Diminutive comedienne Lucy Porter reflects on the ups and downs of relationships in this interview with Ben McPartland Minx, pixie, cute, gorgeous – half pint-sized Lucy Porter has been called the lot during her highly successful time as a stand-up comed

Diminutive comedienne Lucy Porter reflects on the ups and downs of relationships in this interview with Ben McPartland

Minx, pixie, cute, gorgeous - half pint-sized Lucy Porter has been called the lot during her highly successful time as a stand-up comedienne.

But the award-winning comic, who is currently halfway through her latest tour of Britain, now admits those days might be over.

"I've gone from being a pixie or a minx to being vintage for young boys," said the 35-year-old.

Ms Porter, who now lives in Kentish Town, will bring her acclaimed show Lucy Porter's Love In to the Artsdepot in North Finchley at the end of May.

Ms Porter admits that her original idea for the show was to set out and find the meaning of true love but it has not quite worked out that way.

"It is all about love," she says. "It was going to be an in-depth discussion of love but it is just more about me harking on about my life and its ups and downs.

"That is the beauty of the show really, it reflects how things are going in real life - the break-ups, getting back together and then breaking up again.

"You do end up telling people things you should only share with a therapist or your mum. I also get people telling me about their love lives, so I get to hear quite a lot of interesting stuff. People write my show for me really."

At five foot tall, she may be one of the smallest comics on the circuit but her size does not reflect her talents.

Not only has she won awards for her stand-up comedy, but in 2004 she won Bafta and New York Television Society awards for writing.

Her clients have included Johnny Vaughan and Griff Rhys Jones.

She is a regular panellist on the new Radio 4 show The Personality Test alongside Robin Ince, John Oliver and Sue Perkins.

She has guested on Never Mind The Buzzcocks and offered herself up for humiliation on Rob Brydon's BBC show Annually Retentive.

She also offered to show Anne Robinson her bottom when she appeared on a comedy special of The Weakest Link.

But is it harder for her being a female comic in what has traditionally been a man's world?

"I don't know, I have never been a man," she quips. "I think it is changing really. When I started out it was very much a man's world but there are more women doing it all the time."

One of those women, Caroline Aherne, who stared as the elderly host of the Mrs Merton Show, was a massive inspiration for Ms Porter.

Her first brush with comedians was when she worked as a researcher for television and had the job of booking celebrity guests for talk shows.

"I saw what they did and thought I would like a bit of that myself. At least it stops me from having to go into an office every day," she says.

But it could have all been different if she had taken another path. "If you are fascinated by human nature you can become a philosopher, an anthropologist or a stand-up comedian - so I took the easiest route.

"The advantage for me is that you get to go out and have a laugh.

"But my dream is to go back to university and study anthropology. I always feel my education has let me down."

Her other wish is for medical technology to develop rapidly enough so she can be stretched to gain a couple of inches in height as she is fed up with the problems her diminutive stature causes for her.

"I just can't reach things," she said. "Half of my kitchen is out of bounds. Half the cupboards are empty, it's just a waste of space.

Ms Porter, described as a "small bundle of fun" heralds from deepest darkest Croydon, a fact she credits for some of the relentless happiness and joy she brings to the stage.

"I feel a bit of a traitor because I don't have many nice things to say about Croydon. But if I hadn't grown up there I probably wouldn't be doing what I am doing," she said.

Lucy Porter is at the Artsdepot on May 30. For tickets, call

020-8369 5454.