Pompery Bird

As she embarks on her biggest tour to date, Portsmouth’s Suzi Ruffell is happy – and proud of her home town, as she tells Duncan Hall

Suzi Ruffell admits she had some misgivings about the concept for her 2019 Edinburgh Fringe show.

“The point of the show was whether you could be a happy comic,” she says. “It was a bit scary going to Edinburgh when the tagline for the press was: ‘I’m the happiest I have ever been – am I still funny?’ My fear was the critics would just say: ‘No!’.”

The fears proved to be unfounded. Dance Like Everyone’s Watching earned Suzi some of her best reviews to date. She is planning to spend most of next year touring it – having already more than doubled the number of dates on her last tour, from 20 to 45. “At the moment the world seems relentlessly bleak,” she says. “I did The News Quiz on Radio 4 and it was tricky to find some funny stuff going on. No matter what your political beliefs are no-one has what they want. But in my personal life I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”

In the show she talks about her plans to wed her partner, adopt a child and possibly even move out of London. And Suzi’s professional career has recently turned a corner, with appearances on Mock the Week, Hypothetical and the career-making Live At The Apollo joined by an award from comedy website Chortle as the best club comic of 2019.

Suzi’s last tour show of 2019 will see her return to Hampshire, with a performance at The Lights in Andover. But she’s hoping to come back to the county again in the New Year with a special show. “Pompey is in my heart,” she says. “It would be nice to get a big theatre in Portsmouth and sell it out – I’m looking at different venues like the New Theatre Royal. I’m hoping to film it too – a lot of US stand-ups tend to put out filmed shows themselves now.”