Anyone whose spent at least half an hour of their day (which they swore was only five minutes) doomscrolling on Instagram will probably have stumbled across Ali Woods. The ginger-haired London comedian has quietly captured the attention spans of pretty much all Londoners with his razor-sharp wit, observational comedy and louche, laid-back, everyday mate demeanour.
Fresh off his sold out run at Edinburgh Fringe with his stand-up show Basher, Woods caught up with us in our favourite local The Lucky Saint. He joined us to sink a pint and chat about his comedy career, from his early days getting booed off gong shows all the way up to his big 2026 UK and European tour, taking Basher on the road — and making us ache with laughter in the meantime.
It’s easy to think you know comedians, between the whole oversharing via sketches and Instagram presence, but there were more than a few surprises when it came to everyone’s favourite funnyman...
1. It wasn't always comedy for him
Most people have to do some serious rounds before they manage to make it in comedy — it’s a rite of passage partly in thanks to the underfunding of the arts, and partly to help them get the right material for their shows. Bob Mortimer was a binman and solicitor, Greg Davies was a teacher, Ali Woods was a marketing & PR girly.
“I used to work for a PR company for seven years before I went into comedy full-time,” Woods revealed.
“Office life kills your soul, man,” he laughed.
“I wanted to work in advertising — I didn’t think being a stand-up was a career — and neither did my mum,” he joked. “Advertising felt creative but stable. Weirdly, now I’m in a more stable job being a comedian than marketing because of AI.”
So the moral of the story is, chase your dreams, kids.
2. He’s no stranger to a particular British Icon
It’s rare you get an occasion to share a Colin the Caterpillar with a virtual stranger, but thanks to the interview being a few days before Ali’s birthday and our 10th anniversary episode, that’s exactly what we did. The only thing better than a pint cheers? A mini, individual Colin the Caterpillar cheers. And it turns out that Woods is no stranger to the beloved British staple.
“I sometimes have these on the way back from gigs,” Woods admitted mid-mouthful. “Just on the train back, smashing a packet of these.”
3. He’s never cried on stage… but he's been close
Once again, comedy is an unusual profession in that getting harassed, argued with, and heckled is part of the status quo. No HR department, no spare office spaces to shed your tears in — having to hold it together on stage is one of the toughest gigs to crack.
“Heckling is toughest when you start out, because you don’t know how to respond to them,” Woods revealed.
“Gong shows are a way of getting into comedy — you have 30 comedians, and they tell the audience to boo if they don’t like it, and you get sent off. There are three audience members who have cards, and if all three cards go up, you get sent off. I was doing one of these shows, and I mentioned Google, and a guy yelled, 'you should have Googled some jokes' – huge laugh.
“The memory I hate is from Halloween; I was at the comedy store, 400 people, sold out, four guys were dressed as the Grim Reaper. I went on and was doing okay - not great, not bad. I was at two minutes (you have to get to five). I started doing a bit, and this guy just yelled, 'You stole that!' [claiming the joke was from Sean Locke].
"I said 'F*ck you, no I didn’t' — immediate booing from everyone, all the cards went up, because not only was I not funny, I was also a thief.
"I was the last act before the break, so I went off, thinking I needed to get out of here — tears streaming down my face — but the audience was so dispersed I couldn’t get out. I remember so vividly coming out into Leicester Square, and feeling so alone amongst the buzz of Leicester Square, and just thinking I’m never going to make it in comedy.”
4. His dream gig probably isn't a comedy one
There are a lot of great comedy shows in the UK, but as Woods pointed out, “Most of the shows I grew up watching have been cancelled - they keep cancelling all the comedy shows. There aren’t enough of them on TV.
“Mock the Week, that was one I really wanted to go on. Live at the Apollo, that’s up there, but I don’t even know if that will still be on in a year’s time. I hope so!”
So it’s fair that he has to start casting his net further afield.
“You know what,” Woods realised. “I’d love to do Match of the Day - I think that would be the dream gig. A lot of these shows, though, I’d want to do for my parents.”
5. He’d love to go on The Traitors — but his disguise tactics are a bit unconventional
Still on the topic of good old British TV — and endless, bottomless topic for most Brits — The Traitors inevitably reared its cloaked head.
“I’d love to go on The Traitors, but a normal people’s Traitors. You know what, I’d love to go on and do a really bold accent like Nigerian, or Jamaican, or something - completely gaslight people. But they’d be so polite they wouldn’t call me out on it and just nod along.”
6. He experiences a lot of red flags in comedy
It’s a fairly well-known faux-pas to steal other people’s stuff in the stand-up comedy world. The only time you hear it is when it has been done accidentally (see earlier Sean Locke incident)–– and the comedians usually get busted for it (again, see earlier). Online, however, it’s a different story.
“It’s probably my biggest comedy red flag,” Woods confessed. “People stealing other people’s material; when someone fairly big has favourited it like two days before, you know they’ll be making a version of their own,” he revealed.
“It’s super common, I hate that cultural change. I come from a background of standup where you just never do that,” Woods confirmed.
“The annoying thing is it’s so easy to give someone credit - you can easily tag something like ‘inspiration @ whoever it is - that’s completely fine.”
7. He has a secret Scottish love
Woods employs his Scottish genes in the best way: making them into comedy sketches, of course. But, as much as he riffs off the stereotypes and plays around with it, there are lots of things about it he loves - and one thing in particular doesn’t get enough praise in his opinion.
“Haggid gets such a bad rap,” Woods pointed out.
“That is tasty! It’s a spicy sausage - if they changed ‘Haggis’ to ‘Scottish ‘Nduja’ that would be a complete revelation for people.”
Can you tell he has a marketing background? This could have heralded the start of a very prosperous advertising career.
8. His underrated London spot is technically an overrated spot
For a Londoner, you don’t get much more local or au fait than a comedian who has pounded the pavements, tubes, and buses of the old Big Smoke, heading to every venue from the far flung outskirts to central spots.
When it comes to his favourite spots across the city, there are a couple of standouts: “You know where’s lovely? Southbank. It’s underrated because people avoid it because they think it’s touristy. The pubs, the river, the lights - at Christmas when there’s the market. It’s really lovely.”
When it comes to boroughs, it’s Wapping and Rotherhithe, which are his underrated stealth spots. Next to the Thames, and with great pubs, they’re being slept on according to Woods.
For him, Tower Bridge is the best landmark in London — but then again, it turns out he did live right next to it for a little while, so there may be a hint of bias.
After a sold-out run at Edinburgh Fringe, Ali Woods' UK and European tour - Basher - is kicking off in January 2026, tickets and more information are available via his website.
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