Entertaining for a living is such a privilege people

Lucy Beaumont's on-screen relationship and subsequent break-up with husband and fellow comic Jon Richardson may have hit the headlines, but she tells RICHARD BARBER her UK tour is focused on much happier topics

LUCY Beaumont is busy. She's currently in the middle of a 79-date tour of the UK and Ireland with her one-woman stand-up show. And her appearance at London's Royal Court theatre has been filmed by Sky as a comedy special to be broadcast this autumn.

Meanwhile, on Friday she will be taking to the stage at the London Palladium: "My stomach is just beginning to do a somersault because the Palladium's such a prestigious venue. But then, a bit of adrenalin's a good thing, isn't it?

"That said, this is the third leg of the tour and it's a pretty well-oiled machine by now."

She continues: "I used to have this idea that, because I'm a northern comedian, I'd go down better up north but it's not true. Cheltenham's proved just as good as Hull." She adds: "I've worked in bars, in shops, as a teacher, I've done it all. I feel so privileged now to be doing a job - the opposite of nine to five, five days a week - that's all about entertaining people."

There was a time, however, when the prevailing attitude was that women weren't as funny as men: "People used to say that was a man's job and I got it into my head that I couldn't be funny because I was female. The live comedy circuit was very sexist. But that seems ridiculous now."

Lucy adds: "People know me from off the telly so they must be coming to see me because they think I'm funny.

"They want to hear about my life and my relationships with my mum and my daughter, and all the bizarre things that seem to happen to me."

But it will not be about her relationship with fellow comedian Jon Richardson. Having been introduced by comic Roisin Conaty, they married in 2015 but parted, after nine years, this April.

Lucy, 40, is a regular on shows like Would I Lie To You? and 8 Out of 10 Cats, but it's the five series of Meet The Richardsons with estranged husband Jon that put her squarely on the map.