Suzi Ruffell has blessed us with her comic genius over the last decade. A very successful gay female comedian born in Portsmouth to a working class family, Ruffell has made herself a household name appearing on the likes of Live at the Apollo and having toured across the UK and even Australia. Now 32, she is in the happiest phase of her life and is currently on tour with her latest feel-good show Dance Like Everyone’s Watching.

Congratulations on being named Chortle’s Best Club Act 2019! How does this feel?

Ah yeah, that’s lovely. It was lovely. It’s really nice to be recognised by the public, people who go and watch stand up. It’s really nice for people to take the time to vote for you which is really lovely. I couldn’t go to the awards because I was on tour somewhere but it was a very nice phone call to get from my friend to ring me and say ‘Oh, you’ve won!’ and I was like, ‘Oh, great, thanks! Grab the award for me!’. 

You’ve had three sold-out runs at the Edinburgh Festival. How does that feel?

Yeah, that was pretty good. That sort of means more than anything else to be honest because it means that I’m sort of building and developing audiences which is what I really wanted to do and what I really, you know, the live stand up is all about. It’s so much fun. And it’s the thing that you might take on tour, like the first couple of years I did quite a small tour. But now the tours are ever-growing and so Edinburgh is the place where the show really kicks into shape and I work out new techniques – I took the show pretty much finished to the Fringe but doing it 26 times in 28 days just means that it will tighten and you realise new things or you find new gags. And so yeah, it’s really fun having had that experience in Edinburgh.

What got you into comedy?

I was acting for a bit but I wasn’t really working, I always did sort of funny, silly roles until my best friend said to me ‘Why don’t you give stand up a go?’ and that was eleven years ago. And I’ve never really looked back. 

If you weren’t a comedian, what would you be doing?

Oh, I was a very good waitress. I would probably run a bar or pub, or do something like that because I quite like being around people. I don’t think an office job would have suited me. I also didn’t get the grades at school and I didn’t go to university, my brain doesn’t really work in that way. My brain’s much better at interacting with people. 

Do you prefer stand up or television?

Well, I mean they’re sort of different things. Doing stand up on TV is just doing it live but you’re usually quite sure what kind of routine you’re going to do because it’s been discussed with producers and they know what they want and what material you’re putting out there. So it’s always knowing the unknown with live stand up which I love but doing stuff like Mock the Week or Live at the Apollo or Harry Hill’s Clubnite is amazing because there’s an added, you know, there’s a different level of excitement. I love doing both of them.

What’s you latest show about?

My latest show is about being happy. I’m sort of in the happiest stage of my career, of my life, I think. Career-wise everything is going really well and I’m having a really exciting time. Life-wise I’m very happy, I’ve settled down, I’ve got a really lovely partner, and we’re in a very exciting phase of our lives. And so I wanted to write a show about joy. I feel like at the moment if you read the news, it’s a bit bleak and like, people do stupid things and government’s a mess and you’ve got the election. All that stuff and I wanted to write something where you would come away from it just laughing. I wanted to write something about joy and write something about happiness. 

I’m sort of in the happiest stage of my career, of my life, I think.

I mean there’s lots of other things thrown in obviously. I’m a three-dimensional person who’s not brilliant all of the time. I’ve got things that annoy me and there’s things that happen across the globe that I find really upsetting and I shine a little bit of light on a few of those things. But on the whole, the show’s about being joyful.

You’ve clearly impacted the comedy scene because you are a) working class b) gay c) a woman d) dyslexic and e) you suffer from anxiety. What are your hopes for comedy and where would you like to see it go next?

Well I guess it’s in some respects there were a lot of women out there doing it before me that certainly made it easier – girls like Katherine Ryan, Sara Pascoe, Roisin Conaty, and there loads of gay girls who have been here for a lot longer than me like Zoe Lyons, Jen Brister and Sue Perkin. And so, I do feel like I’m stepping into the mainstream which is really great.

I think it’s really important that people of colour get a voice, anyone non-white gets a voice, anyone that’s from a group of people that don’t get heard as often as they should – there’s trans comics that really should be heard and we should be listening to their stories. It’s really important that there’s not just one person of colour on a show but a whole range of people on a show are non-white or non-straight that don’t fit into narrow boxes. It’s really important because then we hear lots of different stories from people which I think is a really important thing comedy does so brilliantly; anyone can give it a go, anyone can get up on stage with a microphone and share what they think is funny, share an insight into their world. And I think it’s the only way that comedy improves or that any industry, certainly industries in the limelight, improve is if we have lots of different types of people and we make every voice feel valid and important and make sure there’s space for everyone.

How does it feel to be an inspiration for these groups of people?

I don’t know if I am. I feel like I drink too much to be an inspiration! I get that more from young queer people which is really lovely. It feels really special to me and I feel very very lucky that some people feel like I’m talking about a life that they might one day want or a life that they have and they feel that their stories are getting out there vicariously through me. I feel like that is a real privilege. I feel very lucky to be that person. 

What would you say to those people who are considering entering the comedy scene?

I would say be willing to fail. You will be rubbish for a bit, that’s totally normal. Take chances and write and gig and write and gig and write and gig and write and gig and that’s the only way that you progress. You see people come through sometimes sometimes reality people have a go at stand up or people that haven’t spent years honing their craft and all of a sudden get a break and you often see that’s where you can sometimes see cracks in their persona or their material because they haven’t had those years of working out who they are. And I’ve been on the circuit for ten or eleven years and there was a time a few years ago where I felt really felt like I was desperate to break through to get onto the next level and I felt like I wasn’t making as much progress as I wanted to. But now with hindsight it took as long as it should have. I got to do Live At The Apollo at the exact right time. Everything comes to you, I think, when you’re ready for it and sometimes you’re ready before it comes to you but that just means that you’ve got some extra petrol in the tank. 

So I’d say you’ve just got to stick at it. If you really want to do it you’ve just do to stick at it for years and years and years and years. I do think that the cream rises and hopefully if there’s enough good people at the top, they’re willing to make room. I think there’s enough space for everyone.

Looking at where you are today, what would you tell your younger self?

Oooooo, I would say that the things that you hate about yourself as a teenager will end up being what you celebrate as an adult. Try not to worry much and you’ll make friends and people will like you. Chill out.

What’s your most surprising or most taken aback fan moment and/or gift?

I’m always taken aback when people just wanna have a photograph or say hello to me or when people give me really kind letters or cards that they’ve written at gigs. I find that – it’s lovely. I’m always hugely touched and I keep all of them in a little drawer in my house where I keep all those things and it’s really really really lovely.

What’s next for you career wise?

I’ve got the tour. I’ve got some more TV coming up. Really excitingly, I’m on the Jonathan Ross Show on Saturday which is my first ever chat show. I recorded it last night [Wednesday]. It’s my first ever chat show which is really really exciting talking about being on tour and talking about it being stand up which was a bit of a dream come true for me to be honest. I’ve got that, the tour, lots of different TV projects that are in development and hopefully one of them might get on the telly. I’ve got a sitcom that’s in development and I’ve got some other TV projects that I’m trying to get greenlit so they can get on the TV one day. So maybe something like that. 

You’ve also gotten engaged. Congratulations! 

Thank you!

How’s wedding planning coming along?

Oh, they’re fine. Luckily, my girlfriend is very organised so she’s very good at organising the wedding. Currently, we’ve got food and we’ve invited everyone and the rest of it’s just dancing I think, isn’t it. So we’re just going to get some mates to DJ and it’s just going to be a big party.

That makes the title of your show very fitting then!

Exactly!

Are you hoping to start a family?

Yes, I mean it’s what I hope is next for us. We’re looking at the different ways that gay people can do that. We’re looking at IVF and at adoption and we’re wondering what will be the right route for us. I think that that will be something that we work out in the next year. I really want to be a mum one day and I don’t really mind how we do it.

Best of luck and I really hope that you have a family soon!

I hope so too!

I’ve heard you’ve learnt how to make the perfect lemon cake? Does this mean we might see you on Celebrity Bake Off?

I mean I would absolutely love to do Celebrity Bake Off but I’d be really worried that I wasn’t good enough. Luckily my future brother-in-law is an incredible baker so I think what I’d have to do it go and live at their house for a week and he’d have to teach me everything he knows so that I didn’t make a fool of myself. But, yeah, maybe one day.

And finally, do you have any plans for Christmas?

I do. I’m going to have a nice big break. I’m going to go home and see my mum and dad and my brother and just stop for a little while and eat as much as possible!

*This interview has been edited for clarity and concision