Joanne McNally, the comedian whose recent tours broke several records—including the London Palladium's highest-ever bar sales—is swapping stand-up stages for the treacherous setting of Celebrity Traitors. Before joining the cast, McNally spoke to Metro about the women who turned her tours into a phenomenon, being single and childless in her 40s, and the unlikely path that led her into comedy.
An audience 'strangely overlooked' in comedy
'I'm always joking the bar bill was my own and the girls just added to it. I don't have a big insight into it, but I do think that women just want to go out and enjoy themselves. A male comic messaged, "Congratulations, you've really found your niche." I don't think you can call that many women a niche.'
The 42-year-old described her fans as 'mentally frail, physically groomed, dopamine addicted women with questionable drinking habits and undiagnosed ADHD.' While there's no data to confirm this, observers have noted the hysterical enthusiasm of her crowds—an audience rarely seen so devoted to a female comic.
Embracing the ordinary in her 40s
McNally prides herself on being a 'basic b***h,' embracing the regular experience of being single in her 40s with sharp insight and a comically giant glass of red wine. Her set feels like listening to a friend who is a bottle of Whispering Angel down and wonderfully oversharing, so much so that fans regularly invite her to the pub before and after shows.
'It's so sweet, but girls will message, "Hey, we're in the pub before the show, you're coming in?" If I took them all up on their offers, I'd be bright yellow by Christmas 2026! As much as I like to enjoy myself, I'm actually a bit of an introvert.'
On being childless: 'A product of my generation'
During her Pinotphile tour—a title inspired by a Peloton username—McNally described being childless with a metaphor of partying with friends on a dock, only for a boat to come and pick up all your pregnant friends and leave you stranded to dance alone. But she corrected the idea that she celebrates being child-free.
'I don't celebrate not having kids,' she insisted. 'The term child-free has never sat right with me personally, it sounds like you've had something removed or you've survived something and I don't see it like that. I'm very much a product of my generation and the shift in culture around the 2.4 thing.
'There's more single women and men than ever before, more women without children, the birth rate's declining, monogamy is under the spotlight, so I'm living my life within that tornado and that's what I write about.'
Friendships that 'sailed off to the suburbs'
She offered hope to those who feel abandoned by friends who took a different path into parenthood. In her metaphor, the proverbial ship eventually returns to the dock. 'I am one of the very few single friends without kids left in my circle. Now, I'm not celebrating the divorces, but when couples first get together and build a life together, they're very busy. We reconnect as we get a little bit older, their kids are a little older, and they don't need them as much.
'I had this image that my friends have sailed off to the suburbs, but I've noticed of late that some of those friendships are better than they've ever been before.'
From PR to stand-up
McNally's career launched rapidly off the back of her podcast, My Therapist Ghosted Me, which she hosts with her best friend, TV presenter Vogue Williams. It became a phenomenon that took them on a sold-out arena tour around the UK. She insisted they're never 'mean,' but one joke on her Pinotphile tour proved divisive.
'There was a review in an Irish newspaper – and it was a really nice review – but I have a bit about Britney Spears and they felt it was punching down, punching up, punching in the face – whatever it is. My take on that is completely different to theirs. It's not nice when you feel misunderstood in that way, but I stand by it.'
The leap from a high-flying job in PR to comedy came with an unlikely catalyst. 'The first time I knew I could make a living out of stand-up was when I was off work with an eating disorder and I was in treatment. I joined a stage show, telling a story about this bald lad who broke up with me, and then this comedian said, "I think you could just stand up – you should give it a go."'
When she told her friends she was going to pack in her respectable job to try comedy in her thirties, they just said 'it makes sense.' 'If I'd said I was going to be a doctor, they would have said: "Joanne, you're obviously having a psychotic episode." Obviously, my mother was absolutely mortified, but once I started working in TV, the pride kicked in.'
Record-breaking tours and 2026 ambitions
Her previous tour, The Prosecco Express, sold out more than 70 nights at Dublin's Vicar Street alone and became a phenomenon across the UK. Pinotphile followed suit, with McNally selling out the Hammersmith Apollo so many times that she joked she could have played Wembley.
As for her ambitions for 2026, McNally had quite the list when we spoke—even if she wasn't especially convinced she would get around to any of it. 'I want to buy a house but I'm very bad on logistics. I landed in West London by accident because it was close to Gatwick, and now I just live here.
'The restaurant Megan's is the most interesting thing here and I can't build my life around Megan's. But maybe I'll try IVF, try to crack America, Australia, and New Zealand, start a ceramic course. I will do none of these things. The next time we talk, I'll be in the same clothes in the same bed.'
She may not have predicted Celebrity Traitors making the list. A version of this article was originally published on February 2, 2026.
