Roisin Conaty

Early life

Conaty was born in the Camden area of London, the daughter of Irish parents. Her mother was a nurse from Dromcolliher, County Limerick, while her father was an Aer Lingus employee from Virginia, County Cavan. She grew up in Camden with her younger sister, Siobhan, and spent summers in Ireland. She studied film at Middlesex University and had several office jobs before starting her comedy career at the age of 24.

Career

Comedy

In 2010, Conaty won the Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Festival for her show Hero, Warrior, Fireman, Liar. In April 2011, she performed her show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. She followed that show up with Lifehunter in 2013.

In November 2010, she appeared on series 3, episode 4 of Russell Howard's Good News. Other stand-up performances include "The Angina Monologues", alongside Victoria Wood, Jo Brand, Andi Osho, Isy Suttie and Katy Brand for Sky Television, Russell Howard's Stand Up Central on Comedy Central and Live at the Apollo in December 2015. In 2016, she was a guest on the Jonathan Ross Show.

Conaty has appeared on a number of panel shows, including Have I Got News for You, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Insert Name Here, A League of Their Own, Would I Lie to You?, Hypothetical, and Room 101. She starred in the BBC Three version of Impractical Jokers.

Conaty was one of the original cast of comedians in series 1 of Taskmaster on Dave. Taskmaster creator and co-host Alex Horne when reflecting on her performance in the tasks said that she was "the worst. But also one of my favourites."

Conaty appeared on The Big Fat Quiz Of Everything broadcast on 7 January 2021 on a team with Rob Beckett.

In March 2025, she was co-host of the first series of LOL: Last One Laughing UK, alongside Jimmy Carr.

Acting

Conaty played Jo in the Channel 4 sitcom Man Down, alongside Greg Davies, from 2013 to 2017; she also appeared in Ricky Gervais' film David Brent: Life on the Road.

In 2014, she wrote and starred in the pilot of her sitcom GameFace, in which she plays a struggling actress named Marcella. The pilot aired on Channel 4 in April 2014, following which a full series was commissioned, which premiered on E4 in October 2017. The second series debuted in July 2019.

Between 2019 and 2020, Conaty featured in the Netflix comedy-drama series After Life as Daphne/Roxy.

Selected filmography

References

References

1. Ganatra, Shilpa. (July 14, 2019). "Roisin Conaty: 'I feel more Irish than British'". The Irish Times.
2. Hogan, Michael. (April 25, 2020). "Roisin Conaty: 'Standup is a confidence game. You sell the sizzle, not the sausage'". The Guardian.
3. Ganatra, Shilpa. (July 14, 2019). "Roisin Conaty: 'I feel more Irish than British'". The Irish Times.
4. (2015-07-20). "Roisin Conaty... Stand up and be counted".
5. "Roisin Conaty". comedycv.co.uk.
6. "Roisin Conaty". chortle.co.uk.
7. Smith, Andrea. (20 July 2015). "Roisin Conaty... Stand up and be counted". [[Irish Independent]].
8. Logan, Brian. (29 August 2010). "Roisin Conaty - review". [[The Guardian]].
9. Hall, Julian. (9 August 2011). "Roisin Conaty: Destiny's Dickhead, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh". [[The Independent]].
10. Tuohy, Wendy. (19 March 2011). "Wit and wisdom of female comics". Herald Sun.
11. Logan, Brian. (28 October 2013). "Roisin Conaty – review". The Guardian.
12. (4 May 2019). "Taskmaster's Alex Horne names "the worst" contestant ever".
13. (2021-01-03). "TV: Big Fat Quiz Of Everything Line Up".
14. "Jimmy Carr on Last One Laughing: 'Comedians are weirdly competitive' | Radio Times".
15. Nicholson, Rebecca. (17 July 2019). "GameFace review – irresistible comedy that's all heart and silliness". The Guardian.
16. (15 July 2019). "Roisin Conaty interview". British Comedy Guide.
17. Simon, Jane. (23 April 2014). "Wednesday TV guide: Game Face is a sitcom pilot that deserves to become a full series". mirror.
18. Sanusi, Victoria. (8 March 2019). "After Life cast: who stars with Ricky Gervais in new Netflix series – and where else you've seen them". iNews.