Alison Spittle (born 14 June 1989) is an Irish comedian,

comedy writer Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

, radio producer and actor. She has worked for

iRadio Contemporary hit radio stations in Ireland Radio stations in the Republic of Ireland 2023 mergers and acquisitions ...

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 () is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for the station in 2010 w ...

and

Newstalk Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...

and created sketches for '' Republic of Telly'' and has written and starred in her

RTÉ Two (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, television, RT� ...

sit-com ''Nowhere Fast'' in 2017. She is the host and creator of the ''Alison Spittle Show''

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

hosted by HeadStuff Podcast Network.

Early life

Spittle was born in Harrow, London. Spittle's father was a builder. The family moved frequently, including to

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, Germany, before moving to Spittle's mother's ancestral home of

County Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

, Tyrrellspass,

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, Midland Region, with a population of 22,667 in the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census. The Counties of M ...

and finally Ballymore at age eight. She attended secondary school in

Moate Moate (; ) is a town in County Westmeath, Ireland. As of the 2022 census, it had a population of 3,013. The town's Irish name, ''An Móta'', is derived from the term motte-and-bailey, as the Normans built an example of this type of fortificati ...

Career

Graduating from college in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Spittle moved back to Westmeath where she worked as a researcher for

iRadio Contemporary hit radio stations in Ireland Radio stations in the Republic of Ireland 2023 mergers and acquisitions ...

with comedian Bernard O'Shea. She began working in comedy, supporting PJ Gallagher. This led to her participation in

So You Think You're Funny So You Think You're Funny? (SYTYF?) is an annual stand-up comedy competition for new acts. The competition began in 1988 in the United Kingdom. The finals are held every August at The Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past ...

's Irish heats, qualifying for rounds in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. She got a guest spot on the "Happy Hour" section of the '' John Murray Show''

from this success. Her comedy shows have included ''Alison Spittle Needs an Agent'', ''Alison Spittle Discovers Hawaii'' (2015), and ''Worrier Princess'' (2017). She has performed at the

and

fringe festival Fringe theatre is theatre that is produced outside of the main theatre institutions, and that is often small-scale and non-traditional in style or subject matter. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.Kemp, Robert, ''More that is Fr ...

s, as well as The Forbidden Fruit and Cork Comedy

festivals A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

. Spittle wrote and starred in

web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by ...

comedy shorts for

, and in sketches for '' Republic of Telly'' with Kevin McGahern. She was a regular contributor to '' The Right Hook'' with

George Hook George Hook (born 19 May 1941) is an Irish broadcaster, journalist and rugby union pundit. He formerly hosted ''The Right Hook'' and ''High Noon'' on the Irish radio station Newstalk. He had a career as a rugby union coach and businessman, b ...

. She is also a regular and well-loved co-host of The Guilty Feminist podcast with Deborah Francis-White. She appeared in the 2019 comedy film ''Extra Ordinary''. In 2020, she and fellow comedian Fern Brady started a podcast for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

called ''Wheel of Misfortune''. Brady left the podcast in early 2021 and Spittle hosted the show with guests until

Kerry Katona Kerry Katona (born 6 September 1980) is an English television personality and former singer. She was an original member of the pop girl group Atomic Kitten between 1998 and 2001, leaving before the group's success. Katona has appeared on va ...

became permanent co-host in November 2022. In November 2023, she appeared on game show ''

Richard Osman's House of Games ''Richard Osman's House of Games'' is a British quiz show hosted by Richard Osman and produced by Banijay UK Productions subsidiary Remarkable Entertainment for the BBC. The show is played on a weekly basis, with four celebrities playing on f ...

''.

''Nowhere Fast''

In 2017, she co-wrote six-part

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

''Nowhere Fast'' with her boyfriend Simon Mulholland. The series was directed by

Simon Gibney Shinawil (stylised as ShinAwiL) Productions is an Irish television production company. It was founded by producer Larry Bass and director Simon Gibney in 1999. It was acquired by Screentime (branded as Screentime ShinAwiL) as part of a deal to p ...

. The show sees Angela (played by Spittle) moving back down to Ballybeag in the

midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

, having lost her job on a radio show in Dublin following a high-profile libel case. The series began in November 2017, and was generally well received by critics and viewers.

References

External links

Profile on Chortle
including tour dates
The Alison Spittle Show
podcast * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spittle, Alison Irish women comedians Irish stand-up comedians Living people People from County Westmeath Irish comedy writers Irish television writers Irish women television writers Irish expatriates in England People from Harrow, London 1989 births 21st-century Irish comedians Irish women screenwriters 21st-century Irish screenwriters Irish sketch comedians Comedians from the London Borough of Harrow