The story so far: She's an ardent lefty and an ex-Daily Mail gossip hound. A former biker and one-time goth. An actor-turned-standup who doesn't think she's very funny and claims "not to be sociable" but is a natural raconteur: easy, entertaining and garrulous company. It's fair to say, then, that one-to-watch Bridget Christie is a bundle of contradictions.
Born in Gloucester to Irish parents who "moved to England independently, only to find each other", 35-year-old Christie is the youngest of nine brothers and sisters. Think the Partridge Family meets the A-Team. "We were always building and making these bizarre constructions together." Like? "Well, we had a ramp-type slide from the roof of the house to the garden that we'd all cart down in, in a pram. All sorts of things like that really."
Bored of education "without being naughty or anything", Christie left school at 14, rode off on a motorbike to the Swiss Alps when she was 17, and found herself independent and working in London by the time she was registered to vote. A series of "crap office jobs" and some acting work followed (she also went to drama school), until she found herself employed on the diary desk of a national newspaper in 2003. It was then that she began standup in the evenings, while Daily Mailing by day.
In 2005, Christie was nominated for the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year. It was at the afterparty that she first met fellow comedian Stewart Lee. "I wasn't intimidated by him because I didn't know who he was," Christie says, before semi-explaining that the "the 90s were a lost decade" for her. Still, it can't have gone too badly. Christie and Lee were married just over a year later.
The gag: In her handful of years on the circuit, Christie's comedy has gone from absurdist character-clowning to storytelling – with a sideways punchline. Her current show, My Daily Mail Hell, charts her five years as an accidental diary hack. Cue plenty of irreverent anecdotes and surreal junctures into the world of showbiz.
Strange but true: Christie once saw the BBC's Alan Yentob fall off a plastic chair. It ended up making headline news.
Most likely to: Become a sitcom star.
Least likely to: Be asked back to the Daily Mail.
The hype: "Quirky, engaging and … stupidly funny." (The Daily Express, 2009)
The truth: It is, for once, proving difficult to disagree with the Express. Christie also has a knack for cleverly structured set pieces.
File next to: Isy Suttie, Tom Wrigglesworth.
Now watch this: Christie on Derek Acorah and King Charles II.
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