Hey NextUppers! I'm back with another Meet the Team post (it's been a while!) and this month it's none other than co-founder of NextUp, and awesomeness personified, Sarah! Enjoy getting to know more about her.🫶🤩

What’s your role at NextUp, in normal human terms?

It’s probably easier to explain that in terms of what I don’t do! I don’t do camera work, I don’t edit, and I don’t really do anything technical (although I do manage our lovely developer so the boys joke about my title being ‘Head of Tech’). So pretty much anything else is fair game. I’m currently working on the launch of a new comedy radio station (shhh), I do all the boring accounts stuff, I do grant applications and run big projects like when we digitised a load of venues to live stream into our platform, I’m HR(!)…basically I’m a Jack (Jill?) of all trades, master of very few, if any. And I’m co-CEO so I steer the ship with Dan. 

What’s the best part of the job?

I LOVE seeing comedians whose first show we filmed or that we feel like we ‘spotted’ early in their careers, take off - like Maisie Adam - we filmed her first Edinburgh show and it was such a joy seeing her on the Last One Laughing recently. Back in the day Kenny, Dan and I used to run a live night in Hoxton called ‘ComComedy’, and it’s been so pleasing seeing how well a lot of the people we loved and booked regularly in the infancy of their careers have done (James Acaster, Nish Kumar, Mae Martin, Joel Dommett etc.). We started NextUp to platform great shows and great comedians, so when I feel like we’re doing that well, it’s a really great feeling. The worst part (not that you asked) is spreadsheets.

How was NextUp born?

Briefly touched on it there, but about 17 years ago, Kenny and I met at the London Comedy Writers - a really supportive writers group above a pub in London Bridge. We became friends and started going up to Edinburgh and loved it. We decided to run a live comedy night and youtube channel called ComComedy in our spare time and soon after, Dan came on board to join our merry team. We’d film the live nights and lots of shows in Edinburgh and share clips on the channel. In 2016 we decided we really wanted to turn this into more of a ‘thing’, but that we couldn’t do it alongside our day jobs, so we came up with NextUp and cracked on (that’s the abridged version). We wanted to showcase the comics who were so worthy of a bigger audience, but not getting the spotlight via the mainstream channels. And we wanted to let comics make some money out of the hard work that had gone into the shows that would then otherwise just be retired…it was quite a different landscape back then and for most comics, filming their shows wasn’t such a regular occurrence.

Who/What got you into comedy? 

I’ve taken the winding path (law, musical theatre, training/coaching, playwriting, comedy)! But I think through the more challenging times of my life, seeing the funny side has always sort of helped. So - as I mentioned, I was a writer first (and still am), and got into producing and live comedy through that. 

Who’s your favourite comedian (or one you keep coming back to)?

I feel like Jen Brister is my spirit animal (am currently in my angry mother era). And Lou Sanders is an absolute treat on any day of the week. 

Besides comedy, what are your other interests/hobbies?

I’ve got a bad habit of always turning my hobbies into work - so I write - I’m writing the panto for Oxford Playhouse this year which is fun. I’m currently trying to get hench. I do a bit of yoga and breathwork when I can, oooh and I love a sauna and a COLD swim. Have done a 10k swim in a river before which I’m quite proud of. 

When and where were you born and raised?

Born in the early 80s in Chertsey, raised around there but moved to South London at 18 and never looked back!

What’s your most used emoji?

I’ve created a vagina emoji for the company Slack which I really enjoy (I felt an absence of a vagina-like veg emojis so I just went route-1). 

Do you have any pets?

A beautiful black schnauzer called Juno who I adore. And 2 human boys who are far less well behaved.

Tea or coffee? (There is a correct answer.)

Both. In the eyeballs. The kids don’t really sleep and get up at 5 so I’m obscenely tired and angry. 

Ideal night in vs ideal night out?

Not sure what this means? But I’d love to be in the community sauna and cold plunge with my pals. So I guess OUT?! OR in the bath with a book (IN). 

What’s a very normal thing you’re surprisingly bad at?

I have facial blindness to the point that if someone changes a jumper in a film - even a main character - I no longer know who they are. Oh and I can’t find my way ANYWHERE without a map - get lost on the way back from a loo in the pub, it’s very embarrassing.

Who is your favourite singer at the moment?

Raye - new album is a masterpiece in my humble and fairly uninformed opinion.

Finish the sentence: “Comedy is best enjoyed when…”

We have finally smashed the patriarchy. 

Last question, is there anything you'd like to say to the NextUp Community?

Thank you. We’re far from perfect - I think that’s what happens when comedy lovers start a company - we didn’t really know much about running a company, so it has been, and still is, a huge learning curve. So thank you for being part of this, and sharing our love of comedy and the fantastic artists that make it!

Hey hey NextUppers! It's a new week, which means new livestreams are on the way. Here's what's on! 🎤

And while you're patiently waiting, here's a YouTube video of ours to quickly binge: https://youtu.be/H-NO4AZjTJA?si=nV2bSwmtvhpSPTVR (Go comment this emoji '😜' if you fancy, I'll be snooping 🤣)