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Alison Spittle

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Alison Spittle
Spittle at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Born (1989-06-14) 14 June 1989 (age 37)[1]
Harrow, London, United Kingdom

Alison Spittle (born 14 June 1989) is an Irish comedian, comedy writer, radio producer and actor.[2][1][3] She has worked for iRadio,[1] RTÉ Radio 1[1] and Newstalk[4] and created sketches for Republic of Telly and has written and starred in her RTÉ Two sit-com Nowhere Fast in 2017.[2][5][6][7]

Early life

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Spittle was born in Harrow, London.[8][1] Spittle's father was a builder.[1][8][5] The family moved frequently, including to Dresden, Germany, before moving to Spittle's mother's ancestral home of County Westmeath, Tyrrellspass, Mullingar and finally Ballymore at age eight.[1][8][9][5][10] She attended secondary school in Moate.[10]

Career

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Graduating from college in Dublin,[2] Spittle moved back to Westmeath, where she worked as a researcher for iRadio with comedian Bernard O'Shea.[1][8][5] She began working in comedy, supporting PJ Gallagher.[8] This led to her participation in So You Think You're Funny?'s Irish heats, qualifying for rounds in Edinburgh.[1][10] She got a guest spot on the Happy Hour section of the John Murray Show RTÉ Radio 1 from this success.[1]

Her comedy shows have included Alison Spittle Needs an Agent, Alison Spittle Discovers Hawaii (2015),[8][10] and Worrier Princess (2017).[2][8] She has performed at the Edinburgh and Dublin fringe festivals,[8] as well as The Forbidden Fruit and Cork Comedy festivals.[9][2]

Spittle wrote and starred in web comedy shorts for RTÉ Two, and in sketches for Republic of Telly with Kevin McGahern.[2][10]

She was a regular contributor to The Right Hook with George Hook on Newstalk.[2][4] She is also a regular co-host of The Guilty Feminist podcast with Deborah Francis-White.

In 2016 she created the Alison Spittle Show podcast hosted by HeadStuff.org, which she hosted until the podcast's end in 2020.[3][11][12][5][2][13][14]

She appeared in the 2019 comedy film Extra Ordinary.

In 2020, she and fellow comedian Fern Brady started a podcast for the BBC called Wheel of Misfortune.[15] Brady left the podcast in early 2021 and Spittle hosted the show with guests until Kerry Katona became permanent co-host in November 2022.[16] The podcast ended in 2023.[17]

Spittle toured her show Wet in the UK and Ireland in 2022, followed by Soup in 2023.[18][19]

In November 2023, she appeared on game show Richard Osman's House of Games.[20]

During 2025 and 2026, Alison toured her show Big in the UK, Ireland and Australia, including runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Dublin Fringe Festival and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The show was centred around her experiences of weight-loss and living in a larger body.[21] Spittle received the Best Performer Award at the Dublin Fringe Festival[22] and the Comedians Choice Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for Big.[23]

In 2025, she took part in and won Pointless Celebrities, partnered with Fern Brady.[24]

In 2026, Spittle revived her podcast partnership with best friend Fern Brady launching the podcast Ignore That Feeling.[25]

Nowhere Fast

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In 2017, she co-wrote a six-part sitcom Nowhere Fast with her then boyfriend Simon Mulholland.[2][10][5] The series was directed by Simon Gibney.[5] The show sees Angela (played by Spittle) moving back down to Ballybeag in the Midlands, having lost her job on a radio show in Dublin following a high-profile libel case.[26] The series began in November 2017, and was generally well received by critics and viewers.[5][6][7]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "'I don't want 9 to 5!'". Westmeath Examiner. 9 September 2011. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 O'Byrne, Ellie (5 September 2017). "How Alison Spittle deals with her anxiety through stand-up comedy". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 11 September 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  3. 1 2 "The loves of my life: Comedian Alison Spittle". Life. 16 January 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  4. 1 2 Slattery, Laura (2 August 2016). "All in the chemistry as Irish radio hopes for sparks". The Irish Times. Retrieved 29 November 2017.(subscription required)
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Freyne, Patrick (11 November 2017). "Alison Spittle: 'If you're friends with a mad bastard, that's your cross to bear'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 29 November 2017.(subscription required)
  6. 1 2 Cashin, Rory (13 November 2017). "It seemed like everyone tuned in for RTÉ's new comedy Nowhere Fast, and everyone loved it". Joe.ie. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Everyone fell in love with the outrageous Mary on Alison Spittle's Nowhere Fast last night". DailyEdge.ie. 14 November 2017. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Valentine, Aoife (4 April 2016). "Alison Spittle: 'I just tried stand-up like you would try abseiling'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 29 November 2017.(subscription required)
  9. 1 2 O'Grady, Sean (9 November 2017). "'You can get on with him and you can be shocked with what he said' – Comedian Alison Spittle on George Hook". Evening Herald. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ward, James (3 May 2013). "Crawl to the Front – Camden weekend takes centre stage". Irish Daily Mirror. p. 2. Retrieved 29 November 2017 – via InfoTrac Newsstand.Free access icon
  11. ↑ McGuire, Erin (1 February 2016). "Sharon Horgan: The divorce industry feeds off people at the worst time of their lives". The Irish Times. Retrieved 29 November 2017.(subscription required)
  12. ↑ Bodger (7 April 2016). "The Alison Spittle Show". Broadsheet.ie. Archived from the original on 7 April 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  13. ↑ Griffin, Sarah Maria (16 March 2017). "Ireland Now: nine of the best Irish podcasts There has never been a better time to tune in to this growing community of talented people". The Irish Times. Retrieved 29 November 2017.(subscription required)
  14. ↑ "The Alison Spittle Show". HeadStuff Podcasts. Retrieved 6 April 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ↑ "Wheel of Misfortune on BBC". bbc.co.uk. BBC.
  16. ↑ "Kerry Katona joins Wheel of Misfortune". Chortle. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  17. ↑ "Wheel of Misfortune". BBC Audio. Retrieved 6 April 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ↑ "Alison Spittle on her Fringe show Wet - The Skinny". www.theskinny.co.uk. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  19. ↑ Demolder, Kate. "Soup review: Alison Spittle is bawdy and charming, leaving the audience in tears with laughter". The Irish Times. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  20. ↑ "Richard Osman's House of Games Line Up This Week". Beyond The Joke. 27 November 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  21. ↑ Eastwood, Ruby. "Alison Spittle's show Big, at Dublin Fringe, is harrowing and hilarious". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  22. ↑ "Dublin Fringe Festival 2025 Awards: And the winners are.... | Fringe Festival". www.fringefest.com. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  23. ↑ Bennett, Steve. "Alison Spittle wins Comedians' Choice Award : News 2025 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  24. ↑ "BBC One - Pointless Celebrities, Series 17, Episode 7". BBC. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  25. ↑ Duggins, Alexi; Richardson, Hollie; Davies, Hannah J. (9 February 2026). "Two women, no boundaries and no rules: best podcasts of the week". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  26. ↑ "Platinum couple;". Sunday Times. 19 November 2017. p. 56. Retrieved 29 November 2017 – via Academic OneFile.Free access icon
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