I didn't know comedy was a job

She's been a hit on TV this past year and now she's touring to both Bath and Bristol - MARTIN NEAL has a chat with comedian Harriet Dyer

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NOT many people have died twice and lived to tell the tale. Rising star of the comedy circuit Harriet Dyer, however, is able to tick that particular box.

And what's more, she’s been able to get her audience creased up laughing about it.

Bristol-based Harriet’s zany, offbeat style caught the nation’s attention on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown earlier this year, having also made her debut on Live at the Apollo and popped up on our TV screens on The Russell Howard Hour, Comedy Central Live and more.

Now, buoyed by the reception she received from TV audiences, she's heading out on her Easily Distra... tour which includes dates in her adopted home city of Bristol at the Hen and Chicken, and also in Bath at the Rondo.

Easily Distra... gives audiences a chance to experience the chaotically crafted offbeat comedy that has become her signature. But if it hadn’t been for a night out while at university when she told the story about twice needing a defibrillator, she might have ended up as a nurse - which her mum thought would suit her - or working on a fishing boat catching crabs, which appealed more to the young Harriet.

“I didn't know comedy could be a job at all,” she admitted. “I only ever watched it on Comic Relief and stuff like that.

“It was only really when I was at uni and I found out that it was the only uni that had a comedy module. I turned up - everyone said ‘are you ready for the stand-up comedy festival?’ and I was, like ‘what?’