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Comedian Lou Sanders has revealed she got the most abuse she’s ever had from a TV appearance after starring on a family-friendly game show.
The Last One Laughing contestant, 47, is a hugely popular presence on the comedy scene, having won the eighth series of Taskmaster, performed on Live at the Apollo, and featured on various panel shows.
Last year, she took part in Last One Laughing alongside some of the industry’s biggest names, including Joe Lycett, Richard Ayoade, and eventual winner Bob Mortimer.
Lou surpassed expectations by holding her nerve and making it to episode six, but a red card for laughing saw her eliminated at the final hurdle.
But while Amazon Prime Video viewers watched her in the millions, making it the streaming platform’s biggest-ever launch, she doesn’t think ITV audiences are as keen on her.
She appears on series 2 of Iain Stirling’s Roast the Internet alongside Jonathan Ross and AJ Odudu, which sees a panel mock social media content, roast viral clips, and give their verdict on trends.
In an exclusive clip shared with Metro, Lou makes her confession when the stars have to predict how they’d be ranked from most to least fun on a night out.
‘Hang on – I need to know more about the demographic,’ Lou interjects. ‘Because if it’s an ITV demographic, I’m going to come bottom on all of them.’
‘Well, it’s a Comedy Central demographic,’ says host Iain. ‘I don’t just do ITV, Lou. I do Comedy Central as well.’
‘But the ITV audience, it’s fair to say, absolutely hate me,’ she admits.
When asked ‘why?’ by her stunned co-stars, she says: ‘I don’t know, but I’ve never got so much abuse as when I did Celebrity Catchphrase.’
The room bursts into laughter as she adds: ‘I watched it, and I honestly thought I was adorable!’
The panel proceeds to debate which of them would be the most fun on a night out, with the final ranking placing Lou and AJ joint top, followed by Jonathan – despite him declaring he’s ‘not going out’ – and Iain at the bottom, much to his dismay.
Lou took part in Stephen Mulhern-hosted Celebrity Catchphrase last year, and the episode aired in January.
She played against soap stars Natalie Cassidy, from EastEnders, and Sam Aston, from Coronation Street, to raise money for charity by guessing well-known phrases and ‘saying what they see’.
Lou, who has also taken part in Would I Lie to You? and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, reflected on her career in an interview last year.
Speaking to The Guardian, she said her early gigs were ‘painful’, and she didn’t feel ‘free to be [herself]’.
‘I quit loads of times because I didn’t feel confident,’ she shared. ‘I went around the houses trying to find my onstage persona, and it turns out it’s just me.’
This has proven to be both a blessing and a curse for her, though, as she now finds it ‘impossible’ to be anyone other than her true self, which ‘can be a problem when [she’s] having a bad day’.
Recalling one of her worst moments, she detailed one Edinburgh Fringe Festival when she was ‘having a breakdown’ and would go out on stage feeling ‘vulnerable’.
‘Years ago, I was engaged, and the night we split up I went straight out to do a gig. I was a shell of a person, and the audience could pick up on it,’ she said.
‘In the end, I told them I’d just split up with my fiancé. It pierced the atmosphere, and I went on to have a good gig. But a horrible private life.’
She went on to say it’s sometimes ‘hard to stay positive’, despite her career being based on making people laugh.
However, she believes in ageing ‘joyfully’ and is trying not to take her approach to life so seriously.
‘It’s as if the older you get, the easier it is to feel negative, as if the world is getting harder and smaller.
‘When that happens, I have to stop myself from spiralling. Life doesn’t have to be so serious.’
Her comments followed past remarks that there is ‘not as much space on telly’ for women in the comedy world, and representation can be an ‘afterthought’.
She told the British Comedy Guide: ‘I know people get annoyed because we always bang on about it and stuff, but if we’re over half the population and there are so many female comics now, it’s so behind.’
Urging TV bosses not to ‘just tick a box’, she stated: ‘Get out there and f***ing see talent that excites you – there’s so much of it.’
Episode 3 of Iain Stirling’s Roast the Internet airs this Monday, September 21, at 9pm on Comedy Central. This week’s guests are Lou Sanders, Jonathan Ross, and AJ Odudu.
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