Sha Wylie was a Brighton Fringe regular

Sha Wylie, who is believed to have been England’s oldest stand-up comedian, has died at the age of 81.

She took up comedy after signing up to a comedy course at the age of 62 and was a regular performer at the fringe festival in her Brighton hometown. She twice made the finals of the Leicester Comedy Festival Silver Stand-up competition for acts over 55. Friends say she was gigging to the end.

She died surrounded by her family on July 5 following a brief illness.

Kerry Herbert at Brighton-based Stand-Up Marketing provided the following obituary.

Sha Wylie, passed away peacefully and surrounded by her family, on Sunday 5th July in Brighton, following a brief illness that required her to go to the GPs in her crocs and the hospital in her WTF earrings. 

She was 81, a regular at the Brighton Fringe and still gigging to the end, getting to venues using her bus pass and a bright yellow Alinker walking-bike.

Having been brought up in boarding schools, Sha Wylie’s Radio 4 tone belied the fact that she spent time as a sex educator in Siberia, blowing up condoms on Russian TV. From marriage (as a registrar) to divorcee (of Hove), Sha’s voice of experience meant she could digress just like her comedy hero, Ronnie Corbett, as reflected in the title her 2012 show, And It’s Goodnight From Her.

Sha once said that if she were to have a headstone, it would say: ‘Sha was fat and that was that.’

We’d like it to say, ‘Sha was loved, by her three children, her grandchildren, her many foster children, her nieces and nephews, her friends, her penpals, and her whole comedy family.’

But that’s too many words, so we’ll just hold her in our hearts and remember her unctuous voice calling us "darling", her bright pink hair, and her spectacular earrings - recent ones being Lego seagulls ready for a chip. She will be terribly missed.

Rest in peace, Sha. 

Sha Wylie, comedian: March 25, 1945 to July 5, 2026.

Published: 14 Jul 2026