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Maisie Adam
English stand-up comedian (born 1994) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Maisie Elizabeth Adam (born 24 January 1994) is an English stand-up comedian.
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Early life
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Maisie Adam was born on 24 January 1994.[1] She grew up in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, with her parents Phillip and Jill Adam, and her younger brother Daniel.[2][3] Adam's mother previously worked for Leeds Beckett University[4][5] and is the founder and executive director of the Louder Than Words Festival in Manchester.[6][7][8][4] In 1999, Adam's parents were charged with felony abuse for leaving their two children unattended in a Florida hotel room for 45 minutes; they spent the night in jail before returning to England.[9] The charges were widely criticized for being unreasonable.[3]
Adam's maternal grandfather, Sir Lawrence Byford, led an inquiry into the failings of the hunt for the "Yorkshire Ripper".[10] Her uncle, Mark Byford, was Deputy Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation and head of BBC Journalism from 2004 to 2011.[3][11] At 14, Adam was diagnosed with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.[12][13][14]
Adam attended St Aidan's Church of England High School in Harrogate,[15][16] where she was Head Girl.[17] She trained with the National Youth Theatre in 2010 and 2012[18] and went on to study acting at the East 15 Acting School in Southend on Sea.[19] She won a Laurence Marks sitcom-writing mentorship in 2015,[20] and graduated with a BA in Acting & Community Theatre in 2016.[21]
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Career
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A trained actress, Adam initially planned on acting and writing professionally.[20][22][23]
Stand-up comedy
After graduating, Adam did not have an agent and had difficulty finding acting jobs.[24] She moved back in with her parents in Yorkshire and worked various temp jobs.[7][24] This led her to try stand-up,[25] with her first gig at the Ilkley Literature Festival fringe on 13 October 2016[26][7][4] with a one-hour show called Living on the Edge.[27] In 2017, Adam won the national contest So You Think You're Funny for new stand-up acts at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.[28] Winning the contest led to her getting signed with an agent.[20]
Adam's first full-length Edinburgh solo show, Vague, was nominated for the Best Newcomer Award at the 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Awards.[29] In that year, she won the Amused Moose National New Comic Award.[30] Adam returned to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019 with her show Hang Fire, which she took on a UK and European tour in 2019/2020.[20]
In March 2024, Adam announced her biggest tour so far, entitled Appraisal. It began at Reading Concert Hall on 17 September.[citation needed]
Television
Adam first appeared as a contestant on The Chase while she was a university student in April 2016.[4] There, she was eliminated by Paul Sinha in her head-to-head round with him.[31]
Following her television appearance as a comedian on ITV2's The Stand-Up Sketch Show in February 2019,[32] Adam has appeared on episodes of 8 Out of 10 Cats, Mock the Week, QI, Have I Got News for You, Would I Lie To You?, Richard Osman's House of Games, Roast Battle, and The Last Leg.[4][33][34][35] She portrayed punk singer Siouxsie Sioux in a 2018 episode of Urban Myths, titled "The Sex Pistols Vs. Bill Grundy".[7]
She has written for Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and in 2019 she was a writer on two episodes of Rob Beckett's Savage Socials on Channel 4.[33]
She narrated the reality show The Cabins, which first aired on 4 January 2021 on ITV2.[34][36][37] A second series was renewed and aired on 3 January 2022. In June 2022, ITV announced that The Cabins would not return for a third series.[citation needed]
In November 2022, Adam appeared in the new series of Outsiders on Dave. In December 2022, she was on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year as a panellist with Katherine Ryan.[38] She appeared again on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year in 2024, paired with Chris McCausland.[39]
In June 2023, Adam appeared as a contestant in New Tipping Point for Soccer Aid[40] with Brian McFadden and Sam Matterface, which Brian McFadden won.
In February 2024, Adam appeared as a contestant in Celebrity Mastermind alongside Michelle Heaton, Nihal Arthanayake and Aaron Evans.[citation needed]
In July 2025, Adam was announced to be a contestant in the 20th series of Taskmaster along with Ania Magliano, Phil Ellis, Reece Shearsmith and Sanjeev Bhaskar.[41]
Podcasts
Since December 2019, Adam has hosted a podcast, That's a First!, with fellow comedian Tom Lucy.[4][42]
In 2023, Adam became the co-host of Big Kick Energy, with fellow comedian Suzi Ruffell.[43] Launched for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, Big Kick Energy now primarily focuses on the Women's Super League Season (WSL). It has been nominated for a Sports Broadcast Award.
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Awards and nominations
Adam has been nominated for or won several awards, including:[35]
- 2018: Winner – Amused Moose National New Comic winner
- 2017: Winner – So You Think You're Funny
- 2018: Nominee – Edinburgh Comedy Awards, Best Newcomer
- 2019: Nominee – Chortle Awards, Best Newcomer
Personal life
As of 2021[update], Adam lives in Brighton.[7][4] She plays for a football team in Brighton and is also a Leeds United fan.[44] She also participated in Soccer Aid 2023, Soccer Aid 2024 and Soccer Aid 2025. While in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, she cut her hair to a Chelsea style, which became her signature look at the time.[45][46][34][47][48]
In December 2021, she became engaged to Mike Dobinson.[49] They married on 10 June 2023.
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References
External links
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