Emma Sidi on bringing Sue Gray to life as a comedy character and getting the Taskmaster call-up

After a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe, actress and comedian Emma Sidi is taking her show, where she takes on the role of Partygate report author Sue Gray, on tour.

Here, she tells us all about how she brought the Labour special adviser and former civil servant to life as a comedy character, as well as her experience on Taskmaster and sitcom Starstuck.

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How was your Fringe run, where you took the role of Sue Gray and made her into a comedy character?

It was my first one for six years. I’d always said I’ll never come back, but I think most comedians say that after a Fringe. I just couldn’t get the character of Sue Gray out of my head. I’ve been doing sets as her since 2021.

When the report into Partygate came out, we all knew her name, but unless you were a politics nut you didn’t know anything about this person.

That was really my starting point; I’m now going to fill in every single gap. I kind of purposely didn’t do much research. She’s always in TK Maxx as opposed to in COBRA meetings. Those are the little moments that I kind of start from and really build out.

It’s a fun romp into office culture in the UK and what that looks like when actually your boss is Keir Starmer. Or was!

© Matt Stronge

Did you expect Sue to remain so relevant?

Absolutely not! When I first did it in 2021, I just needed some new material as I hadn’t gigged all lockdown. I couldn’t face the Zoom gigs.

I was Sue Gray for a ten minute set, and I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it next week. I’ve kept on doing her, because she just never went away!

This woman is moving mad; her career is going at the speed of light, far faster than I can keep up with.

Through this very abstract prism of ‘Sue Gray’, the show is a look at the British political system, how stupid it is and how policy doesn’t actually seem to really affect the electorate, it seems so based on charisma and gaffes.

It’s not specific to the UK, but it’s a show that takes the p*** out of politics, and that is definitely how I feel often watching the news. The whole saga with Sue Gray is emblematic of that.

With your kind of character comedy, is it safe to say you embrace the silly side of life?

What’s really important to me is that it feels authentic. I’m a huge Alan Partridge fan and the magic is that he’s so fully-formed that real fans can imagine what he’d say in every situation. That’s always been a major influence on the way I create characters, they just have to feel completely solid.

That’s what I’ve loved doing while making my version of Sue Gray. You can imagine her being on the desk next to you at work. But, at the same time, how far can we push the absurdity of that?

You did the live Alan Partridge shows with Steve Coogan. How was that experience for you?

There’s a certain amount of us in comedy who are just so influenced by him. We were doing the show sometimes to 10,000 people, but it still felt like doing an Edinburgh show with Steve Coogan. It still felt like this little comedy show.

It was an amazing experience also seeing, with the Gibbons brothers, how he writes and being a real part of that process. They’re really obsessed with what’s the most truthful and the most funny at the same time.

Seeing that up close was really amazing. But don’t tell Steve I said that!

How pleased are you to now do your own tour?

I’m looking forward to it. The Alan Partridge tour was an experience of what it’s like to tour cities and it’s just so fantastic.

You feel like all the regions of the UK have different characters in terms of what really gets them in comedy. You hear that reaction straight away, what Glasgow finds funny in comparison to Leeds etc.

The only issue is the fact that Sue Gray has become envoy to the regions – it’s almost too on the nose! I’m trying to work that in as a joke that doesn’t feel just too obvious. It’s just ridiculous. I can’t believe the timing of it.

© Matt Stronge

How was it getting to star in Taskmaster?

I’m definitely one of the people who would have really hoped to one day go on it. Wouldn’t that be a dream? So once I got the call, I kind of thought it was a mistake! I was totally over the moon. I thought it would be fun because I’ve had some friends do it as well, but it somehow surpassed expectations. It was just fantastic. When I watch myself back, sometimes I’m having too much fun. You can just hear my laugh, it’s unbearable! That’s my only regret, maybe I should have held back just how much I was loving it… I had a really, really amazing time and I loved the team.

Was it nice to be yourself on the show?

It was something I was really nervous about because I’m a character comedian and an actor. I was almost so nervous that I realised there was nothing I could do other than to just be myself, and if I was going to get hated for it, fine. I think even my husband was quite nervous for me!  Now it’s come out. I can kind of relax and be like, look, it’s fine, isn’t it?

There’s a thread on the Taskmaster Reddit full of praise for you, have you found the show has a great fandom?

My agent sent that me and it was a lovely thing to see. I’ve received a lot of really positive comments on the Internet. I think the thing with Taskmaster is that it’s a top-down show.

Alex Horne and Greg Davies are great people and create this energy that invites everyone who’s watching it to be a part of it. That feels like it just trickles down through the fans. It’s so cool seeing that up close.

I worry that [Taskmaster fans] will come to my show and go ‘sorry what?’ My comedy is quite specific so I hope I don’t let them down, but at the end of the day, this is me, me as Sue Gray.

You starred in your best friend (and former real-life flatmate) Rose Matafeo’s show Starstruck, how was that experience?

I’m almost bad at separating the filming of it from real life! In any job you’re in, if you can work with your best friends, there’s nothing better.

Rose was technically my boss in a way, she’s my best friend, but she was also writing for me and director and showrunner. That was a good experience, to know when to take orders from your friend!

In the evening I’d balance it up again and be like: ‘you’re cooking tonight!’ It was a fantastic experience.

It’s so lovely that it exists and it’s also part of our lives, our 20s into our early 30s and it feels like this nice kind of time capsule that that we can look back on.

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Emma Sidi is… Sue Gray is at The Stand, Glasgow on November 17th. Visit berksnest.com/emma