Following a successful run at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, comedian, actress, writer, voiceover artist and podcaster Lucy Porter is set to embark on a national tour of her critically acclaimed show ‘Wake Up Call’.
‘Wake-Up Call’ is a show about revelations, realisations and epiphanies – both large and small. Subjects covered include: Bin collection schedules, the novels of Jean Rhys, cats, school fair booze tombolas, the Scottish Enlightenment, pressure washers and Huel. It’s an exuberant, silly show with some wisdom sprinkled on top.
The show takes its inspiration from the unwanted Wake Up Calls we all receive in life. Sometimes the universe is like the aggressive receptionist at the Guildford Premier Inn, forcing you to do get up and do things when you’d rather just stay in bed. Like a really good episode of Casualty, this show starts with a medical emergency, and then expands to talk about anxiety, grief, love, loss, shame and regret, with a bit of sauciness thrown in for the dads.
There’s also some practical advice on midlife crisis management. Lucy’s friends are crumbling around her amid the pressures of young children, elderly parents, and the depredations of age. Since Lucy’s midlife crisis has been chronic rather than acute (it started when she was about 25 and just won’t quit) she’s been dispensing tips on what to do when you realise all your achievements are meaningless, and that life is just one long banquet of disappointments on the way to the sweet release of death. An antidote to “toxic positivity”, this show revels in healthy cynicism. The only reason Lucy has a “Live Laugh Love” sign on her house is that it’s more effective at keeping people away than “No Cold Callers”. Lucy does find joy and positivity in some of life’s bleaker moments, but she’s not going to try and inspire you – the show’s messages read less like motivational quotes, more like Country Music song titles: “It’s Hard to Have a Breakdown When You’re Already Broken”, “You’ll Never Meet a Man Called Keith who Doesn’t Own a Shed”, “If You Want a Peaceful Home, Don’t Marry a Banjo Player” etc.
A journalist once described Lucy’s comedy as “middle-aged, middle-class and middle-of-the-road”, we’re not sure he intended it as a compliment, but have to admit he was spot on. This is comedy for middle aged women and anyone who loves them. If you want to find out what your mum, your wife or your eccentric aunties are really thinking, this is the show for you. If you’re medically curious, you can find out about Lucy’s unusual illnesses, and she’ll almost certainly end up talking about her love of Radio 2’s Ken Bruce and what happened when she recently appeared in Eastenders. Lucy uses Jenny Joseph’s iconic poem ‘Warning’ as a starting point to ask what do women want in their latter years, and what the hell is wrong with Paul Hollywood?
Lucy Porter is an established comedian, actress, writer, voiceover artist and podcaster. She fell in love with Edinburgh on her first visit in 1992, when she was a judge on the Perrier Award Panel. Eventually she built up the courage to try comedy herself and took part in the final of ‘So You Think You’re Funny’ in 1997 (It wasn’t a great gig, but Johnny Vegas also died that night, so that makes her feel a bit better.) Lucy brought her first solo show to the festival in 2001, and in subsequent years she’s had sell out shows at most of the major venues on various subjects including lying, love, happiness, gold and being in the Brownies. She’s immensely proud of her two Radio Forth ‘Best Fringe Comedian’ Awards, and often appears on BBC Scotland’s Breaking The News. Lucy wrote a play ‘The Fair Intellectual Club’ about Edinburgh in the 1700s, it was subsequently turned into a Radio 4 series, recorded at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
Lucy has travelled all over the world with her comedy – everywhere from the prestigious HBO festival in Las Vegas to Capetown, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and this year she’s embarking on her first cruise around Scandinavia. Lucy is highly in demand as an after dinner speaker and awards host, recent highlights include The British Parking Awards, British Pipe Fitter of the Year, and The British Food Packaging Awards.
Lucy is a regular face on our television screens, both with her acting work and her many appearances on some of the UK’s most beloved panel shows. She’s appeared on QI with both Sandi and Steven hosting, she’s been on Mock The Week, Have I Got News for You, and Would I Lie to You (she is lucky enough to have done an episode with Bob Mortimer, when he told a classic story about Chris Rea telling him to crack an egg in his bath.)
Lucy’s acting work includes her recent stint in BBC1’s Eastenders as well as the phenomenally successful stage version of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest in Edinburgh and London, and she also has some good stories about being the reluctant star of a Japanese cartoon series.
Lucy’s big passion is quizzing – she hosts the successful Podcast ‘Fingers on Buzzers’ alongside Jenny Ryan AKA The Chase’s Vixen. They’ve interviewed some incredible guests including Michael Sheen, Henry ‘Going for Gold’ Kelly, and Ben ‘Tipping Point’ Shepard. Recently Lucy has achieved some personal quizzing goals by FINALLY bringing home a Pointless trophy and becoming the Celebrity Mastermind ‘Champion of Champions’. Lucy’s specialist subject was her idol, Victoria Wood. She’s still scarred from her experience on Richard Osman’s House of Games, but at least she can cry into the lovely cushion she won.
Lucy’s dulcet tones are regularly heard on BBC Radio 4. She’s starred in her own series “In the Family Way” and is a regular voice on The News Quiz, The Now Show, The Unbelievable Truth and Just a Minute (where she recently managed to talk for a whole minute about Victoria Wood). Lucy is a keen student of comedy history, and is on the board of Bristol’s annual Slapstick Festival. She regularly appears on TV and radio talking about the forgotten female comedians of the silent era, such as Marion Davies, The Talmadge Sisters, and Mabel Normand. She’s recently taken part in archive celebration programmes on the subjects of Jimmy Tarbuck, Ken Dodd and Tommy Cooper.
Lucy is incredibly excited about going back on tour. Wake Up Call captures the mood of introspection and reflection that has prevailed over the last few years, but looks to the future and asks where we go from here.
