Sara Pascoe

Sara Pascoe is a multi award-winning stand-up comedian, actor and writer who has made numerous appearances on TV shows.

A former Gaynes School pupil, Sara attended Havering Sixth Form College from 1997 to 1999 where her favourite subject was A Level Psychology. Although she was intelligent and capable, Sara admits she didn’t study as hard as she could have and left College with two Cs and an A. Her final grades meant that she was not able to take up the place at Cambridge University to study Philosophy that she had hoped for.

She took a gap year, which became two years, moving to Nottingham and working as a backing singer and dancer for entertainer Pete Conway (Robbie Williams’ dad).

From there she decided to go back to education and get a degree, studying English Literature at the University of Sussex. During her university days she became involved in drama groups and after graduating she worked as an actor, supplementing her income with temporary work, mostly charity fundraising for the RSPCA.

She had never intended to be a comic or a stand-up and says she somehow fell into the career that was to eventually make her famous. She says: “I used to think comedy was for idiots. I was very sneering. I just didn’t get it and thought it was stupid. I didn’t know I wanted to be a comedian until I’d done it for about three months. I was trying to be an actor from the age of 18 to 27!”

After university she began performing in theatre shows and at old people’s homes and went to open-mic nights with her guitar. But she struggled to make ends meet and eventually realised that there were far more opportunities in comedy than in theatre, so in 2007 she started asking comedians for gigs.

The more stand-up she did, the better she became at it and got her big break when she was a runner-up in a Funny Woman Competition and was approached by her agent, who she now credits with ‘changing her life’.

In August 2010, she performed her first show at the Edinburgh Festival – Sara Pascoe Vs Her Ego, which received very positive reviews.

In 2012 she appeared on Live at the Apollo and then in 2013 she won an episode of the TV show QI with 28 points – clearly showing how smart she is. In 2014, she performed again at the Edinburgh Festival and toured the UK for the first time with her show Sara Pascoe Vs History.

Since then her career has rocketed and she regularly appears on TV panel shows such as Would I Lie To You, Mock The Week, Have I Got News For You, 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Twenty Twelve.

She has had acting roles in The Thick Of It and W1A, and she’s written several books, such as Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body and Sex, Power, Money. In 2016 she went on tour with the show Animal and then in 2019 toured the UK with her show Lads Lads Lads.

She recorded a congratulatory video for the online New City College Student Achievement Awards presentation in January 2021.