Angela Barnes

Angela Barnes (born 9 November 1976) is an English stand-up comedian known for her appearances on Mock the Week. She was born in Sidcup, London and raised in Maidstone, Kent, attending Invicta Grammar School and later studying at the University of Sussex in Brighton from 1996. During childhood she experienced repeated ear infections which resulted in hearing loss, and she wears hearing aids.

After graduating, Barnes trained as a nurse and later worked in social care, and before becoming a professional comedian she organised comedy nights in Brighton. Following the death of her father in 2008, whom she described as a major influence on her interest in comedy, she decided to pursue stand-up professionally, attending a 12-week comedy workshop in Brighton. Since winning the BBC Radio 2 New Comedy Award in 2011, she has continued to be a regular on the stand-up circuit. She has appeared on Russell Howard's Good News, written for BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz, performed at the Latitude Festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park, and appeared on Mock the Week and Richard Osman's House of Games, where she was the first ever contestant to win all five days.

From 2017 to 2018, Barnes hosted the show Newsjack on BBC Radio 4 Extra, and in January 2018 she appeared on Live at the Apollo. Her BBC Radio 4 stand-up series You Can't Take It With You was based on her acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe 2014 show and ran for two series, in 2016 and 2019, serving in part as a tribute to her late father. Following the murder of Australian comedian Eurydice Dixon, she led the setting up of The Home Safe Collective, a free cab service for comedians at the Edinburgh Fringe, which won the 2018 panel prize award at the Edinburgh comedy awards. She was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in May 2021 and married her husband Matt in September 2021.