Josie Isabel Long

Josie Long, born Josie Isabel Long on 17 April 1982, is an English comedian. She was born in Sidcup and spent her early life in Orpington, London, where she attended Newstead Wood School for Girls. She began performing stand-up comedy at the age of 14, winning the BBC New Comedy Awards at 17. At 18 she gave up stand-up while attending Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, where she ran experimental comedy clubs and graduated with a degree in English.

After graduating, Long returned to live stand-up, supporting Stewart Lee on his spring 2005 tour, and in March that year was named Best Newcomer at the 2005 Chortle Awards. In 2006 she won the If.comeddies Best Newcomer award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for her show Kindness and Exuberance. She has been nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show three times, with her 2010 show Be Honourable!, 2011's The Future Is Another Place, and 2012's Romance & Adventure. In 2012, she and director Doug King produced two short comedy films in Glasgow, Let's Go Swimming and Romance and Adventure, which were nominated for a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award.

Long has written for the Channel 4 teen comedy-drama series Skins and appeared in episodes of its second series. Since 2013 she has presented the BBC Radio 4 short documentary series and podcast Short Cuts, which won Gold for Best Radio Podcast at the British Podcast Awards in both 2017 and 2018. She founded her own monthly comedy clubs, including the Sunday Night Adventure Club, and between 2011 and 2017 ran and hosted The Lost Treasures of the Black Heart comedy club at the Black Heart pub in Camden Town. She has also published the free fanzine Drawing Moustaches in Magazines Monthly Magazine and appeared regularly on Robin Ince's podcast.