Why We Should Care About Sophie Willan

There has been what could diplomatically be called a brush fire of stand-up comedians populating our airwaves, comedy clubs, eateries, and church hall basements. Even more score sitcoms and one-off comedy specials on various streaming services with such regularity it's hard not to trip past a new offering of some stand-up you might not have ever heard of coming at you daily.

The point: comedians are everywhere.

So, why should we take notice of another one? Why should we care about Sophie Willan and her being named one of the kickoff speakers at the Edinburgh TV Festival? How could she interest a kinkly.com reader?

Sophie’s history

Liking one comedian’s comedy or not is a subjective call. What makes Ms. Willan particularly interesting (beyond the above Edinburg gig and her stunning accomplishments listed below) is where the lady came from and what did has done along the way.

At one time, Sophie made her way earning her living as a sex worker.

Sophie’s parents gave birth to their only daughter when they were still in their teens. Her father walking out on the family soon after Sophie’s birth, young Sophie's mom spiraled over the sudden change and her solo responsibilities by taking to heroin. Sophie was then put in the care of a young grandmother, who whisked she and Sophie to Ibiza. Her grandmother not being the most stable of influences, Sophie was put out of the house as fifteen and surviving on a government youth allowance and some jobs she began working as an escort.

At the same time Sophie was making her way working in a youth theatre in Manchester, starting a feminist cabaret company called Eggs Collective.

"I look back on it open-mindedly. I'm not angry with myself. I don't judge myself," she says. "I understand why I did it; it allowed me to do loads of things I wanted to do."

Her career

After her comedy debut in 2016 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where people like Stephen Fry, Rowan Atkinson and Eddie Izzard have enjoyed wide-spread recognition (to name but a few), Sophie enjoyed a sold-out nationwide tour the following year. She was then commissioned to adapt her show into what became her hugely success BBC 2 radio series ‘Sophie Willan’s Guide To Normality’

Sophie enjoyed ever more recognition and sold-out gigs, then saw a sure rise in her popularity with the huge success of her BBC 2 series "Alma’s Not Normal." The show provided a sardonic take on the UK class structure, female sexuality, mental health, and substance abuse, celebrating the women in its cast especially.  

Sophie has received multiple awards, accolades and appeared across a score of broadcast standup appearances and talk show gust spots.

Care work

In 2015, Willan was awarded over one hundred thousand pounds to create the literary project Stories Of Care. A "care leaver," as the term applies to persons who fall under this definition in the UK, “is a young person between the ages of 16-25 who has been 'looked after' at some point since they were 14 years old and were in care on or after their 16th birthday.”

This multi-platform arts and outreach organization existed from 2015 to just last year, founded by Willan, working exclusively with new writers, from various backgrounds, to see the publication of novels, published anthologies, television, radio, stand-up, and theatre, based around and including care leavers from Northwest England.

An ex-sex worker, multi-awarded comedy star, writer/producer/actor, and activist, this is why we should care about Sophie Willan.