Fern Brady

Career

While studying at the University of Edinburgh, Fern Brady ran The Student, a weekly paper produced by students, and took up stripping to pay for her degree. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. After graduating, she initially pursued journalism, though the idea of stand-up comedy had been on her mind since 2006. In 2009, she interned at Fest Magazine, a free publication covering the Edinburgh Festival.

One task involved writing about a comedy critic trying stand-up, which she later called the moment that convinced her to go into comedy. Her first paid gig happened in May 2010. She made the finals of So You Think You're Funny at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, tying for third place, and also reached the finals of the Piccadilly Comedy Club new act competition in 2012 and the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year in 2013. Her TV credits include 8 Out of 10 Cats in 2014, Seann Walsh's Late Night Comedy Spectacular, The Alternative Comedy Experience in 2014, BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz, series 3 of Live from the BBC in 2018, series 14 of Live at the Apollo in 2018, and series 3 of Frankie Boyle's New World Order in 2019.

She has been a contributor to The Guardian since 2021. In 2020, she co-hosted the BBC podcast Wheel of Misfortune with fellow comedian Alison Spittle, leaving in 2023 when Kerry Katona took over; in 2026, she and Spittle reunited for a new podcast called Ignore That Feeling. Late in 2021, she co-presented the Dave travel show British as Folk alongside comedians Ivo Graham and Darren Harriott. In January 2022, she kicked off a 25-date tour for her show Autistic Bikini Queen.

That June, it was announced she would appear on the 14th series of Taskmaster, which began airing in September 2022. Brady described that year of filming as the best of her life, calling the show accidentally ideal for autistic people because of its clear structure—nine tasks each day and only one person to interact with at a time. She believed the show reached more autistic viewers than a documentary would and offered a happy, positive look at neurodiversity, while also helping her become more comfortable with her own autism.

Personal life

Brady is bisexual. In 2023, she entered a civil partnership with her long-term boyfriend Conor for "coma reasons". At age 16, she was misdiagnosed with obsessive–compulsive disorder, and in 2021 she received an autism diagnosis. She has expressed gladness about being autistic, saying it made her less influenced by peers and provided an escape from traditional paths for women.