Rosie Jones | |
|---|---|
 Jones in 2024 | |
| Born | Rosie Luisa Jones (1990-06-24)24 June 1990 (age 35) Bridlington,Humberside, England |
| Alma mater | University of Huddersfield (BA) |
| Occupation(s) | Comedian, actress, writer |
| Years active | 2016–present |
| Website | rosiejonescomedy |
Rosie Luisa Jones (born 24 June 1990)[1] is a British comedian, writer and actress. After starting her career as a writer onpanel shows, she went on to appear as a guest onThe Last Leg,8 Out of 10 Cats,8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown,QI,Would I Lie to You? andHypothetical.[2][3][4][5] She attended the2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo as a roving reporter forThe Last Leg.
Jones has performed stand-up comedy at theEdinburgh Festival Fringe, incorporating hercerebral palsy into her comedic style. In 2018, she was featured onEdinburgh Nights. She has also hosted the documentaryAm I a R*tard?, the seriesTrip Hazard: My Great British Adventure, and written an episode ofSex Education. With Helen Bauer, she hosts the podcastDaddy Look at Me.
As an actress, she appeared in six episodes ofCasualty 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.
Jones grew up inBridlington,Humberside[6] (now theEast Riding of Yorkshire) and went toHeadlands School.[7] Her parents are teachers.[8]
In 2011, following her graduation with a B.A. in English Language and Creative Writing from theUniversity of Huddersfield,[9]Jones was hired for a year as a junior researcher forObjective Media Group as part of a disability scheme atChannel 4. She was unemployed for a few years following this. In January 2015, she began a screenwriting class at theNational Film and Television School.[10]
Jones reached the final of the 2016Funny Women Awards.[10] She began writing forThe Last Leg during their coverage of the2016 Summer Olympics.[11] She also wrote forHarry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule,Would I Lie to You? and8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.[10][12]
Alongside series creatorLaurie Nunn, Jones co-wrote episode four of the second season of theNetflix comedy-dramaSex Education, released in January 2020.[13]
Jones appeared in 2 episodes of Silent Witness in 2018. Jones has been a panellist in episodes of8 Out of 10 Cats[2] andThe Last Leg.[3] In 2019, she was a guest onHypothetical and8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.[5][4] She also appeared on an episode ofJoe Lycett's Got Your Back.[14]
Jones has also appeared on BBC Radio 4'sThe News Quiz,[15] the Channel 4 online programmeThe Last Leg: The Correspondents,[16] theBBC Three series "Things Not to Say",[17]BBC Radio 4'sFred at the Stand[18] and BBC web seriesPeriod Dramas.[19] In 2021, she appeared in theQI episode "Sideshows, Stunts and Scavenger Hunts".[20] She participated inCelebrity Mastermind in 2023.[21]
Jones appeared as a panellist on BBC One's political debate programmeQuestion Time twice, first on 12 November 2020.[22][23] She trended onTwitter each time due to the harassment directed towards her.[24]: 25:00
In May 2021, she starred in her own Channel 4 series,Trip Hazard: My Great British Adventure. Filmed during theCOVID-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;[25] it premiered on 23 August 2022.[26] The programme was nominated for aBAFTA.[8]
Jones presented the 2023 documentaryRosie Jones: Am I a R*tard? [sic], which is aboutonline 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 slurretard received widespread criticism and led to the withdrawal of some contributors.[27][28][29][30]
In March 2022, Channel 4 transmittedDine Hard, a five-partcooking show andchat show that Jones presented.[25]
She has had a number of acting roles, appearing onSilent Witness in 2018.[31] In 2020, she guest starred in an episode of the third series of the BBC dramaShakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators.[32] In August 2023, it was announced that Jones would play the lead role ofDisability Benefits, an upcoming Channel 4 comedy series.[33] In January 2024, she starred in an episode ofCall the Midwife.[34][35][36]
In early 2024, she hosted the comedygame showOut of Order, which aired onComedy Central.[37]
In May 2024, it was announced that Jones would appear as a contestant in the eighteenth series ofTaskmaster, alongsideAndy Zaltzman,Babatunde Aléshé,Emma Sidi, andJack Dee. She finished in last place.
In 2025, an expansion ofDisability Benefits into a six-part sitcomPushers was given an airdate of 19 June 2025 by Channel 4.[38]
Jones first performed stand-up comedy without preparation at a friend's comedy night.[6]
In 2017, she performed "Inspiration" at theEdinburgh Festival Fringe. The show was 35 minutes long and contained jokes about her visit to the2016 Summer Paralympics, using disabled toilets, and commentary on the words "disabled" and "spastic". It received 3.5 stars inChortle[39] and three stars inThe List.[40]
In 2018, Jones's Edinburgh Festival Fringe show was titled "Fifteen Minutes". She talks about a hypothetical "able-bodied Rosie" and discusses a sexual fantasy aboutRyan Gosling. She and her routine were featured inEdinburgh Nights, aBBC show about the Fringe presented byNish Kumar. "Fifteen Minutes" received five stars inThe Arts Desk[41] and four stars iniNews,[42]Chortle,[43]The Scotsman[44] and Broadway World.[45] It was listed byEvening Standard as one of the ten "best comedy shows to see" at the festival.[46]
Jones performed at the Greenwich Comedy Festival in 2018.[47] In 2019, she performed atSpectacular, a one-off event forComic Relief,[48][49] and appeared at the 2019Women of the World Festival.[50] She has also been a support act forNish Kumar.[51]
Jones began her first solo tour,Triple Threat, in 2023.[24]: 21:00
In June 2019, Jones launched a podcast alongside the fellow comedian Helen Bauer, titledDaddy Look at Me. It features Bauer, Jones and a guest discussing their childhoods and what they did in order to get attention in their youth.[52]
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.[53][54][55] Jones wrote a sequel novel,The Big Trip, which was published on 18 August 2022.[56]
Jones hasataxic cerebral palsy;[57] she incorporates her slow speech pattern into her comedy, constructing jokes to subvert the punchline that audiences expect.[6][11] For instance, she has used the opening line "As you can tell from my voice, I suffer from beingnorthern."[10] She unexpectedly refers to previous jokes later in her performances, a trait which one critic describes as "clinically planned".[44]
She describes her style as "cheeky",[6] commenting that she makes jokes that able-bodied people could not.[12] Her stand-up routines relate to disability and sexuality,[11] and have been described asdark comedy.[42]
In 2019, Jones received mixed reception for a joke she made onThe Last Leg in which she said that as a 16-year-old, environmental activistGreta Thunberg should only be concerned with "drinkingLambrini and gettingfingered."[58]
Jones said she experiencesimpostor syndrome, having grown up seeing comedians as fast-spoken straight white males.[24]: 22:00 She has also said that she has used jokes as acoping mechanism.[8]
Jones is alesbian. On theBBC Sounds podcastDuvet Days, she said "Growing up, there was nobody in TV or radio that looked like me – that sounded like me. There wasFrancesca Martinez inGrange 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."[59]
Jones has spoken on the rights of disabled people, describing bullying that she has experienced and difficulties in her daily life.[60] She has expressed concerns over the particular vulnerability of disabled people during theCOVID-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".[61] During an interview withThe 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."[62] She receives social media abuse each time she appears on television.[24]: 28:00
In a 2023 interview withi, Jones said she was mugged five times in the course of two years while walking alone, targeted due to her disability. She said she has been regularly rejected by taxi services when drivers assumed her to be drunk. Online, much of the abuse she faces is unwanted sexual comments.[63]
Jones began therapy during the production ofAm I a R*tard?.[63] She said she would recommend it to "literally anyone".[24]: 30:00 Therapy allowed her to believe that she was not responsible for facing discrimination and accept the statement: "sometimes I am a victim".[63]
