Rosie Jones
Born (1990-06-24) 24 June 1990
Bridlington, Humberside, England
Occupation(s)Comedian, actress, writer
Years active2016–present
Websiterosiejonescomedy.com

Rosie Jones (born 24 June 1990)[1] is a British comedian, writer and actress. After starting her career as a writer on panel shows, she went on to appear as a guest on The Last Leg, 8 Out of 10 Cats, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, QI and Hypothetical.[2][3][4][5] She attended the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo as a roving reporter for The Last Leg.

Jones has performed stand-up comedy at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, incorporating her cerebral palsy into her comedic style; in 2018, she was featured on Edinburgh Nights. She has also hosted the documentary Am I a R*tard?, the series Trip Hazard: My Great British Adventure, and written an episode of Sex Education. With Helen Bauer, she hosts the podcast Daddy Look at Me.

As an actress, she appeared in six episodes of Casualty between 2021 and 2022. Jones authored a children's book, The Amazing Edie Eckhart, about an 11-year-old girl with cerebral palsy, and a sequel, The Big Trip.

Early life

Jones grew up in Bridlington[6] and went to Headlands School.[7] Her parents are teachers.[8] Aged four, she introduced herself to her class by saying that she had cerebral palsy that made her "talk slowly" and "fall over a lot". She lost a friend at the age of seven who told her that she was "very bad" at running games.[9]

Career

Comedy writing

In 2011, following her graduation with a first-class degree from the University of Huddersfield,[10] Jones was hired for a year as a junior researcher for Objective Media Group as part of a disability scheme at Channel 4. She was unemployed for a few years following this. In January 2015, Jones began a screenwriting class at the National Film and Television School.[11] Jones reached the final of the 2016 Funny Women Awards.[11] She began writing for The Last Leg during their coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics.[12] Jones also wrote for Harry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule, Would I Lie to You? and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.[11][13]

Alongside series creator Laurie Nunn, Jones co-wrote episode four of the second season of the Netflix comedy-drama Sex Education, released in January 2020.[14]

Television

Jones has been a panellist in multiple episodes of 8 Out of 10 Cats[2] and The Last Leg.[3] In 2019, Jones was a guest on Hypothetical and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.[5][4] She also appeared on an episode of Joe Lycett's Got Your Back.[15]

Jones has also appeared on BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz,[16] the Channel 4 online programme The Last Leg: The Correspondents,[17] the BBC Three series "Things Not to Say",[18] BBC Radio 4's Fred at the Stand[19] and BBC web series Period Dramas.[20] In 2021, Jones appeared in the QI episode "Sideshows, Stunts and Scavenger Hunts".[21] She participated in Celebrity Mastermind in 2023.[22]

Jones appeared as a panellist on BBC One's political debate programme Question Time twice, first on 12 November 2020.[23][24] Jones trended on Twitter each time due to the harassment directed towards her.[25]: 25:00 

In May 2021, Jones starred in her own Channel 4 series, Trip Hazard: My Great British Adventure. Filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, it features Jones visiting a number of UK tourist destinations, joined by other celebrities. In March 2022, a second series of five hour-long episodes was commissioned;[26] it premiered on 23 August 2022.[27] The programme has been nominated for a BAFTA.[8]

Jones presented the 2023 documentary Rosie Jones: Am I a R*tard? [sic], which is about online hate speech against disabled people. She reads messages written about her, explores the emotional effect of harassment, the inaction by social media companies and the motivations behind people who send these messages. The use of the slur retard received widespread criticism and led to the withdrawal of some contributors.[28][29][30][31]

In March 2022, Channel 4 commissioned Dine Hard, a five-part cooking show and chat show that Jones will present.[26]

Jones has had a number of acting roles, appearing on Silent Witness in 2018.[32] In 2020, she guest starred in an episode of the third series of the BBC drama Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators.[33] In August 2023, it was announced that Jones will play the lead role of Disability Benefits, an upcoming Channel 4 comedy series.[34] In January 2024, she starred in an episode of Call the Midwife.

Stand-up comedy

Jones first performed stand-up comedy without preparation at a friend's comedy night.[6]

In 2017, Jones performed "Inspiration" at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The show was 35 minutes long and contained jokes about her visit to the 2016 Summer Paralympics, using disabled toilets, and commentary on the words "disabled" and "spastic". It received 3.5 stars in Chortle[35] and three stars in The List.[36]

In 2018, Jones' Edinburgh Festival Fringe show was entitled "Fifteen Minutes". Jones talks about a hypothetical "able-bodied Rosie" and discusses a sexual fantasy about Ryan Gosling. She and her routine were featured in Edinburgh Nights, a BBC show about the Fringe presented by Nish Kumar. "Fifteen Minutes" received five stars in The Arts Desk[37] and four stars in iNews,[38] Chortle,[39] The Scotsman[40] and Broadway World.[41] It was listed by Evening Standard as one of the ten "best comedy shows to see" at the festival.[42]

Jones performed at the Greenwich Comedy Festival in 2018.[43] In 2019, Jones performed at Spectacular, a one-off event for Comic Relief,[44][45] and appeared at the 2019 Women of the World Festival.[46] She has also been a support act for Nish Kumar.[47]

Jones began her first solo tour, Triple Threat, in 2023.[25]: 21:00 

Other work

In June 2019, Jones launched a podcast alongside the fellow comedian Helen Bauer, entitled Daddy Look at Me. The podcast features Bauer, Jones and a guest discussing their childhoods and what they did in order to get attention in their youth.[48]

In 2021, Jones authored a children's novel, The Amazing Edie Eckhart. The titular character, an 11-year-old girl with cerebral palsy, deals with the pressure of entering secondary school and becoming distant from her lifelong friend and support Charlie.[49][50][51] Jones wrote a sequel novel, The Big Trip, which was published on 18 August 2022.[52]

Comedic style

Jones has ataxic cerebral palsy;[53] she incorporates her slow speech pattern into her comedy, constructing jokes to subvert the punchline that audiences expect.[6][12] For instance, she has used the opening line "As you can tell from my voice, I suffer from being northern."[11] Jones unexpectedly refers to previous jokes later in her performances, a trait which one critic describes as "clinically planned".[40]

She describes her style as "cheeky",[6] commenting that she makes jokes that able-bodied people could not.[13] Jones' stand-up routines relate to disability and sexuality,[12] and have been described as dark comedy.[38]

In 2019, Jones received mixed reception for a joke she made on The Last Leg in which she said that as a 16-year-old, environmental activist Greta Thunberg should only be concerned with "drinking Lambrini and getting fingered."[54]

Jones said she experiences imposter syndrome, having grown up seeing comedians as fast-spoken straight white males.[25]: 22:00  She has also said that she has used jokes as a coping mechanism.[8]

Personal life

Jones is a lesbian. On the BBC Sounds podcast Duvet Days, she said "Growing up, there was nobody in TV or radio that looked like me – that sounded like me. There was Francesca Martinez in Grange Hill, but that was the only person really. And also my sexuality came into that, like when there was a disabled person they were very much the victim and they didn't have a sexuality, they were very much the stock disabled person. That meant growing up, I didn't accept my sexuality because I thought I'm not gay and disabled."[55]

Jones has spoken on the rights of disabled people, describing bullying that she has experienced and difficulties in her daily life.[56] She has expressed concerns over the particular vulnerability of disabled people during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the way emphasis on the virus affecting people with pre-existing conditions has led to disabled people being coded as "second class citizens".[57] During an interview with The Guardian, Jones commented: "I would love in the next few years to see more disabled comedians, directors, producers, commissioners. I hope disabled people can see me on TV and think: if she can do it, I can do it."[58] She receives social media abuse each time she appears on television.[25]: 28:00 

In a 2023 interview with i, Jones said she was mugged five times in the course of two years while walking alone, targeted due to her disability. She said she was regularly rejected by taxi services when drivers assumed her to be drunk. Online, much of the abuse she faces is unwanted sexual comments.[9]

Jones began therapy during the production of Am I a R*tard?.[9] She said she would recommend it to "literally anyone".[25]: 30:00  Therapy allowed her to believe that she was not responsible for facing discrimination and accept the statement: "sometimes I am a victim".[9]

References

  1. ↑ Jones, Rosie [@josierones] (24 June 2023). "I turn 33 today ..." (Tweet). Retrieved 3 November 2023 – via Twitter.
  2. 1 2 "8 Out of 10 Cats - On Demand - All 4". All 4. Channel 4. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  3. 1 2 "The Last Leg - On Demand - All 4". All 4. Channel 4. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  4. 1 2 "8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown - On Demand - All 4". All 4. Channel 4. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Hypothetical Series 1, Episode 4". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Fleckney, Paul (17 August 2018). "Rosie Jones: 'People feel awkward about disability so I always have jokes in my back pocket'". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  7. ↑ Edwards, John (25 February 2019). "Rosie Jones joins Alan Carr, Jimmy Carr and Sir Lenny Henry at Comic Relief Spectacular". Bridlington Free Press. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 Ryan, Frances (4 July 2023). "Rosie Jones on death threats, anxiety and anger: 'I'm not this happy person all the time'". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Strudwick, Patrick (19 July 2023). "Rosie Jones: Backlash from my documentary Am I A R*tard? has hit harder coming from disabled people". i. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  10. ↑ George Buksmann (24 September 2021). "Bridlington comedian Rosie Jones awarded honorary doctorate by University of Huddersfield". Scarborough News. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Gove, Ed (29 November 2016). "Have you met Miss Jones?". Royal Television Society. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  12. 1 2 3 D'Arcy-Jones, Neil (11 July 2018). "Rosie Jones's slow talking, quick thinking stand-up". Gazette Standard. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  13. 1 2 Rahman-Jones, Imran (13 April 2017). "Comedian Rosie Jones wants disabled TV characters who are 'gritty and flawed'". BBC. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  14. ↑ "Sex Education Series 2, Episode 4". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  15. ↑ "Joe Lycett's Got Your Back: Joe Lycett's Got Your Back - On Demand". Channel 4. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  16. ↑ "News Quiz host Nish Kumar and the panel take a look at this week's news". BBC. 17 January 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  17. ↑ "Last Leg: The Correspondents - Episode Guide - All 4". All 4. Channel 4. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  18. ↑ "Things not to say to someone with cerebral palsy". BBC Three. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  19. ↑ "Lyons, Mazadza, Jones and Nelson". BBC Radio 4. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  20. ↑ "Period Dramas". Chortle. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  21. ↑ "Sideshows, Stunts and Scavenger Hunts". Quite Interesting Limited. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  22. ↑ "Celebrity Mastermind reveals new contestant line-up and new Friday night slot on BBC One". BBC. 9 November 2023. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
  23. ↑ Riley, Anna (13 November 2020). "BBC Question Time viewers moved to tears by Bridlington comedian". HullLive. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  24. ↑ Bennett, Steve. "Rosie Jones to make her Question Time debut : News 2020 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 "Access All (24 February 2023)". BBC Sounds. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  26. 1 2 "Rosie Jones to star in multiple new Channel 4 shows". British Comedy Guide. 7 March 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  27. ↑ "Trip Hazard". comedy.co.uk. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  28. ↑ Stolworthy, Jacob (4 July 2023). "Rosie Jones defends 'shocking' title of new documentary from 'angry and upset' contributors". The Independent. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  29. ↑ "Rosie Jones Channel 4 documentary criticised for using ableist slur". ITV News. 3 July 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  30. ↑ McLoughlin, Lisa (11 July 2023). "Rosie Jones defends controversial title of her upcoming Channel 4 documentary". Evening Standard. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  31. ↑ Rose, Beth (7 July 2023). "Rosie Jones's documentary and the R-word: 'We can't keep being poked like a bear'". Access All. BBC. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  32. ↑ Davies, Katie (15 July 2018). "Interview: Rosie Jones on her Edinburgh debut hour Fifteen Minutes". Entertainment Focus. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  33. ↑ Cremona, Patrick (21 January 2020). "Tamzin Outhwaite and Vic Reeves among guest-stars as Shakespeare and Hathaway returns". Radio Times. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  34. ↑ "Channel 4 Commissions New Comedy Series 'Disability Benefits' Starring Rosie Jones". Channel 4. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  35. ↑ Bennett, Steve (8 August 2017). "Rosie Jones: Inspiration". Chortle. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  36. ↑ Black, Suzanne (17 August 2017). "Rosie Jones: Inspiration". The List. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  37. ↑ Lee, Veronica (17 August 2018). "Edinburgh Fringe 2018 reviews: Rosie Jones/ Marcus Brigstocke/ Alice Snedden". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  38. 1 2 Chris, Green (16 August 2018). "Rosie Jones, Fifteen Minutes, review: 'Deliciously dark, original comedy'". iNews. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  39. ↑ Fleckney, Paul (7 August 2018). "Rosie Jones: Fifteen Minutes". Chortle. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  40. 1 2 Richardson, Jay (20 August 2018). "Comedy review: Rosie Jones: Fifteen Minutes, Pleasance Courtyard". The Scotsman. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  41. ↑ O'Donoghue, Natalie (4 August 2018). "EDINBURGH 2018: BWW REVIEW: ROSIE JONES, Pleasance Courtyard". Broadway World. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  42. ↑ Paskett, Zoe (19 July 2018). "Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2018: The best comedy shows to see". Evening Standard. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  43. ↑ Bennett, Steve (17 September 2018). "Sean Lock, Henning Wehn, Rosie Jones, Tom Lucy and Kiri Pritchard-McLean". Chortle. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  44. ↑ Edwards, John (25 February 2019). "Rosie Jones joins Alan Carr, Jimmy Carr and Sir Lenny Henry at Comic Relief Spectacular". Bridlington Free Press. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  45. ↑ "Comic Relief Launches "Spectacular" Night of Comedy". Comic Relief. 3 December 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  46. ↑ Thomson, Lizzie (5 March 2019). "Women of the World 2019 festival: Line-up, speakers and more for the International Women's Day event at Southbank Centre". Evening Standard. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  47. ↑ Martel, Stuart (15 March 2019). "Review: Nish Kumar, Grand Opera House, York, March 14". The Press. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  48. ↑ Dessau, Bruce (17 June 2019). "News: New Podcast From Rosie Jones and Helen Bauer With Guests Nish Kumar, Sophie Duker and Ed Gamble". Beyond the Joke. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  49. ↑ Jones, Nicolette (8 August 2021). "Children's book of the week: The Amazing Edie Eckhart by Rosie Jones". The Times. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  50. ↑ Jones, Rosie (6 August 2021). "Rosie Jones: I didn't have disabled heroes in books to look up to as a child, so I've now created my own". i. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  51. ↑ "'I never saw a disabled character' - New children's book features girl with cerebral palsy". ITV.com. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  52. ↑ "Rosie Jones - The Amazing Edie Eckhart: The Big Trip". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  53. ↑ Badiozzaman, Emily; Jones, Rosie (28 February 2019). "10 things I want you to know about disability". Stylist. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  54. ↑ White, Adam (2 January 2020). "The Last Leg: Comedian Rosie Jones shocks viewers with 'disgusting' and 'totally inappropriate' Greta Thunberg joke". The Independent. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  55. ↑ "Comedian Rosie Jones: I want to show disabled people are sexual beings too". The Irish News. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  56. ↑ "A trip to Barbados gave comedian Rosy Jones permission to be herself after years of bullying". The Telegraph. 10 April 2021.
  57. ↑ "Comedian Rosie Jones: 'How is it OK to talk about disabled people as though they are second-class citizens?'". i. 6 April 2021.
  58. ↑ "Rosie Jones: 'I hope disabled people can see me on TV and think: if she can do it, I can do it'". The Guardian. 30 March 2021.
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