five minutes?

In the U.K. and Ireland, crowd-work is a big thing. It shows you how funny someone would be if you met them off-stage. Americans don't care if you're funny off-stage. They want to see the writing; they want to see the work you did.

Americans like workers, people who slog. I love working.

I can't play the guitar, so the thoughts of playing one onstage at a festival makes me quiver, but I've been blabbering away in front of people since I was a child, so talking for a living isn't the most daunting thing to do.

Things are only daunting if they are very far away from your main skillset.

Apparently, my father was funny. I didn't really know him, but people have theories that the gag-smith gene trickles down through the blood amongst other terrible traits like a big nose and a temper.

I trained in London as a classical actor, but you've no idea what way your career will go.

While we talk about successes, I think it's also important to talk about all the failures. Like, for every Netflix special, there's things that don't work.

One year, I did 10 or 11 pilots of TV shows that never went anywhere.

No-one posts photos of themselves on Instagram when you're eating spaghetti hoops out of a tin going 'Why?'

There aren't as many women in my industry in comedy as there should and could and hopefully will be, but it is interesting growing up watching a woman in a male-dominated industry and kind of, like, plowing ahead.

Getting a laugh was what I'd been doing with my family and at school since the age of three.

I grew up in rural Ireland; we only had a few TV channels and had never even heard of sketch shows, but it was completely natural for me to tell jokes and stories.

When I'm in L.A., I'm part of the Irish community out there, and I just love it.

My father died when I was three years old and my sister was three months.

When I was growing up, I idolised my father. I thought his ghost followed me around the house. I had been told how he adored me, how I was funny, just like him. Because of our lovely Catholic upbringing, I secretly assumed that he would eventually come back, like our good friend Jesus.

Any child who has lost a parent probably knows every single photograph in existence of that parent.

I love Alain de Botton and listen to his little 'School of Life' YouTube vids as I do the dishes.

I love L.A. Some people arrive with big expectations and are inevitably disappointed, but I can audition in the day, which can be gruelling and lonely, but then gig and be creative in the evenings.

In America, they like to think, 'Do as many things as you can.' That's what I like about being here. 'You're a polymath! We call you multi-hyphenates!' I like the idea you're allowed work as much as you can.

There was a stage in my career, especially with standup, where I felt, because I didn't know why I was doing well, that anyone who would tell me anything; I was sort of like, 'What did they say? Yeah, I'll take that advice.' Now I'm a bit more careful who I choose to listen to.

I buy so much stuff from charity shops.

My on-set, keep-warm jacket is a Patagonia, and they make sure the people who make their clothes are paid fairly, along with a load of other great stuff and initiatives. They're a business, but they put their money where their mouth is in terms of caring and responsibility.