Pippa Evans (born June 1982) is a British comedian, known for her work in

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to Theoph ...

and

improvisational comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv or impro in British English, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its ...

Early life and education

Evans attended

Notting Hill and Ealing High School Notting Hill and Ealing High School is a private day school for girls aged 4–18 in Ealing, London. Founded in 1873, it is one of the 26 schools that make up the Girls' Day School Trust. It has a junior department of 310 girls (ages 4–11) an ...

, an

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

for girls, where she was

head girl The two Senior Prefects, individually called Head Boy (for the male), and Head Girl (for the female) are students who carry leadership roles and are responsible for representing the school's entire student body. Although mostly out of use, in some ...

. She studied Drama and Theatre Arts at

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

Career

After leaving university she became a member of Scratch improvisation comedy troupe, and appeared in Newsrevue, a topical comedy show at London's

Canal Cafe Theatre The Canal Café Theatre is a 60-seat fringe theatre venue in Little Venice, London, England, specialising in comedy performances. Location The theatre is above the Bridge House pub on the corner of Westbourne Terrace Road and Delamere Terrace, a ...

. In 2008, she gained second place in the annual

Hackney Empire New Act of the Year The NATYS: New Acts of The Year Showcase, previously known as The Hackney Empire New Act of the Year, is an annual industry showcase that promotes new waves of emerging Comedy and Variety acts. It ran at the Hackney Empire Theatre from 1988 until ...

competition. In her solo debut at the 2008

Edinburgh Festival 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 ...

with ''Pippa Evans and Other Lonely People'', she played a number of different characters at a self-help group meeting. Evans received positive reviews from the press, with ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'' describing her as "wicked and dark, with few gimmicks". She was nominated for Best Newcomer at the

Edinburgh Comedy Awards The Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Establ ...

, before performing the show 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 ...

for a limited season. Evans's best known stage character is Loretta Maine, a disturbed American singer-songwriter described by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper as "

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

seen through the lens of

Mike Leigh Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English screenwriter, producer, director and former actor with a film, theatre, and television career spanning more than 60 years. His accolades include prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin In ...

". In 2009 she performed on the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

series '' Arthur Smith's Balham Bash'' as Loretta Maine. She returned to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2009 with another show titled ''Pippa Evans: Your Evening's Entertainment'', a variety show for an imagined audience of conference delegates where Evans plays all the characters. In an interview with ''The Scotsman'', Evans revealed "I was brought up with old time music halls and doing pantos in church halls... it was a big part of my background that always appealed to me". The show was again warmly received but it was the character of Loretta Maine which critics highlighted . In November 2009 she curated and hosted ''Pippa's Old Time New Time Music Hall'' at the Canal Cafe Theatre, introducing audiences to her contemporaries Angelos Epithemiou,

the Penny Dreadfuls The Penny Dreadfuls are a British sketch comedy troupe consisting of comedians Humphrey Ker, David Reed and Thom Tuck, often supported by Margaret Cabourn-Smith. The troupe are best known for writing and performing ''The Brothers Faversham'' a ...

and

Wilfredo Wilfredo is a given name which may refer to: *Wilfredo Alicdan (born 1965), Filipino figurative artist *Wilfredo Alvarado (born 1970), Venezuelan football defender * Wilfredo Bustillo Castellanos (born 1958), Honduran politician * Willy Caballero ( ...

in a satire on the tradition of

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

. In 2010 she presented an entire show at the Fringe as Maine in ''I'm Not Drunk, I Just Need To Talk To You''. ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

s critic observed "Maine belongs to a recognizable stable of bitter songstresses and swigs on a screw-topped bottle of wine, while spewing out her vitriol any which way". Evans is a core member of the improv team behind the stage show ''

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical ''Showstopper! The Improvised Musical'' is an improvised comedy, musical theatre show founded in London in 2008. It has toured the UK extensively, usually sells out at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe every year, had its own BBC Radio 4 series in 2 ...

''. With the cast of ''Showstopper'', Evans has toured the UK and abroad. In February 2011 the show opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End, coinciding with the broadcast of a series for

BBC Radio Four BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at B ...

. She was a series regular on the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

television improv show '' Fast and Loose'' which aired in January 2011. She was also a regular in ''

Newsjack ''Newsjack'' was a British satirical sketch show which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra between 2009 and 2021. It was hosted by Miles Jupp (2009-Mar 2011), Justin Edwards (Sep 2011-2013), Romesh Ranganathan (2014), Nish Kumar (2015–2016), ...

'' in October 2011 on

BBC Radio 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

(now

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

) and has made guest appearances on the Radio 4 satire series ''

The Now Show ''The Now Show'' is a British radio comedy programme on BBC Radio 4 which satirises the weekly news. The show, which ran from 1998 to 2024, is a mixture of stand-up, sketches and songs hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. It features regular ...

''. On 1 December 2012, as Loretta Maine, she released the song Happy Goddamn Christmas (feat.

Matt Roper Matt Roper is a British comedian, writer and musician. Career Roper made his comedy debut in London during the late-1990s, working in sketch comedy at the Jermyn Street Theatre and in the satirical sketch show '' Newsrevue'' at the Canal Caf � ...

) which peaked at No. 6 on the iTunes UK Comedy Charts. An accompanying video was released on 13 December, featuring cameos by Arthur Smith,

Imran Yusuf Imran Yusuf (; born 26 November 1979) is a Kenyan-born British stand-up comedian of Indian Konkani Muslim descent, who has appeared on various British radio and TV comedy shows. Early life and career Yusuf was born in Mombasa, Kenya to ethnic I ...

Ruth Bratt Ruth Bratt is an English actress and comedian. Bratt has appeared in the BAFTA award winning BBC2 series '' People Just Do Nothing''. In 2022 she was at the Edinburgh Festival in "Starship Improvise" with the Mischief Theatre. Career Bratt wa ...

and

Thom Tuck Thomas Tuck (born 28 March 1982) is a British actor and comedian. He is known for being one third of comedy troupe The Penny Dreadfuls and as a stand-up comedian. He was nominated for the Best Newcomer award at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe ...

, via

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 ...

. In 2013, Evans co-founded The

Sunday Assembly Sunday Assembly is a non-religious gathering co-founded by Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans in January 2013 in London, England. The gathering is mostly for non-religious people who want a similar communal experience to a religious church, thou ...

, a monthly gathering for the non-religious. In 2015, Evans appeared as a panelist in two episodes of the

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

panel show ''

The Dog Ate My Homework ''The Dog Ate My Homework'' is a British children's panel show hosted by Lauren Layfield. It was first broadcast on 17 January 2014 and was originally hosted by the comedian Iain Stirling. The show is produced by CBBC Productions Scotland ...

'' and since 2016 she has made frequent appearances on the long-running radio comedy ''

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' is a BBC radio comedy panel game. Billed as "the antidote to panel games", it consists of two teams of two comedians being given "silly things to do" by the host. The show was launched in April 1972 as a parody of ...

'' (including a recording at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

for the programme's 50th anniversary in 2022).

References

External links

Official websiteLoretta Maine – tour dates
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Pippa Living people British women comedians British satirists People from Ealing People educated at Notting Hill & Ealing High School British atheists 1982 births British women satirists 21st-century British guitarists 21st-century British women guitarists Comedians from the London Borough of Ealing Musicians from the London Borough of Ealing British humorists British women humorists