Luisa Omielan (born 7 September 1982) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

based in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Early life

Born in

to parents of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

descent, she is the middle of five children. Luisa lived in

Farnborough, Hampshire Farnborough is a town located in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England. It has a population of around 57,486 as of the 2011 census and is an important centre of aviation, engineering and technology. The town is probably best known for it ...

where she went to St Patricks Catholic School and then onto a Catholic secondary school in

Farnham Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tributary of the ...

called All Hallows. In 2005, she graduated from

Salford University The University of Salford is a Public university, public research university in Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford, Greater Manchester, England, west of Manchester city centre. The Royal Technical Institute, Salford, which opened in 1896, be ...

with a first class BA Hons in Performing Arts. In 2011 Luisa attended training at Second City in Chicago where she specialised in Clowning, Improvisation and Sketch Writing.

Career

Omielan first started stand up comedy in 2008 performing at the Brighton Fringe Festival. In 2012, Omielan performed her debut stand up solo show, ''What Would

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

Do?!'' as part of the Brighton Fringe, later followed by the free fringe at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

. ''What Would Beyoncé Do?!'' has since had ten sell out runs at London's

Soho Theatre Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, and Soho Theatre Walthamstow in north-east London. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three pe ...

. Omielan was later nominated at

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the largest international comedy festival in the world. First held in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typically starti ...

for best Comedy show. The show went on to tour 12 countries and recorded as a BBC special. It was named “one of the biggest stand up hits of the decade’ by ''The Guardian.'' In 2014, Omielan was invited to perform for ten nights as part of the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival. The show then continued to have a week run in the London West End at the

Leicester Square Theatre The Leicester Square Theatre is a 400-seat theatre in Leicester Place, immediately north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London. It was previously known as Notre Dame Hall, Cavern in the Town and The Venue. The theatre hosts st ...

. Omielan is known for her empowering 'party' atmosphere genre of comedy. Her follow-up show ''Am I Right Ladies?!'' has had a UK tour, received critical acclaim and five star reviews. In July 2015, Omielan used crowd funding website

Indiegogo Indiegogo is an American crowdfunding website founded in 2008 by Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin, and Eric Schell. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California. The site is one of the first sites to offer crowd funding. Indiegogo allows peo ...

to self fund a DVD recording of ''Am I Right Ladies?!'' at the

Bloomsbury Theatre The Bloomsbury Theatre is a theatre located on Gordon Street in Bloomsbury, within the London Borough of Camden. It is owned by University College London. The Theatre has a seating capacity of 541 and offers a professional programme of innovati ...

, which she later uploaded to her YouTube channel, in February 2018. On 20 November 2014, she appeared on the 99th episode of ''The Comedian's Comedian Podcast with Stuart Goldsmith''. In 2015, she toured Australia and performed as part of the Comedy Gala. A 4-minute clip where Omielan discuses the '

thigh gap A thigh gap is a space between the inner thighs of some women when standing upright with knees touching. In the 21st century, some people in the West have begun to consider the thigh gap a special feature of physical attractiveness and physical ...

' went viral and has since amassed over 43 million views on Facebook. In 2017 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 ...

produced a TV version of her ''What Would Beyoncé Do?!'' show, shown as a special on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

, and later on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

. In 2018 Luisa was named a Bafta Breakthrough Brit, she is the first comedian to ever be nominated and supported by the scheme. Autumn 2018 she adapted her live

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

stage show, '' Politics for Bitches'', into six 30 minute episodes for the BBC. Via a part documentary, part stand-up gig format, Omielan explores a few of the socioeconomic and political issues facing young adults in the UK today. She appeared as a panelist in Series 22, Episodes 1 and 4, of the Radio 4 show '' The Unbelievable Truth.'' Following her mother's death from bowel cancer, Omielan launched Helena's Hospice Foundation. She currently lives in Birmingham and is supported on tour with her dog Bernie, a Bernese mountain dog.

Television appearances

* ''Miranda'' (Christmas Special, 2014) * ''

The John Bishop Show ''The Christmas Show'', formerly known as ''The John Bishop Show'', is a British comedy- variety show presented by stand-up comedian John Bishop at the Hackney Empire Theatre. The show has aired on BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air ...

'' (June 2015) * '' Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled'' (2016) *

Red Nose Day Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make the ...

(2017) (co-presenter *Drunk history UK (sometime in 2017) * ''What Would Beyoncé Do?!'' (BBC special, 2017) * '' Live at the Apollo'' (December 2017) * '' Stand Up Central'' (October 2018) * ''Politics for Bitches'' (Six part BBC TV series, October 2018) * ''Comedy Central Live'' (June 2019)

Books

On 14 July 2016, Omielan's book ''What Would Beyonce Do?!'' was published by Century. .

References

External links

Official Site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Omielan, Luisa 1982 births Living people 21st-century English comedians Alumni of the University of Salford Comedians from Birmingham, West Midlands Comedians from Hampshire English people of Polish descent English women comedians People from Farnborough, Hampshire