Lolly Adefope

I have no brand loyalty to toothpaste. It's absolutely a different brand every tube.

You can still be sexist even though you're not necessarily talking about women.

I've been quite lucky, I've done very cool projects, but knowing there are others who are put off because they don't see people who look like them, I feel like it's our responsibility to change that.

Making comedy is a privilege, so you should be doing something no one else can do. That's when it feels like art; it's a personal expression and it's being done in a unique way.

If you're just making people laugh, that can be one-dimensional. You have to bring something artistic into it, so it's working on another plane or is more complex.

Certain directors have that eye where something is beautiful as well as funny.

I like art that's simple but feels kind of genius - like David Shrigley or David Hockney.

There's nothing quite like exiting a toilet cubicle and seeing a girl running towards you with her hand over her mouth.

Essentially, we live in a patriarchy where women are being distracted from realizing their full potential by the amount of time they spend waiting in toilet queues.

Boys can essentially wee anywhere, and my very scientific theory is that this privilege leads to some of the mind-blowing confidence they show in later life - for example, the number of guys I've known who've decided to 'give comedy a go' after finding out that I'm a comedian.

In a nightclub, the women's loos are not just the women's loos; they're where temporary female friendships are forged.

Like catching a glimpse of the McDonald's golden arches after a night out, when I see the blue and white Boots sign in the distance I feel comforted.

Much has been written on the subject of self-care, and what truly counts as such; one woman's double gin and tonic is another woman's culturally appropriated yoga retreat.

Not many stores can boast the unmatched variety that Boots has.

When I was about six years old I decided to make a teddy bears' picnic in our dining room, so I set up 10 dolls and teddy bears around the table and made them each an apricot jam sandwich. It was only when I sat down that I realized I'd made 10 apricot jam sandwiches for 10 inanimate objects, and that I'd have to eat them all.

When I was in Year 10 I saw a girl on 'X Factor' with a really great, huge afro, so I went to the hairdresser's to get a weave and achieve the same look. She somehow convinced me to get colored extensions that were way too short, so I ended up looking like 'Annie.'

I still maintain that Looney Tunes is the funniest program ever made.

Adam Hess - he thinks that if you swallow enough chewing gum you go from being left-handed to being right-handed, and vice versa, but he is my best friend anyway.

One evening, I read David Nicholls' book 'One Day,' because our flat was a few streets down from Rankeillor Street, where the first chapter is set.

Despite having lived in London for most of my life - and being a huge fan of dancing and drinking in the street - I've never been to Notting Hill carnival.

I was desperate for comedy to seep into me somehow, convinced that being surrounded by it would give me the confidence to go onstage myself.

I had always wanted to do comedy, but didn't know where to start - all I knew was that Edinburgh was where it happened.

I'm hyperaware that I'm traveling as a Black woman, but I try to remind myself that there's a lot to be gained by stepping out of my comfort zone.

It is annoying that some people only see black women as role models to other black women, rather than as role models to lots of different people.

It's freeing to be that person who people turn around to look at, wondering who could have a laugh that loud.

A sad truth I've learned is that I watch a lot less live comedy than I did before it became my job.

There's something really special, and addictive, about making that connection with an audience - knowing that they may never have seen you before, and may never see you again, but that for those moments you've been able to unite them all in laughter, and provide the escape that lies in that involuntary response.

When you first start gigging, it's about finding an audience.

Whereas acting, you have to wait for someone else to give you the opportunity to do it, in comedy, you can just pick out your own strengths and be like, I'm just going to show the best bits to the world.

All my characters are like, weird people. Weird, un-self aware people.

It is fun to play someone who likes everyone and is liked by most people, or is at least tolerated.

There is something quite amusing about someone who is relentlessly positive and wants to be everyone's friend in a cynical world.

Going to Edinburgh when I was at university and seeing people who were my age just getting up and doing what they wanted to do, was quite a clincher for me.

I watched a lot of comedy when I was younger.

I don't think that not seeing black women in comedy held me back, but I think subconsciously I never really thought that it was a career that I would definitely go into.

Now when I travel, I'm more adventurous. If I find myself creeping back into that 'not going to leave the hotel' vibe, I take baby steps, like having a nice dinner on my own or getting my nails done.

I still get excited by the same clothes I did when I first started going to vintage shops. But I think as I get older, I realize how much nicer it is to have 10 great outfits rather than 1000 tops and dresses that are all in a pile I cry in every time I get ready to go out.

I wore a green suit and green polo-neck to the 'Shrill' premiere. I loved it because on paper it sounds disgusting, but I managed to pull it off!

I love Nooworks, Mara Hoffman, and Monki, and ASOS just for the joy of ordering a pair of shoes in bed at 11 P. M. and them arriving the next day.

For me, it's comfort over style always, ladies!

I wanted to do standup, but I was too nervous. I felt it was too vulnerable basically to be yourself on stage.

'The Miracle Workers' was the first time I've been on a big American TV set, so that felt very epic.

I know my strengths are doing a weird accent or having weird mannerisms so when I have to play a normal human being, I'm like, 'this is too hard.'

The thing I love about comedy is that it challenges you.

University was fun in many ways - new people, a new town, a bigger Vodka Revs bar. But my three years there also involved navigating a cacophony of questions such as, 'But why isn't there a White History Month? Like, genuinely? I just wanna know?'

It wasn't until a few years ago, when I was going through old Facebook pictures with a friend, and happened upon a photo of a monkey at a zoo that had been tagged as me by an old housemate, that I realized I'd normalized so much racism.

Performing a play or a musical or something is obviously an incredible rush, but I don't think you get that immediate response like with comedy unless you get a round of applause or whatever.

I want to sometimes talk about race and sometimes not talk about race, but mainly just do silly voices and pretend to be like strange people, and having people be like, 'That's fine, we accept that.'

If I'm doing different accents, I feel like I'm acting. If I'm doing my own accent, I feel like I'm saying someone else's dialogue as myself.

I'm very willing to cut people off if they betray the people that I love.