Sara Pascoe: 'I performed at Hugh Grant's birthday party' | ...but as a prank on the actor, who hated her material © UKTV

Sara Pascoe: 'I performed at Hugh Grant's birthday party'

...but as a prank on the actor, who hated her material

comedy

Sara Pascoe has revealed she was asked to perform stand-up at Hugh Grant’s birthday – but only as a cruel joke to wind him up. 

‘Hugh Grant, the movie star, apparently hates his birthday, so what his friends do is every year is arrange a party he will not enjoy,’ the comic told Alan Davies on his Dave show As Yet Untitled.

‘Each year there’s a theme, and my year the theme was "women talking",’ she added. ‘So they booked me. 

‘I’ll be really honest with you, I wasn’t their first choice. They offered me £300 cash in an envelope. All of the other women turned it down, and they say, "why would you say yes?" And I said, "for the money - and the story".

‘They asked me to do half an hour of my most feminist material. But they hinted that they had told Hugh to expect a stripper.

‘They had asked me to wear a No More Page 3 T-shirt. When I got to the party, I was told to sit in the corner with my jacket on so as not to spoil the surprise. At this point, I look like I could be the stripper.

‘When they decided it was time they put Hugh Grant down on a chair and tell me "off you go". So I stood in front of Hugh Grant and slowly unzip my jacket to reveal my No More Page 3 T-shirt, and his face falls.

‘And then I started doing my "feminist material"… and Hugh Grant was really not enjoying himself. He was trying to pretend it wasn’t that bad, but he isn’t a very good actor. 

‘It should have been the most awful gig, but everyone in the room was laughing at how much Hugh Grant was hating it, so it wasn’t my worst. There was laughter in the room.’

And there was a twist in the tale 12 months later.

‘The next year, I was invited to Hugh Grant’s party – as a guest,’ Pascoe added. ‘They said, "you’ll find out the theme when you arrive". So I got to the venue and they open the door and say the theme is: "People Hugh thinks are mad".’

Alan Davies As Yet Untitled is currently available on demand via UKTV Play.

Published: 11 Aug 2021

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