Sara Pascoe

Sara Pascoe
Pascoe in 2024
Birth nameSara Patricia Pascoe
Born (1981-05-22) 22 May 1981 (age 43)
Dagenham, Greater London, England[1]
Medium
  • Stand-up
  • television
EducationUniversity of Sussex (BA)
Years active2006–present
Spouse
​
(m. 2020)​
Children2
Parent(s)Derek Pascoe
Websitesarapascoe.co.uk

Sara Patricia Pascoe (born 22 May 1981)[2] is an English actress, comedian, presenter and writer. She has appeared on television programmes including 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Taskmaster for Channel 4 and QI for BBC Two.

Early life

[edit]

Pascoe was born to Gail (née Newmarch) and Derek Pascoe, a musician. Her great-grandmother was Rosa Newmarch, a poet and writer on music.[3]

Born in Dagenham, Greater London, Pascoe grew up in nearby Romford. Her parents divorced when she was young and she was raised by her mother.[4] She attended Eastbury Comprehensive School in Barking,[1][5][6] and later attended Gaynes School in Upminster.[6] When she was 16 she became pregnant, and had an abortion on her 17th birthday, an experience detailed in her memoir, Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body.[7]

Pascoe studied English at the University of Sussex where she met and became friends with Cariad Lloyd.[1][3] After graduation, she worked as an actor and supplemented her income with temporary work,[6] but found work "hard to come by" and declared herself bankrupt.[1]

Career

[edit]

Before her comedy career, Pascoe was a tour guide in London.[8]

Pascoe has appeared in many television programmes and panel shows, including Stand Up for the Week, The Thick of It, Mock the Week, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, Campus, Being Human, Twenty Twelve, QI, Have I Got News For You, Would I Lie to You, Hypothetical, and W1A as well as all-female sketch show Girl Friday (part of Channel 4's Comedy Showcase), which she co-wrote.[9]

Pascoe began performing stand up comedy in 2007.[10] In the following year, she was a runner-up in the Funny Women award in 2008 with Rachel Stubbings. Katherine Ryan won the award that year.[11]

In August 2010, she performed her first show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Sara Pascoe Vs Her Ego.[12]

In 2012, she appeared in episode 11 of the Comedian's Comedian Podcast hosted by Stuart Goldsmith,[13] and in Live at the Apollo.[14] She appeared on the BBC TV panel show QI in 2013.[15]

Pascoe in 2014

In 2014, she performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and toured the UK for the first time with the show Sara Pascoe Vs History.[16] The show was nominated for the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award 2014 for Best Comedy Show.[17] In October 2014, she appeared in Never Mind the Buzzcocks and stood in line at the identity parade round as a former dancer and back-up singer for the entertainer (and Robbie Williams's father) Pete Conway.[18][19] Also that month, she appeared on the topical panel quiz Have I Got News for You as a panellist and in one of the sketches of the Channel 4 charity night Stand Up to Cancer.

In 2015, she appeared as a panellist on two Radio 4 programmes, the science discussion programme The Infinite Monkey Cage in February, and the comedy quiz programme The Unbelievable Truth in September.[20]

In 2016, along with numerous other celebrities, Pascoe toured the UK to support Jeremy Corbyn's bid to become prime minister.[21]

She has written two books. The first, Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body, was published in 2016.[22] Her second book, Sex Power Money, was published in 2019,[23] which explores (mostly heterosexual) sexual relations, with particular focuses on male sexuality and on sex work. It is informed by evolutionary biology and social research, and by her own experiences and feelings.[24] She also hosts a related podcast of the same name, in which she interviews people who have experience around sex work, stripping and porn.

In 2016, she went on tour again with the show Animal. She participated in series 3 of the comedy challenge show, Taskmaster, which was broadcast on Dave in October and November 2016.[25]

She has appeared in all three of Frankie Boyle's Autopsy BBC programmes (2014–2016), discussing political issues. From 2017 until 2020, she was a regular guest on his topical series Frankie Boyle's New World Order.[26] She also performed a half-hour stand-up set in episode 1 of series 2 of Live from the BBC in 2017.

On 27 October 2017, she appeared in an episode of the British travel documentary series Travel Man on Channel 4. In February 2018, she started a BBC Radio 4 series called Modern Monkey.

Pascoe performing at the Up the Creek comedy club in 2018

In April 2018, she appeared as a panellist in two episodes of the BBC Radio 4 panel show Just A Minute. In May 2018, she starred in a BBC comedy short entitled "Sara Pascoe vs Monogamy".[27]

In 2019, she was announced as the host of Dave series Comedians Giving Lectures, in which comedians deliver a stand-up presentation in the guise of a lecture. In February 2020, Dave announced that they were commissioning two further series, with series 2 scheduled to be filmed and broadcast in 2020 and series 3 in 2021. However, the Covid-19 pandemic caused the project to be delayed, and both series were filmed at the National Gallery in London in summer 2021. Series 2 was broadcast in November 2021 and Series 3 in April 2022.

In March 2019, she appeared in Travelling Blind with Amar Latif on BBC2.[28]

In April 2019, a live recording of Pascoe's LadsLadsLads tour at the London Palladium was shown on BBC Two.[29]

In November 2020, she hosted An Evening With Yuval Noah Harari, a livestream book launch held by How to Academy and Penguin Books.[30]

Pascoe's six-part comedy series Out of Her Mind premiered on BBC Two in October 2020.[31] Exploring "heartbreak, family and how to survive them", the series is loosely based on her own life, with Pascoe playing a version of herself.[32] Co-stars include Juliet Stevenson and Cariad Lloyd.[33]

Pascoe's three-part BBC Two series called Last Woman on Earth with Sara Pascoe premiered on 27 December 2020.[34] In May 2022, the series was recommissioned for a second series,[35] which premiered on 9 April 2023.[36]

She is the host of a panel show Guessable broadcast on Comedy Central UK from October 2020.[37]

On 16 September 2021, it was announced that Pascoe would host the eighth series of The Great British Sewing Bee, replacing Joe Lycett.[38]

Other television appearances

[edit]

In 2017, Pascoe was one of four contestants on series 7, episode 8 of The Celebrity Chase, progressing to the episode's Final Chase.

Pascoe was one of the four competitors on a Christmas edition of The Great British Sewing Bee broadcast on Boxing Day 2020 on BBC 1. Her fellow competitors were Denise Van Outen, Shirley Ballas and Ranj Singh.

Personal life

[edit]

Pascoe lives in Crouch End, north London.[39] From 2013 to late 2016, she dated the comedian John Robins.[1][18] Her reflections on that relationship and its aftermath were the basis of her 2017 show LadsLadsLads at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[40] In 2020, she married fellow comedian Steen Raskopoulos.[41][42] In November 2021, she announced that she was pregnant.[43] In February 2022, Pascoe gave birth to her first son, announcing it on Valentine's Day.[44] Her second son was born in October 2023.[45] She is vegan.[46]

Bibliography

[edit]
  • 2016, Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body
  • 2019, Sex Power Money
  • 2023, Weirdo

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e Dessau, Bruce (4 July 2014). "Interview: Sara Pascoe on female instincts, healthy sperm and her latest show". London Evening Standard.
  2. ^ Sara Pascoe (19 April 2016). Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body. Faber & Faber. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-571-32523-8.
  3. ^ a b Herring, Richard (12 November 2014). "Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast – with Sara Pascoe". Archived from the original on 15 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  4. ^ Nicholson, Rebecca (25 August 2019). "Sara Pascoe: 'I wanted to be prime minister'". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  5. ^ Elisa Bray (14 August 2014). "My student days: Six musicians, actors and comedians fondly reminisce". The Independent.
  6. ^ a b c Enfield, Laura (28 November 2014). "East Londoner Sara Pascoe says teenage house party ended in disaster but led to fame". East London and West Essex Guardian Series. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  7. ^ Walden, Celia (30 April 2016). "Sara Pascoe: there's nothing you can't joke about – even rape". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  8. ^ Ellis, David (2 December 2016). "Sara Pascoe: 'I think the new heckles will be people correcting us'". www.standard.co.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  9. ^ "Girl Friday – C4 Sketch Show – British Comedy Guide". Comedy. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  10. ^ Logan, Brian (7 August 2013). "Sara Pascoe: And now for Nietzsche ..." The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  11. ^ Guide, British Comedy (18 April 2016). "Funny Women Awards". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  12. ^ Hall, Julian (10 August 2010). "Sara Pascoe vs Her Ego, Pleasance Courtyard". The Independent. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
    - Radosavljevic, Duska (10 August 2010). "Sara Pascoe vs Her Ego". The Stage. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  13. ^ "Episode 11 – Sara Pascoe (Live) – The Comedian's Comedian Podcast with Stuart Goldsmith". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  14. ^ "Sara Pascoe Live at the Apollo". 2 December 2012. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2015 – via YouTube.
  15. ^ "BBC Two – QI, Series K, Knees & Knockers". BBC. 21 February 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  16. ^ Dessau, Bruce (29 May 2014). "News: Sara Pascoe Announces First UK Tour". Beyond the Joke. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  17. ^ Logan, Brian (23 August 2014). "John Kearns wins the Foster's Edinburgh comedy award 2014". The Guardian.
  18. ^ a b Merritt, Stephanie (19 October 2014). "Sara Pascoe: 'Female sexuality is an active thing'". The Guardian.
  19. ^ "BBC Two – Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Series 28, Episode 3". BBC.
  20. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – The Unbelievable Truth, Series 15, Episode 3". 23 September 2015.
  21. ^ "#JC4PM". jc4pmtour. 28 July 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
    - Wilkinson, Michael (1 February 2016). "Celebrities to tour Britain in 'Jeremy Corbyn For Prime Minister' musical show". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  22. ^ Joshua Farrington (2 March 2015). "Pascoe tackles the female body for Faber". The Bookseller.
  23. ^ "Sex Power Money". Public Store View. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  24. ^ Pascoe, Sara (2019). Sex Power Money. UK: Faber & Faber. pp. passim. ISBN 978-0571336012.
  25. ^ "Taskmaster Series 3 line-up revealed". British Comedy Guide. 16 April 2016.
  26. ^ "Frankie Boyle's New World Order series and episodes list". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  27. ^ "Sara Pascoe, Tim Key, Nick Helm and Spencer Jones make new BBC Comedy Shorts". BBC Media Centre. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  28. ^ Travelling Blind, BBC
  29. ^ "BBC Two – Sara Pascoe Live: LadsLadsLads". BBC. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  30. ^ "LIVESTREAM EVENT | An Evening With Yuval Noah Harari". How To Academy. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  31. ^ Mangan, Lucy (20 October 2020). "Out of Her Mind review – Sara Pascoe's intricate comedy grows on you". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  32. ^ Maxwell, Dominic (20 October 2020). "Sara Pascoe: 'Having a confessional comic in the family isn't that fun'". The Times. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  33. ^ Shah, Anandi (11 March 2021). "When is Sara Pascoe's new BBC comedy Out Of Her Mind on TV?". Radio Times. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  34. ^ "Last Woman on Earth with Sara Pascoe". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  35. ^ "Sara Pascoe returns to track down the world's most endangered jobs". bbc.co.uk/mediacentre. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  36. ^ "BBC Two Will Release Series 2 of Last Woman on Earth with Sara Pascoe on April 9, 2023". cnbc.com. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  37. ^ "U.N. Women violence". cnbc.com. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  38. ^ "Sara Pascoe revealed as new Great British Sewing Bee host". BBC News. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  39. ^ Hassell, Katherine (15 May 2022). "Sunday with Sara Pascoe: 'Coffee at home gives us energy to walk to the coffee shop'". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  40. ^ Brian Logan (5 August 2017). "Sara Pascoe: LadsLadsLads review – breakup tales from a woman reborn". The Guardian.
  41. ^ The Graham Norton Show (3 October 2020). "Sara Pascoe's Hilariously Overly Complicated Panties | The Graham Norton Show". Youtube. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  42. ^ Broster, Alice (20 October 2020). "Fans Of The Duchess Will Definitely Recognise Sara Pascoe's Husband". Bustle. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  43. ^ "Instagram". Instagram. 23 November 2021. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  44. ^ "Sara Pascoe on Instagram: "Morning everyone from me and my valentines ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️"".
  45. ^ "Great British Sewing Bee star Sara Pascoe's private family life with rarely-seen two children". HELLO!. 10 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  46. ^ "Sara Pascoe". Viva! The Vegan Charity. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
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