WHEN it comes to comedy, there’s a bit of a misunderstanding – people assume comedians are very confident, so when they meet us, they’re disappointed in how needy we are! As a teenager, I was outwardly confident, but I considered myself horrifically ugly. 4 Sara Pascoe says: 'As a teenager, I was outwardly confident, but I considered myself horrifically ugly' 4 Sara said: 'After a break-up in 2007, I started doing stand-up. I was heartbroken and thought: “What’s the worst that could happen?' Credit: PA Everyone else seemed so pretty, while I felt clueless about make-up and clothes.
It never stopped me wanting to perform – I’d put on school assemblies that no one asked for and do gymnastic moves in the living room – but inside, I thought the boys in Essex, where I grew up, would rather vomit than kiss me. Aged 14, I joined the drama group Theatre Box, and discovering there was a world outside of school gave me a deeper sense of self-belief. One day, when I was feeling a bit plucky, I auditioned for Michael Barrymore’s TV show My Kind Of People.
I’d rehearsed my song along to the radio, but when I arrived at Whiteleys shopping centre in west London, there was a pianist with sheet music, rather than a recording. Hundreds of shoppers, bags in hand, watched as I failed to chime in on time. I cried.
The crowd was kind, but for years I licked my wounds. Reflecting on it now, I’m grateful I tried – I didn’t know what I was doing, but I did it anyway. After a.
