Walking The Dog with Emily Dean - Sophie Garrad (Part One)

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

This week Emily and Ray take a stroll through Regent's Park with comedian and content creator Sophie Garrad.Running on very little sleep after staying up to watch England's late-night World Cup match, Emily is relieved to discover that Sophie arrives with enough energy for the both of them. The pair chat about Sophie's fascinating upbringing, which, despite appearing glamorous from the outside, was shaped by her father's imprisonment, an experience she now explores with honesty and humour in her stand-up.They also discuss Sophie's decision to pursue comedy, the creation of her hugely popular online characters, including Private School Mum, and how her sketches have gone on to attract more than 100 million views across social media.Sophie's new Edinburgh show, A Period Drama, runs at the Pleasance Dome from August 7th to 30th. Tickets are available now at https://www.pleasance.co.uk.It's a funny, candid and hugely uplifting conversation with a comedian whose warmth and infectious energy shine through from the moment she arrives. And while Emily may have been sleep-deprived, Sophie more than made up for it, proving herself to be the human equivalent of a double espresso.Follow Emily:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilyrebeccadeanX: https://twitter.com/divine_miss_emWalking The Dog is produced by Will NicholsMusic: Rich JarmanArtwork: Alice LudlamPhotography: Karla Gowlett Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And I'm sat there crying because they're like just have a little biscuit and sit then we're going to go and have a chat out here and sort things out. And then next thing I know the surgeon like knocks. He's like not knock even though it's like a curtain. And he's got another doctor with him and I'm like crying. He goes, we've just been watching your videos. Very funny. And I'm like, thank you so much. This week on Walking the Dog, Ray and I went for a Regents Park stroll with comedian and content creator Sophie Garrad. So full disclosure, we met up with Sophie the morning. after I'd stayed up to watch England's 2 a.m. World Cup game against Mexico. So after three

hours sleep, let's just say I wasn't at my sparkling best, but it turned out I didn't need to be because Sophie is essentially a double espresso in human form. She just radiated this fabulously infectious energy. And we had the best chat about pretty much everything. She talked to me really candidly about her childhood, which on paper was very privileged and glamorous, but in reality saw her also coping with her dad's imprisonment, something she's actually touched on a lot in her stand-up. We also talked about her decision to take the plunge into a career in comedy and how her online sketches featuring epic characters like private school mum have now gone on to amass over 100 million views on social media. She also told me about her new show, A Period Drama, which

she's taking to the Edinburgh Festival. It'll be on from the 7th to the 30th of August at the Pleasant's dome so do make sure to book your tickets now at pleasance.co.uk. Ray and I absolutely loved our morning with Sophie because frankly, how could you not love this woman? She's just so endlessly hilarious and unfailingly honest and I'm also obsessed with the fact that she insists on still calling her husband her boyfriend because she finds the word husband a bit cringe. Boyfriend, husband, I'm not fast. All I know is that if he's anything like Sophie, Ray and I are moving in with them both immediately. Really hope you enjoy our chat. Here's Sophie and Ray Ray.

Ray. We've got Sophie with us. Be polite. Sophie, what do you think of Ray so far? I'm obsessed of Ray. I'm going to go to my hairdressers. I'm going to take a picture of Ray and I'm going to say, this is what I want for my neck to look. Really? And he'll probably be like you need a lot of extensions because my hair is a rat's tail compared to this. Do you know, I had a feeling you and Ray, were going to get on the minute you entered the chat.

I just saw him and I thought, that's a dog that I have a lot of respect for. He looks rich and that's why I like him. See? I knew you were going to get on. Do you know he's such a snob? I could tell. He won't go to certain parks. And when I take him to a post go to, honestly, this is true.

If you see him in a really smart area, like his favourite place, I thought, what's happened to him when I took him to Chelsea once? And he looked so happy. running along he's like mum I'm home take him to Tottenham yeah or Finzi Park he's not going in there he's in one sniff he's like that's not for me mum let's go he's a terrible snob well it's so lovely to see you and we should say the morning we're recording this this is such an achievement that we're all here because England were playing last night yeah Mexico you didn't step to watch it did you I didn't step to watch it um I loved the fact

though this morning when I came here normally it's like rush hour about 9 o'clock on Monday not that I have a real job but I avoid that time and no one was on the tube and I thought thank God for football and I've never thought that before well I'm so thrilled I'm such a fan of yours and I'm so thrilled that you could meet us this morning and firstly I need to ask you what's the deal with the pet situation have you currently got any pets so I we'd mean my boyfriend technically husband but I hate that word and what hang on whoa technically husband we are married but I just I think the word husband's very ageing, isn't it?

Like, I think that's added 10 years to me, so I just can't be saying that. So it's my boyfriend. I think husband sounds a bit Karen? It does. It's a bit like, excuse me, it changes everything. My husband is disgusted with you. You're right. It is.

It's just not for me. I didn't use my fiancé either. I just thought, I need people to know that I'm 21 years old. Do you know what I mean? Congratulations on the wedding, by the way. Thank you. But pets-wise, We don't have a pet because my boyfriend is very allergic.

However, we want to get a hyperalogenic dog, but we live in London. Is he hyperalogenic? Oh, perfect. And he'd be perfect because he doesn't need a garden. We can take him to the parks every day. We don't have a garden, basically. And my boyfriend's very much like, we need a garden first. I think I would have a dog.

He doesn't need a garden. He just needs Kensington gardens. Exactly, perfect. That's what he needs. We can do that. But my family, we have a black German Shepherd, and he's gorgeous. He's one of the most handsome dogs I've ever seen. Yeah, obviously not as handsome as Ray, but he's so beautiful.

I love a German Shepherd. Yeah, we always have German shepherds growing up. So tell me about the dogs growing up. So this is, tell me where you grew up first of all. So I grew up in a place called New Market, which is near Cambridge. That's racing, isn't it? The racing, yeah. Femised racing, loads of horses in New Market.

Horses everywhere. Yeah. Too many, some would say. I'm not a horsey gal. Galloping down the street. Yeah. In New Market, the horses walk on the inside of the pavement. I'm not even joking, people have to walk on the outside.

They are like royalty. So you're growing, so this is in Newmarket. Yeah, and it's you, both your parents. Both my parents and I've got two brothers. Two brothers. I've also got half-brough and half-sister, but they're way older. And are you sort of well-off, affluent? What's the house?

Thank you for asking that. Finally a podcast that asks the actual real questions. I, my family have a big house. Yeah. And definitely grow up, like, well off. But my, like, my behaviour. My dad owned businesses, so it was very up and down growing up. Got it.

Kind of thing. So it was like every month was a different month in my household. Still is, to be honest. Yeah. It's very much like my dad's like a bit of a East End wheeler dealer. He was like, we were talking about Alan Sugar earlier. My dad was very much on Alan Sugar. Left school at 14, worked on market store, worked his way up kind of thing.

Yeah. Quite a scary man, I will say. I was very much my type on paper. And a very like eccentric man. Like, for example, at my wedding, he wore an Indian jacket that was all like purple and sparkly. And I was like, first of all, that's cultural appropriation. Don't get me cancelled on my wedding day. And then the day before mum was like, he's not wearing, it's fine.

And he wore a different one. And I was like, where have you got all these jackets from? And then he did a few outfit changes. He wore a bucket hat at one point to promote a new business. And I was just like, you know what? Oh, you went to Rob Beckett. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very, very.

So I had a very, like, chaotic, interesting childhood. And what was your mum's sort of, what was her energy like? I'm imagining very beautiful. I don't know why. Yeah, very like Diana vibes, beautiful wise. Yeah, when I was drunk. I always thought she was like so stylish. My mum was a nurse and then turned air hostess and then kind of work with us on my

dad's businesses and now she's retired. But my mum is very like, my mum's very laid back, very funny, like very caring. Bit mental, my whole family are mental. And tell me through the dogs. So you're in the house. I'm imagining a nice, maybe a gravel drive and a gate. Yeah. Wow, have you been? No. I just know the setup.

It's definitely a gravel drive and a gate. Wow, I'm so predictable. Yeah, it was. There was. There was a gate. There was a gravel drive. And what's the dog situation at this time? So when we were younger, we had no dogs and then my brother was really scared of dogs. And then also my parents didn't want to pay for insurance. So then they got loads of German shepherds. What do you mean they didn't want to pay for? Well, like the insurers are like, we can't insure you unless you have cameras or dogs.

I think this was a thing back and back. I don't know if you could get away with that now. So they had five German shepherds. Five? Yeah, five. So you grew up with five German shepherds? Yeah, and they all lived outside and were quite scary. So they weren't sort of come and cuddle and watch the telly?

No, they weren't allowed inside the house. Now the German shepherd is allowed inside the house. And so do you remember all these names? Oh, they all began with B. Every, and we also we had so, that was five and we had so many and they had puppies. It's like the Kardashians. It was literally like Kardashians. Literally.

Literally because my dad was obsessed of bears growing up. My dad has like thousands of ties. They all have teddy bears on them. It's so weird. And then all the, the first dog was called biscuit. Then we had Bentley. Obviously. And then we had like Buster, Bailey.

Bruno now. I can't even remember. There's been so many. So you like, you were comfortable with dogs. But it doesn't sound like you had a kind of those dogs. Yeah. You didn't have a sort of family. they weren't a member of the family.

No, whereas this dog now is a member of the family. And that's the one your parents have got now. Yeah, exactly. Because we got him in lockdown and we all kind of moved back home for lockdown. And then we all moved out. But we very much had him from a puppy. Because he was in the house. It's different when they're in the house outside.

Yeah. I think you get way more of a bond with a dog. And German shepherds, they're interesting, aren't they? Because I think they're really, they're those kind of dogs that they just, they're like Eastern criminals in a way. 100%. Like you don't want to get on the wrong side of them. They're a bit funny with strangers, but the people they love, they'll do anything for.

Exactly. Exactly. They're quite scary dogs. They're like the craze. They're literally like the craze, which is, by the way, my family. It's like, what's the scariest dog? Most people in the area had like Labrador's or Golden Retrievers and we just had a pack of like Alsatians. Just mum walking them all on like, on the dog walk. So you growing up, when did you realize you were funny? Were you, I mean, you're, some people, it's funny, some people who do comedy for a living, you meet them and they're not sort of walk in the room, okay, I know that girl's a comic. Whereas the minute you walk in, I'm sort of like, well, it doesn't take me, you know, a million guesses to work out what you might do.

Thank you. I love that. Because a lot of comedians are not, not to be mean, but they're not funny offstate. They can be quite awkward offstage. I think, I remember, like, being 14 years old and actively thinking, I'm going to be funny. and like kind of learning it I don't think I was natural like my family for example when I told them I was going to be a comedian was so shocked because I were like you're not funny but I think I'd kind of

like taught myself how to be funny and I was always at school seen as funny from that age onwards it was really weird like I don't think I was naturally like this but now I've but do you think you were always I suppose charismatic and warm? Yeah I think I always loved attention yeah so I think

I would always do anything and like being funny was a good way of getting attention Yeah. So I think that's why I always, yeah, just do silly things to make people laugh, I suppose. And that's interesting. So were you noisy and extroverted as a kid then? Could you think, were you the sort of kid that if I'd have known anyone, let's say one of your mum's friends or something, if she now saw how well you were doing in comedy, would she look back and say, oh, that makes sense? No. Like I bumped into one of my nannies in the high street recently and she was like, where did it come from? The whole comedy thing, because I think I was so well behaved and outside of school, at home, I was just, like quite a good girl. I think I've always been quite extroverted. I've always been very confident. Yeah. That was fine. I was always like an adult from a very

young age. Yeah. So I yeah. And I always love like drama and that stuff like my dream as a kid was to go and he's like absolutely not. My mum was like, we're not paying for you to go to private school for you to be any senders. I just was like that was always like that's what, that's my dream. And now look at me.

And did you have that thing where your dad had a different accent to you, I suppose? Oh my whole family. So my dad's like a proper East End. So how does he speak? Does he all right, Shriegel? Yeah, every, he calls everyone, he calls me like princess. No women gets a name, in case he forgets it. So if I'm, I'm meeting your dad now. Hello there, I'm Emily.

Yeah, he'd be like, what do he say? He'd be like, no, for most of all, he'd find out exactly what you do. Okay. And then he'd be like, right, how can this, I use this? And then he'd know someone else that maybe works in that industry, but let me just get you on the phone with this person now. He always gets people on the phone. And he goes, I've got this lovely lady with me on the phone.

and he'll never remember. He doesn't know any of my friend's names. Even my boyfriend's name, he's like, he forgets. He just doesn't do notes. Papa Wheeler. So he sounds pop at East End. And then he'll be, every other word's like, it's the word.

And then my mum doesn't really have an accent. She's got like a maybe of her London accent. Except from when she's, like, around strangers. She wants people think she's posh. She'll put on like a fake voice. Her phone voice. Yeah, her phone voice. It's quite jarring.

And then... It's quite cabin crew as well. Yeah, exactly. And then my brothers, one of my brother sounds like he's from Essex, the other one sounds like he's like a farmer. And I'm the only one that sounds posh. It's so weird. Like it's honestly, people think I'm so posh and I'm like, meet my family.

Like, yeah. Like it's a proper strange mix of accents. It's interesting that, isn't it? Yeah. And I think it's interesting. Do you think, was there a sense of, you know, especially I'm thinking with your dad's case where he's self-made and everything?

Yeah. And sending you, was it, you know, It's a fee-paying school you're going to and he's giving you the stuff that he never had, the opportunities he never had. Was there a part of you that was feeling, I don't know if I should say I want to be a performer. Like I'm going into this notoriously precarious kind of industry. It's not like I'm saying, oh, I'm using this very expensive education to be a lawyer or a doctor. Well, he didn't care at all about it. He doesn't really believe in education.

So it was my mum that was really pushy with the school. So my dad loves the fact that I'm a comedian. Like he loves fame, celebrity, all of that. He's like, that's great. As soon as I told my dad's being comedian, he goes, I want to do that. And then he started doing open mics. And I was like, whoa, wait.

Yeah. Honestly, there's these things called, and you're a comedian. There's these things called gong shows. Yeah. So you basically have to last like five minutes without people booing you off. And it is one of the funniest things to go and watch,

but it's savages of a performer, because people were just solidly boo you. And it's like hundreds of people. He went and did that, beat it the first time, which is like unheard of. And I just thought, this is all I need now. Like, it's already hard enough, being a comedian. He did like three gigs.

And even now he'll tell me what I need to do with comedy. It's like, what you need to do? I was like, okay. He's like, you know, Mickey Flanagan? I was like, yeah, I've heard of him. He's like, what a surprise dad, you like him? I could never have predicted. He's like, you need to be more like Mickey Flanagan.

And I was like, I don't know if my audience were like that, dad. I don't, I'm not sure. So he loved it. My mum, though, was very much like, I had a good career before this. Yeah. She loved that. She loved that, like, education and being successful. This was in advertising.

You worked in advertising. I went for BuzzFeed and Ladd Bible actually. Yeah. And that was, I actually loved working for BuzzFeed, but it was just sales. So I was a bit, it was a bit soul destroying. When you were, I'm thinking back, because obviously the brilliant characters

you do now on social media. And we should say, how many views, it's something like 100 million or something. Yeah, it's like 130 million. Who's counting? Not me. I mean, I'm counting. I'm counting at that point.

and I think all these characters you do like you know there's private school mum which is hilarious and that's taken off in a massive way and she's got these I look at it on Instagram but it's also huge on TikTok isn't it yeah yeah you know Instagram's my main one there to be well can I tell you I'm old enough to remember Gary Linneker being the highest school score at the World Cup I it's interesting because when I think about that character and then you tell me about your childhood so private school mum I'm thinking God so that was research in your childhood

without you even realising it. Yeah, three, yeah. But I think so many of the private school moms are like, I think so why people love it is that you don't eat, it's a lot of just mums say these kind of things. Like I think it's a lot of people that aren't necessarily posh but are like

maybe potentially trying to fit in with that world. Like my mum's not actually posh, but she'd always say like outrageous things not as a joke. And I'm like, that's crazy. Like it's based on so many people. What sort of thing would she say? Just like she'd be so snobby about like,

if I came to London, I'd be like, she'd get the bus. She's like, I can't have got on the bus, Sophie. And she's not joking. And I'm like, if I said that, I'd get in so much trouble. But it's so funny because it's so, I kind of find it really endearing these things that people say. And it's just funny. But to be fair, my mum was quite anti-median comedy

until private school mum. And now she gets so many mums come up to her and she loves it. So my mum, she loves like any of those country fairs. And, oh, if I go over my mum, because obviously that's my demographic, Why people stop us? Mum goes, oh so what school did your children go to? And I'm like, mum, please.

And she honestly dines out on it. She's like, you've got to do more private school mum stuff. It's so interesting that, just looking at where, because I think what's fascinating about you, and we were saying this before we started recording actually, is that I suppose we've got something in common in that people make, people sort of are quite black and white, and they'll look at you, and obviously they'll make assumptions.

So they'll see, they'll hear you talk, They'll hear your accent, no. And they think, okay, I've got her nailed ponies, this, and the other. Yeah. And then you're like, oh no, the East End wheelie dealer dad. And I can imagine from what you said, the precariousness. Yeah. So just financially and socially and all that stuff.

So what's fascinating to me is that makes you an observer, I suppose. Yeah, oh, fully. Even at school, you're like, I'm not quite the same as you. And I'm slightly observant. serving you. I feel like especially because my parents were such different backgrounds and especially the people I went to school with. You're so, like I remember being so young and I remember feeling so embarrassed being at a friend's house and the dad saying, so where do you, you ski? And I just remember feeling so furious my parents that we didn't ski because I was around all the

wealthy families and I was like, how do they embarrass me like this? But I was just because they just expected that because I was. And that's just because your parents, that wasn't who they were culturally. No, none of it. Culturally, like they're just so different to the people around. So I definitely did pick up on the differences and the nuances of like, I suppose that class is just so complicated. And I feel

like people put you in a box. And like that's one of my last show was called Poor Little Rich Girl and it was all about that. And it was even at the end, people would say to me, oh, I thought this is just a character. I'm like, no, I think people just find it so hard to grapple with the fact that I sound like this, had this private education, but also had a very

unique childhood. I think people just can't really get their head around it. Unless people have experienced it and have a lot of people that come up to me and say, that was scarily relatable and I think you need to go to therapy. I don't want to do that. Well, it's interesting how, but it's interesting how you do become. If I was saying, I was always, I was at private school. And so it meant that I'd be rejected sometimes by, I went to a drama school called

Anna Scherz, which was in Islington. You know, that was after school I went to that. And we were seen as the snob to me and my sister in that uniform. Yeah. But then at the school, we didn't have swimming pools and, you know, we were struggling for money. I had bohemian sort of artsy parents. So I felt not quite of them. Yeah.

So it's interesting, isn't it? You can sometimes find yourself. You are always kind of like judging someone. Like, if I meet someone posh, I'm always thinking, are they posh, are they from old money? Like, what's the deal here? Like, we're trying to work them out. So it is interesting. But I wonder if we do that more than other people because we're, yeah.

We never quite fit it in. Yeah, fully, fully. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, 100%. I think especially in Newmarket as well. Newmarket, there's quite a lot of anthropological studies about Newmarket because you have such a big divide. You have like really, really wealthy people and really, really, really poor people

because of the horse racing. So it's a really like interesting place. And there's a lot of like old money, very stuck up people. And so it's really hard to find your place. And I remember being like a teenager, all the teenagers would always go to the racing. And you'd see the different groups. You'd see like the really posh kids that went to like the most amazing private schools. and then you see like the middle and it was so interesting trying to fit and you always felt like so out of it yeah which is that yeah and you've talked about this openly so i hope you're comfortable with me mentioning it because you've mentioned it in your stand-up but your dad went to prison at one point yeah for being from east london that's actually a crime in new market yeah what happened then sophie oh god there's so many things he's just like a he's just like a he loves he loves to get himself into trouble but he's just like a he loves he loves to get himself into trouble but he's

And I think this is what I talk about in the show. He just loves to be like, he's just like a naughty person. And now, now, you know what, it's been prison free for over 20 years. We're really proud of him. Prison free. And at the end of the show, people are always like, what, is that true? And they're like, it was a character.

And I'm like, no, it is true. And if you met my dad, you'd like, yeah, that makes sense. Like, he opened his, oh my God, at my wedding on Saturday. his opening line was normally when I start doing public speaking my opening line is not guilty or honour and it was so fun I was like yeah

but that's the real instincts and I wonder if you share that with him it's interesting where you get that from because instinctively even though he's not a professional stand-up what he's doing is actually what Frank Skinner does which is I'm going to name the thing that you're thinking 100% and make a joke out of it before you do

yeah and he's so my dad is a very funny person he's very good to telling stories and he is, he actually is an amazing joke writer and I think his, if he said he hadn't gone to business, he'd have been a joke writer. And he would have been, I think if my dad was born today, he would have been one of those TikTok influencers, living in Dubai, millions of followers,

getting people to buy in crypto. Not being Andrews, like that. I'm obsessively Andrews. Who isn't obsessed with me Andrews? I'm obsessing Lee Andrews. Imagine how she got him on this podcast. Oh my God, you have, he would do it as well. Well, you say that. I'd be getting phone calls saying,

sorry, love. I'm just being kidnapped by, um, some, I'm obsessively Andrews. We'll do a whole other podcast like him. In fact, let's start a podcast, which is you and I talking about Lee Andrews every week. I think people would love that. I could talk about him for hours. An old woman and a younger woman discuss Leandrews.

Guess what? We both feel the same. So the prison thing with your dad, so what happened in terms of how it played out for you when you were? I don't expect you to go into details about what he did because I understand that's private. That's not anyone's business. But I'm interested in what that felt like for you. How did the experience pan out? Was it a shock?

You were on your way to school or something, weren't you? Yeah, that was, when I was younger, I didn't realize it happened because I was a lot younger. And then when I was, I was like 18 the next time. And he got off, which was fine. But it was like, yeah, it was horrible at the time. It was like really, like, I think all for all of us, it was just a massive shock.

And I think, especially because I was going to this fancy, private school and no one knew it. Well I didn't think anyone knew at school and it was before really like people were on social media as much on Facebook so nothing really kind of came out but also my family were very much like keep it in the family so I was going to school having to pretend I was fine and it was like in my A level it was like it was really bad when he was arrested yeah and then all that the court case and did that was that sort of slight artistic license or did did he get arrested in front of you so that actually happened to my little brother which when my little brother came to my show for the first time he was like I cannot believe you're

my trauma. And it's one of my favourite favourite jokes. I was sorry. It's such, I was like, it's one of my favourite jokes. But you must have been so shocked

when you found out then. But did your mum tell you? No, because the police turned up. I think I'm trying to remember what happened. I think the police were at our house a lot. So nothing was like that. Just questioning him.

Yeah, just like, it was just always something. I guess that daddy, it turns out a lot of people want daddy's help with their inquiries. Yeah. It was just always like, okay, like it was so funny when we went to on my wedding we had a wedding car and then the guy

in that was driving us my dad was like so what do you normally do and he was like I went for the police and I was just like of course of course you do um I can't try to remember I remember just the police coming and searching the house and it was just I remember it was but it was just like very like what is going on and I the whole I think because I was 18 as well like a whole life was kind of turned upside down um but nothing was funny then but then my family

it must have been tough then yeah yeah it was awful for quite a few years and then now it's like a lot better like me and I we all make jokes about it how long did we're seeing prison for that time he was just on remand for like 10 weeks which I went visited the prisons I found visiting prison fascinating I remember some of the guys were so sexy in there

and I thought I need to come back they were so sick and I remember just finally it fascinated I'd ask my dad like whatever I'd done they spend a lot of time working out don't know and like one of the guys was like having like a gang meeting and he was like massive covered in tattoos.

And I was like to my dad was like, what do he do? And he was like, he's a rapper where he did they burgle people. And what they do is they wrap them up with like Celophay and then burglar them. And I thought, that's all. Yeah. And then I dated really bad men for about 10 years. I don't know what that was. I don't know where idea.

I don't know what I'm saying. I just don't know what happened to you. Do you think looking back on that, I mean, you've obviously turned this and you talk about this in your standoff and you deal with it. In my opinion, the best way to deal with any drama. Yeah. which is to mind it for comedy. I do the same. Got you.

My dead family, thank you. But what I would say is that was inevitably traumatic. Oh, 100%. I've had a lot of therapy. It was very dramatic. I think now what's been so nice about stand-up is like the way I talk about it on stage is the way I wish I'd felt about at the time.

And it's almost like I've repainted it in my mind for this was the story. And it's actually been very therapeutic to do that because I've kind of just like re-jigged it. into something like that was a fun and interesting and like the way I talk about it and the way I act about it when I'm on stage is like I'm kind of vapid and bit like oh how funny and how silly obviously at the time I did not feel like that yeah but now it's like that's rewired it in my brain which is quite nice well I think what's nice about that sometimes when I've had you know like when my

sister died and it's like I well yeah but you know what's interesting losing my family was was tough but I think when I make a joke about it now and obviously I don't make a joke that's in a appropriate about, you know, my nieces are motherless. That's not funny. That will never be funny. And you know, you probably have that. There are certain things. 100% off limit. Like if anyone, that's not okay to make a joke about that, because that will always be sad. Yeah. But the ludicrousness sometimes of things that were said and done in that hospital or I think what you're doing when you do that, I certainly think, I'm taking this really shitty thing and I'm getting some tiny positive legacy out of thing. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, exactly. Do you know what I mean? I feel like it's just like turning the trauma into something like finding the joy. And I think when there is, especially in hospital, I think it's so traumatic, but I think so many funny things happen in those, it's so crazy

and it's like you have to like find the humour in that. Well, you had an experience recently, didn't you? I was like really ill before Christmas and it was without a doubt one of the funniest 48 hours of my life. It was so traumatic. And I think when you have the low, serious lows, you have to have serious highs

and vice versa. and before Christmas I am this is what my new show is about and so if anyone's listening thinking I want the prison show it's gone it's gone watch the reels but we should say this show is called a period drama and I love this show this shows very much for the girls I think but before Christmas I was basically on my way into hospital to have an operation to have like a diagnostic laparoscopy to see if I had this thing called endometriosis and it's a kind of popular not popular endometriosis but it's very like Current.

People talking about it. It's not so, by the way. So he's not saying, and vitriosis is so hot right now. It's in. Okay, guys, it's in. You've had it at first. But it's a, it's a, people are talking about it, which is amazing.

But if people don't know what it is, I think commonly people think it's a bad period, but it's actually a full body disease. It's a disease that attach to internal organs. It causes like organ damage, organ failure. And it's like the leading cause of infertility. And it takes like, on average, seven to 10 years to get diagnosed, which is, I know, essentially my whole life. And I feel like people don't really know much about it.

But essentially, I'd had a lot of, I had years of doctors telling me I was fine when I'd been quite unwell. And most days I feel unwell, to be honest. And I had had so many doctors be like, you're absolutely fine, this is just your hormones, this is normal. And I really pushed to be like, I want to know what's going on.

Yeah. And so just before Christmas, I waited like a year to have this operation to find out if I had it. I was on the way to hospital. I was in so much pain. And for the last few weeks, my stomach was really swollen.

And then I was waiting to go down to surgery. And like we were saying with funny things, like I was really anxious, but the Anastas came in, and she was like, oh my God, I was hoping it was gonna be you. She was like, I'm a huge fan of your work, right? Can you believe that? And I was like, I hope I'm gonna be a fan of yours, like what's going on.

And then she was lovely, she left, and then the surgeon came in who was so hot, you know, and you're like, I cannot believe this man. It's awful inside me, it was horrible. It was horrible, I hated it. I was like, this is my first stuff there. I think he was gay, I'm hoping he was gay, because he was so good looking.

I was like, I can't, I can't deal with this. And then, and he was like, talking me through, and he was like, look, you probably don't have it. It's probably just your hormones. And even in this moment, I thought, God, I've just made this up in my head. And then I'm about to go down to surgery. And then they all walk around the corner,

like the nurses, surgeon and the anesthetist, and they were holding my pot of wee. And I was like, have I done something wrong? And they were like, no, no, we're not going to be doing surgery today because you're pregnant, right? And I, like, burst into tears. I'm like hysterical. And I'm like, I can't be a teen mom.

this is actually insane. Someone should be calling social services. And I'm not, because I'm thinking, I'm getting married in six months. Like, my one wish for my wedding day was to be as thin as I could be. And I was like, this is ruining everything. This is not. This is not. The timing is not. Yeah.

And I'm not going to be. I was already, do you know what so funny is I had so many pictures of me pregnant on my phone, but I just thought was me bloated after a meal, but I was just pregnant. I saw some really funny, I saw some really funny stand up you did on that. And you were talking about that. And I apologize for saying funny, but it. No, no, it was so funny. You alchemised something really awful into something funny.

And you said, it's just not the right timing because, you know, there's a Zara Toe. I had my eye on. Literally, I was like, I have so much debt and there's so many things I want to buy and I want to get Botox. You know, and you're like, this is really bad. Do you know, but what's great about that is it's so relatable, oddly. It's funny because comedy is truth, isn't it? And I think there's an element of, I can remember when my sister suddenly got diagnosed with stage.

you know, poor cancer. And I looked at my search history, and it went, I thought, this is a bit weird. It's gone so abruptly from Whistle's jacket on sale to stage four metastasized liver cancer. And I thought, someone would look at that search history. What sort of a lunatic thinks those are our two priorities, Googling that? But that's why that's so brilliant what you said. That's so funny. It's possible to also be obsessed with a zara.

Yeah, sorry, we love shopping. Actually, it is crazy. Even when they told me I was pregnant, I was sat there like hysterically crying. And I admitted because the aniseus was there. And I felt so conscious that I was like, this is so embarrassing that she's a fan of me on Instagram. She's now told me I'm pregnant.

I'm hysterically quiet. As a joke, in front of them I go to her, go, it's like private school mum's going to be a mum. And obviously, the surgeon and a nurse was like, literally, they were like, what? And she goes, she does videos. And I thought, and that's why, that's why she should, be a mum and I'm sat there crying because they're like just have a little biscuit and sit

then we're going to go and have a chat out here and sort things out and then next thing I know the surgeon like knocks he's like not knock even though it's like a curtain and he's got another doctor with him and I'm like crying he goes we've just been watching your videos very funny thank you so much and also the worst part was the last video just did was a video basically say how and it was like women going to the doctors and the NHS being like being horrible to them and I thought oh of course of course of course you've just seen that video of me slagging off the NHS. And I saw, it was honestly just so many things kept happening.

At one point I was laying in this room just like really crying. And there's other little nurse who came in blessing. She gave me like this whole document. She was like, we only, we didn't have any papers. I just printed it all on stickers. And I was like, thanks. Then she goes, by the way, I love your TikToks. And I'm all down.

I'm so much. You know, you're like, I was like, my boyfriend, John was sat there. And I was like, can just write that down? Every time I was like, write that down. And it was like so good because I came home. and I was like, I just, I love this show so much. Like, I felt like I've never been funnier. And it's that thing with trauma is like,

I feel like when something traumatic happens, I can only be funny with trauma. If I try and do like observation on Michael McIntyre, no one's laughing. Like, no, like this, I find it so easy to, like, mine it. I found sometimes since working with Frank Skinner, which I have for a long time, I've realised that I now really like,

when terrible things happen to me or embarrassing things, it's so different now because I see how Frank Skinner, Frank so clever, uses his life for stuff. It's so brilliant because it helps. When something terrible happens, I think, oh, that'll be good to talk about. That's a great story. And that's, with comedians, if I tell comedians, the first thing people say about when they found out about my dad is like,

oh, that's so amazing. Anyone else about it? I'm so sorry, you're like, that's a show. That's the Edinburgh show. And everyone else in a lot of time, I was like, this is going to be the best show ever. This is winning awards. And when we should say, when you were in hospital,

is it okay to us? So it was in a topic. So it turned out I was having an atrophic pregnancy. And it was, so initially they told me, I'd taken the morning after a couple months before, and they told me that was probably caused it. And then it turns out, basically, they were so lovely to me in there.

They were like, when we're doing surgery, they're going to look if you have endometriosis. Because I was so upset that I was like, I'm going to have to wait another year now to find out if I have it. But fortunately, the doctors and nurses were like, we're going to, we won't be able to get rid of it. But if we see it, we'll tell you. And actually what happened was my left fallopian tube was,

all stuck to one of my other organs and that's what caused the epitopic and it was all stuck because of endometeotosis. So essentially with endometeosis is you have cells similar to those in the womb grow outside of the womb in other parts of your body and what happens is every month when you bleed those cells bleed around your body but their blood's got nowhere to go and so your body thinks I'm going to fix this and it fixes it with scar tissue and scar tissue is really sticky so that's what starts causing everything to stick together and get damaged which is just I had no idea and so that had caused that with a left fallopian tube and then they were like you've got quite a lot of endometriosis around your like pelvis and everywhere so i'd got the diagnosis

they'd also have to remove the pregnancy removed the fallopian tube so it was a bit yeah yeah it was you know what was crazy is i went the next month i had to go and have this special MRI where the NHS they were amazing in the emergency but in general it's been a bit of a nightmare um because i went back a month later have this special MRI where they put like liquid in you so it should it basically shows up where the endometriosis is and the month of the later I'd gone back and they were like okay so the liquid for some reason didn't go in but sorry about that we were too busy watching your videos yeah we weren't concentrated very funny very funny reels we'd like and subscribe on the good news is we gave you five

stars the bad news is we weren't really focused on the job yeah we didn't do it but you're really funny and I was like that's actually all I needed to hear yeah but he was like but they don't think you've got endometriosis and you're like okay I'm going crazy here and I was like and I told him so I've got a tour yeah I I'm doing this, yeah. But then he was like, they just like, every time they told me something different. But then he was like, looked to the pictures and it was like, oh no, you do have any to meet traces.

And you know, you're like, it's so hard to have an actual useful appointment where you find out anything, you get the correct information. I think that's been the hardest thing. But it's been amazing for the show. Spoken like a true comic. I really hope you love part one of this week's Walking the Dog. If you want to hear the second part of our chat, it'll be out on Thursday. so whatever you do, don't miss it.

And remember to subscribe so you can join us on our walks every week.