On 10th April, Sarah Roberts begins her debut stand-up hour Silkworm tour, which heads to Grub Manchester, Monkey Barrel Edinburgh, Komedia Brighton, Soho Theatre and The Bill Murray London, having previously had a run at Edinburgh Fringe last year. Sarah was runner-up for Leicester Square New Act in 2022, a finalist for Komedia New Comedy Award in 2023, and last year, she was a regional finalist for the BBC New Comedy Award. Whilst preparing for her tour, we caught up with Sarah, who answered our questions about her debut stand-up hour Silkworm tour, what audiences can expect from the show and her Edinburgh Fringe run last year.

From 10th April, you will be touring your debut hour Silkworm, what are you looking forward to for heading out on tour?

So many things. I’m really excited to just do the show again! At some of my favourite venues! And hopefully to audiences full of horrid girls! I also have some incredible support acts; Dom McGovern and Molly McGuinness are doing Brighton and Manchester with me. I love watching them perform so I’m also really excited for that. And there are a couple of other surprise guests who will be appearing in the show, they’re top secret at the moment but trust me, you don’t want to miss them.

Can you tell us about Silkworm and how long have you been working on it?

Silkworm is my debut stand up hour and it’s about the stories we tell ourselves (and everyone else) about who we are. When I was younger, I got double jaw surgery to ‘correct’ a ‘facial deformity’, the show reflects on that experience, and how it feels to be told every day you’re facially deformed (spoiler! Not good!). It’s also about a surprising ancestry DNA test, finding out I was queer at 30, and being really scarily good at Candy Crush. It’s my big coming out show, and I’m coming out as hot and talented. It’s got a lot of embargoed gossip in it too.

I’ve been working on the show for a while; there are some jokes in the show I started honing a couple of years ago, other bits will be brand spanking new for the tour.

The tour includes a date at Komedia in Brighton on 14th April, with further dates including Soho Theatre in London, how does it feel to be taking your own comedy show around the country?

Amazing! I can’t even believe these iconic venues will have me. I love performing at Komedia, and I was a finalist in their New Act Competition in 2023, so this feels like a nice full circle moment. I’m taking the show to all my favourite cities to perform in; Brighton, Manchester and Edinburgh always have such lovely crowds so I’m very excited.

How was it performing the show at Edinburgh Fringe last summer and how was it seeing the response?

It was really fun. I just loved performing all my favourite jokes for a month!

What do you hope audiences take from Silkworm and why would you recommend booking tickets?

I hope audiences leave feeling empowered. I tried to write the show I needed when I was younger, so it’s sort of a love letter to my younger self, and to women really. I always try to make the audience feel good and included, through my crowd work and the message of the show, so I hope that comes across. I hope they also feel like celebrating who they are afterwards (including all the messy, embarrassing bits).

You were the runner-up for Leicester Square New Act in 2022, a finalist for the Komedia New Comedy Award in 2023 and a regional finalist for BBC New Comedy Award in 2024, how does it feel being recognised for your comedy?

Really nice! It’s funny because being considered for those awards is obviously great, but my reviews in those finals were actually rather negative. So while the award feels great and looks good, my being there definitely wasn’t a unanimous decision. It’s a great reminder that comedy is actually subjective, who knew?

How did you originally get into comedy and was it something you always wanted to do?

I started performing comedy in my late 20s. I hadn’t really thought about it as an option until then. I’d been working as a writer for a while, and I was feeling frustrated and disillusioned. I’d studied Creative Writing at university, and I had really wanted to write scripts, or a sad book, but I hadn’t written anything for years.

I had a couple of friends who had started doing open mics, so I went with them one day and signed up. I randomly won a tiny trophy at my first gig, quit my job the next day, and here we are.

Who are some of your favourite comedians to watch?

My idols are Kate Berlant and Cat Cohen. I also just love watching Rosalie Minnitt do literally anything. She’s hilarious.

Silkworm is on tour from April 10th, stopping off at Brighton Komedia on 14th April – all details here: https://linktr.ee/sarahroberts69

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