Roisin Conaty

Roisin Conaty is a newcomer to the world of stand up, but now she is officially the best newcomer in comedy, that is of course until August 2011.

Roisin was born in London to Irish parents, hence the name, and went to a well to do convent school. Roisin made the decision to take stand up seriously, so to speak, in the mid 2000s, with 2004 being her year.

She was a finalist in both the 'Amused Moose' new act and 'Funny Women' competitions. She earned a special commendation at the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year and won the Laughing Horse 'Big Big Big New Act' competition. All in one year!

Things have been moving along nicely for Roisin; in 2009 she performed at Bestival, the Camden Crawl and the Birds Eye Women in Comedy Film Festival. Her hard work culminated in 2010 when she won the Best Newcomer award at the Edinburgh Festival, a prize that has been won in the past by the likes of Tim Vine, Josie Long, The Mighty Boosh and Harry Hill.

Roisin has a natural conversational style which makes her extremely likeable without the audience descending to pity. Her award winning show tells the tale of her being invited back to her school to talk to recent graduates.

READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH ROISIN CONATY HERE

She's not afraid of dispelling any rumours that she was a popular, social child with many a story of her childhood. The reason we think that though is her natural charm and confidence on stage.

Her asides are both scripted and improvised, but you'll never know which is which due to seamless transitions and lightning quick humour. You'd never think that Roisin described the step up to doing an hour show as terrifying.

Although new to the scene, Roisin Conaty has had a handful of TV and radio appearances, although is likely to increase in the coming years. She appeared in Transmission Impossible for Channel 4's Comedy Lab, and acted in Meet The Blogs, produced by Baby Cow.

On radio, she has written numerous sketches for BBC Radio 1, including The Milk Run, and wrote for the Lawrence and Gus show Hearts And Minds on Radio 4 which was subsequently nominated for a Sony Award.

Roisin Conaty is a star for future, which is not to say she isn't a star now. In the years to come she will be a name you can't escape from, and judging by the past winners of her most recent award, that can only be a good thing.

Did You Know?:

Roisin Conaty says the greatest moment in her life was the day she discovered halloumi cheese. She's right, it is nice.