Maisie Adam has called her debut tour Buzzed because she has lots to be buzzed about. Her relationship with her fiancé, her excitement at England’s victory in the Women’s Euros and lastly but by absolutely no means least, the way her comedy career has taken off.
Adam, from Pannal in North Yorkshire, has become a welcome TV regular in recent years, cracking gags on Mock The Week, wowing crowds on Live at the Apollo and having fun on the sports quiz A League Of Their Own as well as making countless other appearances. And now she is hitting the road with her debut tour, direct from a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The stylish, chatty 28-year-old loves nothing more than a live crowd and since the post-pandemic return of stand-up gigs the feeling has been mutual. “Audiences are super appreciative to have everything back. They’re dreamy and just so supportive. if you watch a special on TV you react to it so differently than if you are in the room.” Nothing beats that in-the-moment excitement of being at a comedy gig.
Buzzed is the ultimate comedy tonic, the perfect feelgood show: “I wanted to do a show that was happy and uplifting and looking forward. The way things have been lately I like watching stuff that makes me laugh and feel optimistic so I filled the show with all the things that make me happy that I care about.”
Buzzed, of course, is also a reference to her trademark haircut, a stylish fringe at the front, brutally shaved at the back. As she explains in the show, it was initially done to relieve the lockdown tedium but she decided to stick with it.
The dilemma now, however, is that it has become such a part of her image when is she going to grow it again? She is marrying her boyfriend Mike, who runs a bar in Brighton where they live, next year and is determined to keep it for the big day.
“I’m getting married in June. So I was like, if I’m gonna grow it out I need to do it soon. I thought, no, I don’t want to look back in years to come and be like, ‘oh, you grew it out because you thought you should for a wedding.’ This is how I look at the moment. I really like it. In years to come where I’ve had to go a little bit more sensible I want to be able to get the wedding photos out and say ‘girl, you looked cool back then.’ So I don’t think it’s going anywhere for now.”
Adam, on the other hand, is going everywhere with her tour. She plans to travel by train and make the most of her 26 – 30 Railcard. “There’s one day when I have to get from Exeter to Glasgow. I’ll have to have a word with my tour manager about that! But I like having days to myself and just mooching about.
She decided not to have a support act so fans will be getting the full Adam experience for the evening, with the first half tailored to the place she is in. “When I arrive I’m going to walk around, a bit like Mark Steel does for his shows. I can remember my mum and dad took me to see Lee Mack in Sheffield and he had all of this stuff about Sheffield, and you could feel everybody felt sort of special.”
Comedy has opened numerous doors for Adam. As well as guesting frequently on BBC2’s Mock The Week, which sadly ends this autumn, she loves appearing on Sky’s sports quiz A League Of Their Own as it’s a chance to work with non-comedians. “I really appreciate Mock The Week, I used to watch clips of it on YouTube when I came home from school so it’s amazing to be on it. But it’s like seven comedians all trying to be the funniest guest at a dinner party, it can get exhausting.”
“Whereas with A League Of Their Own I remember when we did a road trip episode with Jamie Redknapp, Freddie Flintoff and Tony Bellew I thought they would all be alpha males. But actually comedians are worse. They want to be the big ones, whereas boxer Tony Bellew, for example, has been world champion, he’s got nothing to prove. The last thing they’re bothered about is whether or not you laugh at their jokes.”
The one thing she will miss while on tour is going to football. She is a devoted Leeds fan and tries to get to their games when possible. In Buzzed she talks at length about women’s football and has a hilarious anecdote about joining a local team in Brighton.
She loves playing, but nothing has given her a bigger buzz in 2022 than seeing England’s Lionesses win the Euros earlier this year, so her football routine feels particularly timely. She actually went to the final when England beat Germany in extra time and will never forget it.
“When the final whistle blew I burst into tears because it was just so much emotion after 120 minutes. But once I’d wiped my tears away, I turned to my fiancé and said something that can only come from a self-obsessed comedian, ‘it’s just really good, because my show will have so much more of a point now.’ But yeah, it’s been the best time really to talk about football, especially from a woman’s perspective. I feel so lucky that I got to go, it was one of the best days of my life.”
Maisie gets her passion for football from her forthright mother Jill, a punk fan who runs Manchester’s annual Louder Than Words music and books festival: “I remember talking to my mother about the fact that I just wanted to make people laugh with this show and was worrying that I didn’t have a theme and my mum said: ‘bollocks, just go and do it!’ Sometimes I have to remind myself to have a bit more of my mum’s way of thinking of just doing what you want to do.”
Maisie Adam’s UK tour includes Norwich Arts Centre on September 21; Cambridge Junction on October 14; and Colchester Arts Centre on October 22.
