Spotlight: Kay Nicholson

Tue 18 Nov, 2025

With ‘Women Aren’t Funny’ coming up on the horizon (mark your calendar for November 27th), we thought we’d shine a spotlight on one of our stars: the wonderfully funny Kay Nicholson.

A proud Scouser, Kay burst onto the comedy scene in 2022 and has been tearing through the UK circuit ever since. If you’ve been to Shakespeare North before, you might have seen her hosting Women Aren’t Funny or supporting Dan Nightingale on our stage; if you haven’t been, then you really ought to buy tickets now, so you can brag to your friends that you’ve seen her perform live!

Before you know it, Kay will be selling out arenas. In the past year alone, she’s:

• Made her West End debut in Magic Mike Live,
• Joined the UK tour of Andrea Dunbar’s cult comedy Rita, Sue and Bob Too,
• Been the opening act for Tom Stade’s Naughty by Nature Tour,
• Become a regular at Comedy Clubs up and down the country,
• And most recently became a finalist in The Funny Women Awards 2025, representing the North West at what has been described as “a fierce, fearless night of comedy that lit up the Bloomsbury Theatre.”

In a post praising the awards night of The Funny Women Awards 2025, Jasmine Dawson, the Senior Vice President of BBC Digital, said:

“when you invest in genuine female talent, you get nights like this – full of originality, connection, and comedy that hits different.”

Kay is exactly what comedy needs: a fresh, female voice to put a comedic spin on the Northern experience. Kay’s style is described as “observational, self deprecating & very true to [her] background” and this authenticity is exactly what we love about her. She continues the trend of transforming relatable honesty into side-splitting laughs in a way that Northern comics seem to excel at.

One thing that has always been true of the North is that comedy blossoms here. Perhaps back in the day it was because a lot of comedians got their start in working men’s clubs, which were in abundance up North, back when laughter was the cheapest escape from long days and grey skies; but nowadays those clubs are mostly gone and yet Northern comedians continue to conquer the stage! Kay is the latest example of how some of the very best stars hail from round here.

We will be following Kay’s career closely and ask that you do the same!

We are so proud to have had her on our stage, and even prouder to have her back.