‘I co-hosted BBC’s most divisive political comedy show – the abuse haunts me to this day’

As Rachel Parris takes to the stage with her revised Poise stand-up tour, the comedian is all too familiar with the pitfalls of being a woman who dares to have opinions.

Motherhood, middle-age and miserly politicians – all three are the subject of 40-year-old comedian Rachel’s latest musical comedy extravaganza that is coming back strong after a more-than-eventful summer break.

Between the first half of the tour and the next the entire UK government changed as 14 years of Tory rule was vanquished by a decisive Labour victory helmed by party leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Although it was the outcome countless were rooting for (including Rachel herself), it comes with one caveat. No more poking jokes at Tory politicians, or at least, heavily reducing.

‘I’ve had to rewrite my Rishi Sunak material, think up some stuff about Starmer and try and find something funny about the current cabinet,’ the Bafta-nominated comic told .

‘The fact that the most comedic thing about Starmer that anyone has found is that he’s a bit boring is in itself very boring. So that’s not a joke that I’m making in my show, because everyone’s made that joke, and it’s not very funny,’ she added with a wry smile.

Rachel’s public acclaim blew up when she joined Nish Kumar on BBC’s hit satirical series The Mash Report to pick apart the chaos the country has been plummeting into full throttle since the Brexit vote in 2016.

‘There was so much low-hanging fruit to mock. Their behavior was generally damaging and absurd, frankly,’ she said about creating comedy under the former government.

But now she has the chance to prove everyone wrong about speaking truth to power.

‘During the Mash Report everyone went, “Oh, well, what if you get a Labor Government? Are you still going to come after them?”

‘And the answer is yes, of course, there’s plenty to come after. Whoever is in government, whoever is making the moves, that’s who you come after.’

Rachel first appeared on BBC Two’s Mash Report (described by one tabloid as ‘preachy, self-righteous [and] left-wing’) from 2017 to 2021 where she would deliver scathing political takedowns in cheerily-delivered monologues.

It subsequently moved to Dave as Late Night Mash (where she took over as the presenter) in 2022.

Since then the show has been entirely scrapped. But even two years on, Rachel has admitted that there are ‘little pockets of trolls’ still lurking around the internet, ready to pounce.

‘It’s amazing what people will say that they wouldn’t say in public. Nish got absolute tirades of racist abuse and trolled for his political views.

‘And I got lots of sexist abuse, ranging from, obviously, people calling me names to someone wishing me breast cancer. Even in recent times, there are little pockets of trolls on the internet that, if you accidentally tap into them, they’re there waiting for you,’ she said.

In one recent incident, Joel Dommett’s wife Hannah Cooper posted on Instagram about struggling with North, East, South and West as directions, which Rachel described as ‘the most harmless thing in the world.’

But when Rachel commented underneath, she was flooded by a barrage of hate.

‘There were about 500 comments under my comment from the entirety of incel America basically going: “Blondes shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce. All women are stupid. This is why all women need a strong man to guide them. This is horrific stupidity. You should be put down”,’ she recalled.

She sees it as a wider symptom of the vitriolic misogyny currently rife in society.

‘This idea that there’s a few bad eggs making the odd comment and you can just ignore them is absolute bulls**t.

‘There is a scary wave of misogyny that exists, people like Andrew Tate (and loads and loads of people doing the same job as him) whip up misogyny in young men who feel lost in the current world.

‘It’s why I believe misogyny should be a hate crime. It’s why incidents in America of terrorism basically against women should be treated as such, and it’s always ignored that it’s women who are killed,’ she added.

As a result of the hostile atmosphere and lingering online abuse, Rachel has found herself bringing her politics ‘inwards’, unlike Nish who ‘continues to go out on a limb,’ she says.

Despite her pessimism at the state of the internet, in real life, the screen star has had a much better experience interacting with her audiences.

Her most memorable heckles was someone correcting her over the brand of her musical keyboard (it was a Yamaha not a Casio) and Rachel theorised it was likely down to the ‘school teacher vibe’ she gives off.

‘I think people behave themselves quite well,’ she added with a laugh.

And the industry itself is changing for the better.

‘I have had most of my career being the only woman on the bill, and that has changed. Now you can be a majority female bill, and it’s not called an “all lipstick line up” or something like that,’ she reflected.

She even referred to a moment during a recent gig where the atmosphere got quite ‘sexualised’ (‘what Donald Trump would call locker room talk’) and she felt empowered enough to tell the producer halfway through that she ‘felt a bit gross as the only woman in the room.’

‘It’s the first time I’ve ever brought stuff like that up before,’ she said.

But there is still a way to go. Although there is more equality among performers, ‘the upper hierarchy’ is still male-dominated, she warned.

But as live comedy goes from ‘strength to strength’, Rachel believes the stage (and perhaps going viral TikTok), is where the future lies for comedians looking to break through in today’s competitive market.

‘You can get on TV and no one notices. It’s a drop in the ocean,’ she shared. ‘Whereas, if you have a few things regularly get a lot of attention online? That’s your career made.’

For Rachel, the future holds challenges anew – whether poking fun at the new Prime Minster, navigating middle-age, or learning the intricacies of editing videos – and she’s ready to tackle it all.