Lucy Ann Beaumont (born 10 August 1983) is an English comedian from Hull. Her early performances were based largely on anecdotes about Hull and the wider Northern region. She was a finalist on So You Think You're Funny in 2011 and won the BBC Radio New Comedy Awards in 2012. Her 2014 debut show at the Edinburgh Fringe, We Can Twerk It Out, was nominated for that year's Best Newcomer Award.
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Early life
Born prematurely in Truro while her parents were on holiday in Cornwall, Beaumont grew up with a single mother in the Spring Bank area of Hull. She later lived in the town of Hessle, near Hull. Her mother, playwright Gill Adams, won the Fringe First Award for best new play in 1997 at the Edinburgh Festival. She attended Hessle High School, before going on to Wyke Sixth Form College. Beaumont worked at the meat counter of Asda on Hessle Road, West Hull, and later went on to the University of Hull, graduating with a degree in drama studies.
After university, she briefly worked as a teaching assistant. When one of her first acting jobs after university fell through, Beaumont took on a job as a cleaner at the university to make a living, leading her to joke later that she was probably the only person with both a BA and an NVQ from the University of Hull.
Career
Beaumont had a brief acting career, touring with Hull Truck Theatre, York Theatre Royal and West Yorkshire Playhouse. She switched to comedy after she had initially tried it in an attempt to conquer stage fright and was inspired by her sitcom-like life in Hull. In 2009, she took part in the BBC's Northern Laughs programme, in which she was mentored by Jeremy Dyson.
Beaumont is known for her observational comedy about her home city of Hull, including the local dialect and food such as patties and chip spice. Her on-stage persona delivers deadpan anecdotes and has been described as "ditzily naïve".
Her first gig was for the 2011 So You Think You're Funny competition, for which she would later become a finalist.
Beaumont co-wrote and starred in the radio sitcom To Hull and Back, starring fellow Hull actor Maureen Lipman. The sitcom started with a pilot on BBC Radio 2 in 2014, and a full series was ordered. Three series of the show were broadcast between 2015 and 2018. She wrote an article in The Guardian about Hull in 2015 as it prepared to be UK City of Culture. In 2017, Beaumont presented the BBC Two documentary Welcome to Hull – City of Culture 2017. Beaumont is also the narrator in the 2018 BBC documentary Hull's Headscarf Heroes about Lillian Bilocca and the 1968 Triple Trawler Disaster. Beaumont said that the story moved her especially because her grandparents and their families were "born and bred in the fishing community on [Hull's] Hessle Road."
In 2013, Beaumont won the Chortle Award for Best Newcomer and appeared on BBC Three's Live at the Electric. She presented her show We Can Twerk It Out at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2014, which was nominated for that year's Best Newcomer Award.
Beaumont was a guest on Dave's Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled in 2015 and on the BBC Two panel quiz show QI in 2016. She was a regular guest on the Dave panel show Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier, hosted by her husband Jon Richardson, in 2018 and 2019.
In 2019, Beaumont returned to the Edinburgh Festival with her show Space Mam, which she also took on tour in the UK.
Charity work
In 2019, Beaumont set up the project "Backpack Buddies" in Hull to help children in need of meals during the school holidays. To raise funds for the project, Beaumont staged the HULLarity comedy gala in June 2019.
Beaumont supports several UK charities, including Hull Children's University, Mothershare and the Great Laugh campaign.
Personal life
Beaumont married comedian Jon Richardson in April 2015 after being introduced by fellow comedian Roisin Conaty. They have a daughter born in September 2016. Beaumont and Richardson divorced in April 2024.
In 2023, she stated publicly that she had been diagnosed with ADHD.
Beaumont now lives in Withington, Manchester.
Filmography
Works
Beaumont, Lucy (30 September 2021). Drinking Custard: The Diary of a Confused Mum. London: Octopus Publishing Group. ISBN 9781913183738.