Tonight's line-up on Michael McIntyre's The Wheel features Clare Balding, Zoe Ball, Bill Bailey, Lou Sanders, Konnie Huq and Tommy Fury, with Sam Thompson and Pete Wicks in the double chair. Most of the names will be known in most households but there might be some people puzzled about the inclusion of Lou Sanders.
They are clearly not comedy fans though. Sanders has been building up a reputation in recent years as one of comedy's most lovable oddballs. She is a quirky stand-up comedian with a surreal streak who is not afraid to mine her own life and her own distinctive insecurities to extract all possible comedy gold.
Sanders grew up in Broadstairs in Kent and now lives in nearby Margate with her two ragdoll cats, Baby and Bobert. She says a psychic called Petra identified their different personalities. She told The Times: ’She said to me Bobert loves the garden and Baby loves the velvet sofa, and Bobert knows you worry about him going out in the garden, but he said he’s fine..’
She – Sanders - not the psychic – has featured on a number of comedy and comedy-adjacent shows, ranging from the first season of Last One Laughing which was won by Bob Mortimer. Lou starred in the 2024 series of ITV’s Dancing On Ice and in the series of Unforgivable which she co-hosted with Mel Giedroyc and saw them crowned Best Entertainment Programme at the Broadcast Digital Awards. She hosted an episode of Live At The Apollo and is a previous Taskmaster champion.
Other appearances include The Late Late Show with James Corden (CBS), 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown (Channel 4), QI (BBC Two), Travel Man (Channel 4), Hypothetical (Dave), 8 Out of 10 Cats (Channel 4). She has been a guest co-host on live radio shows with names including John Robins, Elis James and Ed Gamble.
She has also written a book called ‘What’s That Lady Doing? False Starts and Happy Endings’ which she said “seems to have connected with women over 35, alcoholics and other vulnerable cross sections of humanity” and recently finished her latest stand-up tour, entitled No Kissing In The Bingo Hall. Lou said of the show: “Just like Tom Cruise does all his own stunts, I’m going to do all my own jokes”.
So if you are asking who is Lou Sanders? the answer is you should know by now.
Michael McIntyre's The Wheel, Saturday, November 22, 8.05pm, BBC One.
Picture: Credit: BBC/Hungry McBear/Gary Moyes
