Get to know Harriet

Her comedy career started somewhat over a decade ago and worked up playing the comedy circuit to becoming are recognisable figure on television and radio, where she became the first person I could remember casually reference dyspraxia on television show in 8 out of 10 Cats Does Count-down was one of her first television gigs. Since then she has featured on several television programmes including Eggheads, Celebrity Mastermind, Celebrity Pointless, Apocolypse Wow, Pants on Fire, Roast Battle UK, Richard Osman’s House of Games, Stand-Up Sketch Show, Hypothetical, Question Team and many others across BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, E4, Dave and Comedy Central.

Harriet Kemsley (She/Her) is one of many stand-up comics who are neurodivergent. Harriet is dyspraxic and was diagnosed with dyspraxia in her adult years. Though showing traits from a young age of the typical clumsiness, falling over and being messy and disorganised that made school a challenge. Her forgetfulness led her being banned from doing homework because she lost sheets of paper. But to the more serious end of her dyspraxia she endured three concussions by the age of ten that saw her admitted to hospital for them. Being diagnosed only until adulthood came after not uncommon issues with anxiety and self-esteem and confidence. Although it was within her comedy career she got diagnosed. What she found throughout her life she learnt means to adapt to situations and get more comfortable in trying things. She says dyspraxic people are naturally funny and one advantage in her career as a stand-up comic is getting used to failure and learning from that to get better and try again. It wasn’t a surprise to her family she was dyspraxic. It was her sister watching Channel 4’s Embarrasing Bodies that she got told she was likely dyspraxic. In many aspects of her life her family have been encouraging, and encouraged her into comedy after a series of unsuccessful job

Amongst her notable television appearances she has worked more heavily in radio and podcasts as a guest host interviewer on Radio 4 Extra’s Comedy Club chatting in short. form conversations to fellow comedians about their career with snappy biography. She has also been heard on Lou Sander’s Cuddle Club, guesting and standing in on Catherine Bohart and Helen Bauer’s Trustyhogs, Ivo Graham’s Gig Pigs and James Acaster’s Perfect Sounds amongst many titles including the Neuro Rainbow Cast.

With her friend and fellow comedian Sunil Patel over six years they presented their own podcast together which she explored her hyper-empathy for the first years of doing the podcast she’d comfortably open to Sunil and occasionally a comedy friend invited over the podcast to explore some of the themes she would cry about and find emotional to see frosty cold faced Sunil would shed a tear. finishing at a time to pursue other projects

with her fellow stand-up comic spouse Bobby Mair who she appeared on Comedy Central’s Roast Battle, Comedy Store and E4’s Pants On Fire around their marriage for Comedy Central & Vice they filmed a semi-reality sit-com ‘Bobby & Harriet Get Married centred around the run up to the couples wedding ceremony with cameos from Romesh Ranaganathan who ordained the wedding and her comedy influence Katherine Ryan.