Interviews - Olivia Lee

Oh my God, a weird turn of fate actually. I started off wanting to be a straight actress and went to drama school and then quickly found out that I was only really getting the comedy roles. My agent at the time said, "We only represent straight actors, you should look for a comedy agent," and I was like "What do you mean? I want to do Shakespeare, I want to do drama," so I got into comedy that way. I was doing comedy acting before presenting, then got into presenting and started doing stand-up and then it all became about comedy.

Well, I was in development with Tiger Aspect. I did a panel show run through with them and off the back of that the producer said, "We've got to talk about some ideas, what kind of show would you like to make?"

So we brainstormed about what we'd like to do and we took it to Channel 4 and we got a Comedy Lab. So it all happened really quickly. It was only a matter of months from brainstorming ideas to them going to Channel 4 to getting a Comedy Lab off the ground. It's been great because we've just shaped a show from the start, so it's really our creation which is very exciting.

I wish I could say yes and have some witty anecdotes for you and some scandal but no, it's all gone really smoothly. It's been a joy... a pleasure.

Well yeah, just after leaving the edit today and watching it back and getting reactions from runners and some of the people that work in the studio, and getting reactions from some of my friends who've seen it, I think we've created some magic. I hope we have.

I hope other people enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed making it. That's always a really good indicator, we've had so much fun and there have been no problems. We've managed to get release forms, we've got really good reactions from everyone.

It's all really been organic and seamless. I hope that that translates and people enjoy it because they can see how much fun I'm having... if that makes sense?

Stick with your instincts. If you have an instinct of what you think is funny and what you'd like to see yourself doing, don't waver from it. Be strong about what you think is funny and stick to that. Trust your guts and obviously take your producer's advice because they have been doing it much longer than you.

Don't argue with anyone or p**s anyone off... be nice! And let other people guide you, I think that's a big thing. Know what you like but also listen to advice that people who have been in the business for years tell you.

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