\u201cEarlier in my career, people in TV would say quite homophobic <\/a>things to me. \u2018Do you have to wear a suit \u2013 can\u2019t you wear a dress?\u2019,\u201d says the 39-year-old. \u201cOne panel show referred to the one chair the woman comic sat on as \u2018the period chair\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s tricky because there are enormous stand-ups<\/a> that have done hugely homophobic routines. I don\u2019t punch down; my comedy is quite celebratory, it\u2019s quite joyful.\u201d<\/p>\n Thankfully homophobic heckles and backstage discrimination have done little to stop Ruffell, who has been telling gags professionally<\/a> since the mid-Noughties. After starting out on the comedy scene <\/a>fresh from drama school, she\u2019s gone on to become a familiar face on Live at the Apollo, The Last Leg and QI, as well as having five sell-out runs at the Fringe, a nomination for best stand-up show at the National Comedy Awards, two podcasts and an upcoming book.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever get over how lucky I feel to be a stand-up,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m still totally buzzed that people come out and watch me, but I do struggle with imposter syndrome. I\u2019m very wary of people that have unrelenting self-belief. A healthy dose of self-doubt is a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Having faced prejudice herself, it\u2019s perhaps no surprise that Ruffell \u2013 who married her partner, Alice Storey, in 2021 \u2013 has become a vocal supporter of minority groups, including the trans community<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBanning trans women from football <\/a>feels so hateful,\u201d says Ruffell, responding to the Football Association\u2019s decision to stop trans women playing in women\u2019s matches following the Supreme Court ruling <\/a>that the legal meaning of a \u201cwoman\u201d is based on biological sex. \u201cI think it\u2019s important to note that this applies to fewer than 30 people that play amateur football on a Sunday. I think it\u2019s very sad that they won\u2019t be able to take part any more.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we start policing women\u2019s bodies, it becomes quite frightening. Meanwhile, there are male footballers that have done terrible things that continue to play.\u201d<\/p>\n Football is a relatively recent passion for Ruffell, whose interest in the sport was ignited by her best friend and fellow comedian, Maisie Adam<\/a> \u2013 a lifelong fan. The pair now co-host the award-winning podcast Big Kick Energy, where Adam\u2019s deep-rooted knowledge is matched by Ruffell\u2019s fresh take as a latecomer to the game.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just about celebrating the game and, hopefully, making people laugh along the way,\u201d she says. With the women\u2019s Euros just over a month away, Ruffell is understandably excited. But, she\u2019s also keenly aware of the hostility and outdated attitudes that still cling to women\u2019s football<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s misogyny<\/a>,\u201d says Ruffell. \u201cI really don\u2019t understand the people that spend their time saying horrible things about it on the internet. They must be very sad. There\u2019s loads of things I\u2019m not into, but I don\u2019t spend my time slagging them off online.\u201d<\/p>\n Ruffell has spoken openly about her lifelong battle with her mental health<\/a>. \u201cI was an anxious <\/a>mess in my twenties and I still have it now,\u201d she says. \u201cA while ago, I was looking for a book that could give me some tips on how to cope, as well as being funny and hopeful. I couldn\u2019t find that book. So, when I started feeling better, I decided to write it.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the process of doing so, my anxiety stopped being my enemy and started to be my companion. Now, I have a radical acceptance that I never had before. I\u2019m still a work in progress, but it\u2019s a nice place to be right now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Am I Having Fun Now? Anxiety, Applause and Life\u2019s Big Questions Answered<\/a>\u2019 is out on Thursday (\u00a318.99, Bluebird). \u2018Big Kick Energy\u2019<\/a> is on all streaming platforms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The comedian talks about misogyny, \u2018radical acceptance\u2019 of her anxiety, and her late love of the beautiful game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4317],"tags":[2665,62538,105,62539,17978,218,16469,16,15,13582],"class_list":{"0":"post-145176","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-anxiety","9":"tag-comedians","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-homophobia","12":"tag-iweekend","13":"tag-mental-health","14":"tag-transgender-rights","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-womens-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114599040413318135","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Suzi](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SEI_252602012.jpg\")
Ruffell has been telling jokes professionally for more than a decade<\/p>\n