‘It’s hard to focus when you’ve got a granny riding on a trolley behind you’

Before she performed her set at Henley Festival last week, comedian Maisie Adam talked to JAKE CLOTHIER

MAISIE Adam is a deceptively recent addition to the British comedy scene, having only begun performing in late 2016.

On stage, she exudes a confidence and comfort usually hard-won through decades of experience.

She says, however, that performing at festivals can be tricky.

“Festivals are always mad– I’ve not done Henley before, but I’ve done more music festivals,” she says.

“I remember I was on the Wednesday night at Download, and it was all of the things that you don’t want in a gig, like 10 people in a room that accommodates 500.”

“They’re really not here for me, they’re all death metal fans and I’m stood there saying how isn’t weird when we all played the recorder in Year 5.”

Maisie says, however, that she enjoyed playing at Latitude, “so maybe Henley will be the decider.”

“It’s very hard to focus when you’ve got a granny riding on a motor trolley behind you.”

She’s referring to three men dressed as elderly women riding on segways made to look like shopping trolleys.

They’re also blasting dubstep through bluetooth speakers and waving white-gloved hands as they weave through the crowds.

“I didn’t think that was Henley’s vibe, that, but I’m a big fan of it,” she says.

Maisie hails from Yorkshire, which means that while Leeds is close by, she hasn’t been able to make it to Reading Festival just yet.

“With Reading and Leeds, I always grew up going to Leeds Fest, I literally lived 10 minutes around the corner, but it’s always in the last weekend of August, so it can be tricky.”

This means that it clashes with a number of events during the summer, not least the Edinburgh Festival, one of the most celebrated for live comedy around the world.

Presently, Maisie is gearing up for her latest

UK tour, Buzzed.

“There’s a lot of changes since I last did a show, for me and for everybody, but it’s not about Covid,” she explains.

“I feel like we’ve spoken about nothing else for the last two years, and there’s things to be buzzed for in the future, so that’s the reason it’s called Buzzed.”

She’s joined at the festival by fellow comedians Andy Parsons, Jo Brand, Geoff Norcot, Glen Moore, and Ahir Shah.

Henley Festival’s comedy tent features a faux brick wall which those performing sign when they attend.

Andy Parsons has signed his name above a post script which reads “On the day that Theresa May came to celebrate Johnson leaving.”

She says that there are exciting things coming up for her in her own life, some of which make it into her set at the festival later that evening.

During her set, she speaks about how her partner proposed to her while they were on holiday, leading to a hilarious exchange with some of the audience about a dubious-sounding stag party of theirs in Prague.

Maisie says: “I’m getting married next year – it’s really exciting to talk about, and it’s nice to share the smaller aspects of our lives.

“Recently we’ve been talking about stuff that’s so massive, and that nobody has any ideas how to navigate.

“We’re all just sort of holding hands as much as we can, so it’s nice to talk about the more minute details of life, and that’s where we find our common ground.”

Ahead of her tour, she’ll be performing at this year’s Edinburgh Festival.

“When they come to my shows, people can expect a good time.

“It’s nice and relaxed, and there’ll be lots of laughter, I hope,

“And if you don’t get any of that, you’ll at least get a very very impressive clip of me playing football.”