Meet TV's Comedian Maisie Adam Ahead of Her Stand Up Shows
Following her sold-out debut tour, Pannal's own comedian Maisie Adam is heading back to stages near us with a brand new show
Maisie says she ‘bloody loved’ growing up in Pannal. ‘I absolutely couldn’t have asked for better really. I have lots and lots of fond memories of walking home across the field behind my house. It was an absolutely beautiful place to grow up,’ she says. ‘I think we spent pretty much nearly every weekend and Bank Holiday walking the dog either in the Dales or somewhere like Swinsty Reservoir or Brimham Rocks. It was a very lovely place to be.’
She always loved ‘showing off’ and being on stage as a child. ‘I obviously never thought comedy was a proper job though,’ she admits, ‘and it seemed that if you were to go into the performing side of things that it was acting and you’d go and study theatre. So that’s what I did.’ Maisie studied for three years then moved back in with her parents while her friends were in London. ’It just felt like I’d gone two steps back,’ she recalls. ‘I was really struggling to find any creative endeavour. I’d always fancied stand-up and I’d always loved going to it and watching it, but I think it was just that sheer desire to feel a buzz of being on stage. I wasn’t getting cast in anything, but that’s the great thing about stand-up – you do it yourself and you say your own lines rather than someone else’s. I thought I’d give it a go, and I did my first gig in Ilkley and I absolutely loved it. It definitely sparked something in me and made me never want to do anything else really.’
But Maisie never thought she’d end up where she is today. ‘I just thought I’d found a really great hobby. I loved it,’ she says. ‘I was working in bars and pubs to keep myself going and any time I had to gig, I was gigging. I was getting Megabuses down to London and I didn’t want to do anything else, but never for a second thought, “and then I’ll get on the telly and have it as a job full time and go on tour and sell out rooms”. It never crossed my mind. I still kind of can’t believe it!’
Maisie won the So You Think You’re Funny? Award in 2017 (previously won by Peter Kay, Aisling Bea and Tom Allen), then was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Since then you might’ve seen her on Mock The Week, Have I Got News For You, QI, The Last Leg and 8 Out Of 10 Cats. Now she’s also the co-host of the Big Kick Energy football podcast.
Maisie highlights her Live At The Apollo gig in 2021 as a great moment in her career. ‘I’d grown up watching that show and to suddenly find myself on it with Jason Manford (who was the host when I did it) felt like such a great moment for me,’ she says. ‘I was on this iconic stage in front of that iconic sign on this iconic show. That felt like a real bucket-list moment.’ She hosted the show herself last year.
A massive fan of football, Maisie got married in June last year and played in Soccer Aid at Old Trafford the next day, something she says was another big career highlight for her. ‘I’m a huge football fan and finding myself doing keepie-uppies and training with some of the best footballers in the world, and people like Usain Bolt, is absolutely and utterly bonkers,’ she laughs. Now based in Brighton, Maisie plays for Brighton Seagals FC.
Maisie’s new show is called Appraisal. ‘I cannot believe it’s my job to do it, so the show is about me getting to do this silly job – and what a weird job it is,’ she tells us. ‘It’s sort of dissecting the “work” side, if you can call it that! That’s why I called it Appraisal. I’m five years into having this as my full-time professional job and in any other line of work that’s when you’d have a five-year appraisal. Essentially that’s what this tour is, it’s an appraisal.’
The tour will take her to towns and cities across Yorkshire this autumn, and she admits there’s ‘definitely a Yorkshire sense of humour that is unlike anywhere else’. ‘It’s always a genuinely favourite tour date – where it’s like a bit of a homecoming and there’s a shared Yorkshire sense of humour in the crowd,’ she says. ‘There’s also a pressure I think, to go back to your home digs – a pressure to deliver. Not least because you’ll recognise the audience, because they’re your mates, or your mates’ parents. You only have to look at some of the comedy we’ve produced over the years as a county and you know we must have something in our water.’
Her advice for budding comedians is to simply keep gigging. ‘It’s a really strange job because no two gigs are the same,’ says Maisie. ‘You can have an absolute belter one day, then the next one can be really tough. You’ve just got to keep going. That is how you get better. I don’t really think you can learn it, and I don’t think you can revise for it. You never know what’s going to happen on the night. You could have all your jokes written, then there might be a big stag do in and you’ve just got to adapt in the moment. That all comes with, like anything really, practise. Do as many gigs as you can in as many places as you can. There’re a lot of comedians who will gig in the same venues, often staying within London, and I think you should say yes to everything you can. Take festivals and village halls, take comedy clubs – gig wherever you can.’
Where’s your favourite place to visit when you’re back in Yorkshire?
Brimham Rocks is special. That is my favourite. It’s so beautiful! We’re going to Whitby for New Year which will be great. I’m very excited to show my southern husband Whitby, and where all the best fish and chips is.
What’s your favourite place in Yorkshire to perform?
Quite recently there was a comedy festival at Kirkstall Abbey, would you believe it, and that was pretty cool performing in its grounds. It was a beautiful day. Yorkshire was at its finest then.
Is there one TV show you’d love to appear on that you haven’t already?
That’s exciting! Taskmaster, that looks fun! That’d be a good laugh.
Tell us one fun fact we might not know about you.
I can unicycle. That’s how bored I was living at home!
What’s the story behind your signature haircut?
Again, if you give me too much spare time, that’s the sort of thing I’ll do – I’ll give stand-up a go, I’ll learn to unicycle or I’ll get a mad haircut. I think life’s too short to have the same thing over and over again so if you ever fancy going for something a bit mad (a piece of clothing or doing something different with your hair or makeup), give it a go. What’s the worst that could happen?
What are your plans post-tour?
Rest! It’s a bloody long tour and I think we’re adding more dates! I’ll rest and get to Whitby. I’d like to get to some more football games in too because I’ll have missed so many due to the tour. I’d like to come up to Elland Road and get some home games in.
