I love my industry but it contains people who leave a secret trail of pain and devastation totally at odds with their stage and screen personas
Sarah Solemani is an actor, writer and activist who starred in the Bafta-winning comedy Him & Her
I’ve worked in comedy in some capacity for several decades, and I include in that a year in a call centre in north Finchley run by a man who embraced the early stages of hair transplant technology, which was serious LOLS until the company was shut down by HMRC. Acting funny and writing funny has got me far. From winning the best sitcom Bafta for Him & Her, to playing Bridget Jones’s best friend, to writing monologues for Goldie Hawn, who held me like a newborn in her house and insisted we had met in a previous life. I also get to work on new projects with my favourite directors, such as Tom George of This Country, where we make each other laugh from the beginning of the day to the end. Lucky me.
Unluckily, working in comedy has also, for some strange reason, brought me into the close orbit of more than your average number of sexual predators, several of whom are still merrily working. Recently I had to pull a project from a company when I was informed it was common knowledge that a high-level exec was known for allegedly raping a colleague. Another famous comic had to pull a project when I informed them a legend they were working with was also an alleged rapist. That was two rape-related conversations in the same week without a punchline.
Sarah Solemani is an actor, writer and activist
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