Elf Lyons

Elf Lyons is an award-winning comedian, theatre maker, director, writer and voice artist. In 2023, Elf was listed as number 25 in The Telegraph’s 50 Best Comedians of the 21st Century.

Elf recently starred as Rachel in ‘The Misandrist’ by Lisa Carroll at the Arcola Theatre, London.

Originally from London, Elf aims to create work that pushes the relationship between comedy, theatre and performance art.

Award nominations for her work have included the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality, British Comedy Guide’s Comedians Choice Award and Fringe World Perth’s Best Comedy Show. In 2018, Elf won Adelaide Fringe’s Pick of the Fringe. In 2020 her show ‘Unlikely Darlings’ with Helen Duff was one of The Telegraph’s 50 Best Cultural Moments of the year.

She currently leads the Soho Theatre’s Labs + course for emerging artists alongside directing artists in the UK and abroad.

Writing: Alongside her live work, Elf is a well-respected writer and has written for The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent, Londonist, Cosmopolitan Magazine and Refinery29, among others. Elf was featured on the cover of the Observer Magazine for her article ‘In Praise of Polyamory’. She is a three-time cover star of The Sunday Times Culture.

Radio: Outside of Comedy, Elf frequently guests on podcasts and radio programmes discussing subjects as varied as polyamory, economics and a wide range of political and social issues. She has been featured and interviewed on Classical Fix (BBC Radio 3), Loose Ends (BBC Radio 4), Standard Issue, The Spectator Podcast, The Insider for The Economist, Unexpected Fluids (Radio 1), Evil Genius (BBC Sounds), and BBC World Service’s Stand Up Show – London (BBC World Service) among many other acclaimed podcasts and radio shows. You can hear her frequently on The Breakfast Show and Culture Hour (Times Radio) and The Colin Murray Show (BBC Radio 5). You can listen to her hit podcast Elfonomics on Apple Podcasts.

TV: Elf’s recent TV and online credits have included ‘The A to Z of Horror Movies’ (Sky Original), ‘Sound Off’ (BBC Studios), ‘Comedians Giving Lectures’ (Dave), ‘Comedians Against Living Miserably’ (Dave), ‘The Stand Up Sketch Show’ (ITV2 – series 2 & 3), and ‘The Dog Ate My Homework’ (CBBC).

Live: Since January 2022, Elf has created and performed three different one hour comedy shows – each touring separately around the UK and internationally from 2023 onwards. These include; ‘Heist’ – an absurdist comedy show conducted entirely in BSL with Duffy; ‘Talk Dirty’ – a one hour straight stand-up show about filth; and ‘Raven’ – her ★★★★★ mad-cap comedy horror show.