Planting the comedy seeds

When Claire Hooper visited the Tate Modern in 2010, she had no idea that she would stumble across the inspiration for her new stand-up show. However, when she saw Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds carpeting the exhibition hall, she couldn't shake the image. “This one artwork in particular stuck with me, because at the time, I thought it was completely stupid... but I couldn't stop thinking about it,” explains Hooper. “I've always had a strange relationship with art,” Hooper adds. “I think a lot of people do, when you aspire to be an art lover but you don't really have a high tolerance for bullshit.”

Best known for her post on the resurrected Good News Week, Hooper has been further enhanced by her co-hosting job on Mix 106.5's Breakfast show. Glad with her show, Hooper continues. “It's really nice, actually, because as a comedian, you have a lot of friends that turn up to your shows... You know that they're probably dreading that chat afterwards where they try to find something nice to say,” she laughs. “But they seemed like they were genuinely enjoying complimenting me on the show, which is as good as it gets.”