Andi Osho on her stand up show All The Single Ladies

Andi Osho is known as one of the UKs most anticipated comics at the moment and is extremely busy as a result.

Andi Osho has appeared several times on Mock the Week and guested on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow last year to name but a few of her many TV appearances.

Andi, 38, has been on the circuit for three years now and in those years has risen through the ranks at great speed.

Andi's current stand up show is called All the Single Ladies, and is centred around jokes about relationships and dating immersed with anecdotes about dates she has been on and some of the experiences she has had. She said: "I wanted to do something a bit more universal, previous shows have been about racism and not everybody wants to hear about that so it was nice to have something that was a bit more universal. Everyone has either been in a relationship or wants one so anyone could relate to what I was talking about.".

She was an actress before she went into comedy, appearing in the theatre and on TV. She starred in Yellowman, Madea, and Cigarettes, Coffee and Paranoia around the country and had parts on Casualty, Doctors, Footballers Wives: Extra Time, Eastenders and more besides.

Andi was writing at the same time as acting and realised comedy was something she wanted to try.

She is now a regular guest on Mock the Week, with much anticipated appearances from her growing fanbase, and also appeared on Channel 4's Comedy Gala, and Stand Up For the Week last year.

Fitting all this in amongst doing live shows, Andi is working herself to the bone, but loving every second, and even makes the time to do her bit to raise money and awareness for charity.

Last February Andi took part in Let's Dance for Comic Relief but unfortunately didn't make it through to the second round with her rendition of Michael Jackson's 'Bad', despite it being very well performed. As well as taking part in the dance show Andi also leant her brain to the Children in Need Mastermind Special, winning the competition after answering questions on her specialist subject: The Matrix Trilogy. After being such a success on the show, Andi was asked back for the 2012 Celebrity Mastermind in which her specialist subject was the shows beloved host, John Humphries, winning that episode too.

It would seem Andi has it all going on for her, but amidst her hectic career and life she hasn't had much of a chance for relationships, so when writing her new stand up show last year she decided to combine the two and create an opportunity within her live show. The new show is a tongue-in-cheek attempt to be more successful in dating. she took the show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Andi picked a man from the audience to take on a date at the end of the night, this has become a feature of the All the Singles Ladies tour. During each show Andi picks a man, and then the following night she discusses what happened, and how the date went.

The show sounds like a great laugh, especially to hear about how the date had gone the previous night. When asked if she would appear on a Celebrity Take Me Out Andi burst into laughter and replied: "Never, not in a million years! I'm not that single!" So by doing her show, she may not have got herself a man, but she does say she learnt to appreciate what she does have in her life, and that a relationship will happen when it happens, in the mean time she has a career she loves, fantastic family and friends, a couple of Mastermind trophies on her shelf and a Michael Jackson outfit in her cupboard... What more could a girl want?


The interview with Andi Osho:

You have a new show All the single ladies, what was the inspiration behind it?

It was really about being single for quite a long time and just assessing my relationship status generally. I also wanted to do something a bit more universal, previous shows have been about racism and not everybody wants to hear about that so it was nice to have something that was a bit more universal. Everyone has either been in a relationship or wants one so anyone could relate to what I was talking about.

You have done a lot of TV stuff as well as stand up, do you have a preference between the two?

Sometime's I do TV, Sometimes I do stand up, I don't feel I have to choose, but the live stuff is a lot of fun, there's something particular about being in front of an audience, having to work with whatever you've got and make them laugh, every audience has a different quality to them, some of them are quite queit and some of them are quite boisterous some will just laugh as soon as you walk on stage and some need warming up. That's quite a challenge that you don't necassarily get when you do a TV show.


You took the show to the Edingburgh Fringe Festival, and got a date from the audience, was there any success from it?

No! I mean, I got dates, but as to whether they were quality dates or not, that's a completely different matter.


Did that give you inspiration for the next shows?

Defineitely, that was part of the reason for doing it as well, in knowing that I'd have stuff to talk about, disasters to report back on the next night.


You've gone from having a national sell out tour to doing just four dates in London, how did this come about?

I did a national tour of [All the Single Ladies] but on a much smaller scale to the bigger one. It was nice to get out and about, but it was more of a "The show went well in Edinburgh let's do a tour of it", so it was sort of a last minute thing.


You've now done Let's Dance for Comic Relief and Children in Need Mastermind Special, is this something you are going to do more of in 2012?

It's just when you're asked to something and it helps if what they're asking you to do is fun as well but obviously you want to do stuff for charity, if you get to do something as nuts as dancing to Michael Jackson or doing Mastermind, then all the better and the charities are benefitting from your efforts so if the offer comes in and it sounds like fun or kind of like needs to be done and it's a good worthy cause then I'll do it.


The first time you did Mastermind your subject was the Matrix, was this something you already knew very well?

It's probably my favourite set of films, so it was easy to offer that one up as a possible specialist subject. The other one I would have done was Back to the Future because I love those films as well but someone had already done that so I went for the Matrix.


The second time you did it, John Humphries was your subject, did you already know a lot about him?

No, not at all! People have thought I was some sort of weird John Humphries stalker fan but I just thought it would be funny for him to have to ask questions in the first person rather than just the objective questioning.


If you were asked back again what do you think your third topic would be?

I could not reveal, I already know what it's going to be but I can't say.


In another interview you were asked, "What's the question you never get asked?" which you answered with "Would you like a pair of free Louboutins", have you got any closer to that yet?

No, I don't get free anything, I think it's one of those misnomers that spread around that somehow people on telly get freebies but I've never been given anything! I need to work on that, I need to start getting some delivered! Start tweeting "oh my God, I'd so love the new Mercedes Benz, it's so pretty!" and see what comes back. Probably a little toy car.


Have you got any New Years Resolutions?

I don't really make New Years resolutions because it's just something else to go wrong in the year! But I do have objectives that I want to try and make happen. It's usually work related but you know, see how the year unfolds. You set parameters at the beginning of the year and it doesn't work out you just get disappointed or frustrated that you haven't seen it throught. So I'd rather just see it happens. That's sort of how I do life anyway, just see what happens.


Is there anything in particular that you want to do this year?

I'd love to work in America a bit more and maybe even get my own show, that would be good. I want to write another Edinburgh show, another hour, I've started doing that already. And I'll just see where things go.


Take Me Out has just come back on our screen, if they were to do a Celebrity version would you be at all tempted to take part, putting your new knowledge to good use?

Never, not in a million years! I'm not that single! No, I mean, it's not that I don't talk about being single any more but I am over that thing of wanting to meet somebody because it's just going to happen when it happens and the best thing I can do for myself is just enjoy having a good life, which I do, I love my work and that's the main thing, I've got a good family and friends and leisure so it's not the be all and end all. My attitude has sort of changed since doing the show actually. It's probably a good fall out from it.

Andi performs her show ALL THE SINGLE LADIES at the Soho Theatre from 18th January for 4 nights  For tickets www.sohotheatre.com

FemaleFirst Ellen Smith

Andi Osho has appeared several times on Mock the Week and guested on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow last year to name but a few of her many TV appearances.

Andi, 38, has been on the circuit for three years now and in those years has risen through the ranks at great speed.

Andi's current stand up show is called All the Single Ladies, and is centred around jokes about relationships and dating immersed with anecdotes about dates she has been on and some of the experiences she has had. She said: "I wanted to do something a bit more universal, previous shows have been about racism and not everybody wants to hear about that so it was nice to have something that was a bit more universal. Everyone has either been in a relationship or wants one so anyone could relate to what I was talking about.".

She was an actress before she went into comedy, appearing in the theatre and on TV. She starred in Yellowman, Madea, and Cigarettes, Coffee and Paranoia around the country and had parts on Casualty, Doctors, Footballers Wives: Extra Time, Eastenders and more besides.

Andi was writing at the same time as acting and realised comedy was something she wanted to try.

She is now a regular guest on Mock the Week, with much anticipated appearances from her growing fanbase, and also appeared on Channel 4's Comedy Gala, and Stand Up For the Week last year.

Fitting all this in amongst doing live shows, Andi is working herself to the bone, but loving every second, and even makes the time to do her bit to raise money and awareness for charity.

Last February Andi took part in Let's Dance for Comic Relief but unfortunately didn't make it through to the second round with her rendition of Michael Jackson's 'Bad', despite it being very well performed. As well as taking part in the dance show Andi also leant her brain to the Children in Need Mastermind Special, winning the competition after answering questions on her specialist subject: The Matrix Trilogy. After being such a success on the show, Andi was asked back for the 2012 Celebrity Mastermind in which her specialist subject was the shows beloved host, John Humphries, winning that episode too.

It would seem Andi has it all going on for her, but amidst her hectic career and life she hasn't had much of a chance for relationships, so when writing her new stand up show last year she decided to combine the two and create an opportunity within her live show. The new show is a tongue-in-cheek attempt to be more successful in dating. she took the show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Andi picked a man from the audience to take on a date at the end of the night, this has become a feature of the All the Singles Ladies tour. During each show Andi picks a man, and then the following night she discusses what happened, and how the date went.

The show sounds like a great laugh, especially to hear about how the date had gone the previous night. When asked if she would appear on a Celebrity Take Me Out Andi burst into laughter and replied: "Never, not in a million years! I'm not that single!" So by doing her show, she may not have got herself a man, but she does say she learnt to appreciate what she does have in her life, and that a relationship will happen when it happens, in the mean time she has a career she loves, fantastic family and friends, a couple of Mastermind trophies on her shelf and a Michael Jackson outfit in her cupboard... What more could a girl want?

The interview with Andi Osho:

You have a new show All the single ladies, what was the inspiration behind it?

It was really about being single for quite a long time and just assessing my relationship status generally. I also wanted to do something a bit more universal, previous shows have been about racism and not everybody wants to hear about that so it was nice to have something that was a bit more universal. Everyone has either been in a relationship or wants one so anyone could relate to what I was talking about.

You have done a lot of TV stuff as well as stand up, do you have a preference between the two?

Sometime's I do TV, Sometimes I do stand up, I don't feel I have to choose, but the live stuff is a lot of fun, there's something particular about being in front of an audience, having to work with whatever you've got and make them laugh, every audience has a different quality to them, some of them are quite queit and some of them are quite boisterous some will just laugh as soon as you walk on stage and some need warming up. That's quite a challenge that you don't necassarily get when you do a TV show.

You took the show to the Edingburgh Fringe Festival, and got a date from the audience, was there any success from it?

No! I mean, I got dates, but as to whether they were quality dates or not, that's a completely different matter.

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