Bristol24/7 Person of the Year 2022: Jayde Adams

“We’re told by the patriarchy every day that we should care about what we look like because it’s the most important thing – but I’m doing the opposite of that.”

These are the unapologetic words of Jayde Adams, comedian, actor, director, singer, dancer and unstoppable force of nature, who has had a stratospherically successful 2022.

Eliminating the patriarchy is just one task on the agenda for Jayde, who this year has gone from playing a bruising matriarch in Hartcliffe-set film The Fence to charming the nation on Strictly Come Dancing with her professional dance partner Karen Hauer.

We meet at The Metropolitan on Whiteladies Road, “the new place to be, apparently” according to Jayde, who has just returned to Bristol after a stand-up comedy gig in Exeter alongside other acts including Dylan Moran and Mike Wozniak.

In 2022, Jayde has been a TV presenter, stand-up comedian, actor, dancer, podcast host and TikTok guru.

In 2023, the 37-year-old will tour her comedy show, appear in the film version of the Take That musical, return to her role in award-winning sitcom Alma’s Not Normal and star in her own sitcom inspired by a Stokes Croft call centre.

“The last day I had off was the Mighty Hoopla Big Weekender At Butlin’s Bognor Regis, and then I came back to work immediately,” Jayde says.

“I’m so busy, but I’m never going to complain about it because it’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Greeting me with a hug, Adams is chic in all-white linen, incredibly charismatic and witty. She certainly does not lack confidence, stating matter-of-factly: “There’s loads of ego in the stuff that I do, but I already know that I’m brilliant.”

But underneath her infectious self-assurance, she admits her success is hard-won: “I’m not related anyone in the industry and I don’t have the backing of RADA or Cambridge or Oxford, so I have to just take every opportunity I can and ride this wave.

“However, I am very much not on a boat I’m not steering. I don’t let the waves take me. I am in charge of it.”

Navigating 2022, Jayde says her proudest moment this year was dancing the cha cha cha to What A Feeling from the 1983 film Flashdance – because “it made women feel good about themselves”.

“I’m constantly inundated with messages from people telling them that I’ve changed their lives,” she says about the reaction to the routine which has become the most viewed online from the entire series.

“There’s a girl that sent me a video of her strutting down the street in her pants with a big arse saying she’s hated the way she’s looked for ages and today she went out in her pants and felt amazing.”

The Bristolian comedian may have started her working life at the fish counter in Asda Bedminster, but this self-confessed diva was no stranger to glitz and glamour when she erupted onto the screen in Strictly’s 20th year.

Jayde (right) and her sister Jenna (left) in 1997 – photo: Jayde Adams

Growing up, Jayde would enter freestyle disco-dancing competitions alongside her sister, Jenna, who was two years older than her. Dance was a huge part of the comedian’s relationship with her sister, who passed away from a brain tumour in 2011.

During the very first series of Strictly in 2004, Jayde turned to Jenna and told her: “I’m going to be on Strictly.”

While the statement came true, Jenna’s absence weighed on every moment of Jayde’s time on the show, however joyful being a contestant was. “We hate the ‘j’ word’ on Strictly, but I knew it was going be an incredibly emotional journey because I hadn’t danced with anyone since my sister.”

This was part of the reason why she wanted to be partnered with a female professional dancer, “not because I think the men can’t handle it; men can handle it. I just wanted a bird around, I wanted a girl to be there compassionately and empathetically for me.”.

Jayde was once labelled the “third funniest woman in the world” by Dawn French – photo: Jayde Adams

The very real topic of loss is a subject Jayde doesn’t shy away from in her comedy for the last decade. Her debut stand-up show, 31, written in the wake of her sister’s death, was nominated for the Edinburgh newcomer award in 2016.

Jayde’s fifth Edinburgh Fringe show as a stand-up comic, touring around the UK including at Bristol Old Vic in April and June 2023, is called Men, I Can Save You – a show she describes as “a real piss take with me trying to be like the Tony Robbins self help guru for men”.

Jayde is exploring her own saviour complex off the back of the way men, she observes, regard a move towards equality as a loss to their own position.

“Women don’t really need anyone right now – they seem to be just doing fine on their own,” Jayde says, explaining why men were an obvious choice as a group in need of her help.

She had the idea for the show before her relationship with a boyfriend ended, but her newly single status allowed her to write about finding herself, sexually and otherwise. She is, she says, “an incredibly proud single woman”.

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Like many in the entertainment industry, Jayde has sadly become a target for trolls and haters, but brings joy in the face of it by engaging with her detractors online to show resilience.

“Even this morning, a man on the internet who was very upset with me started sending me all sorts of abuse,” Jayde admits, rolling her eyes.

“If you have any type of voice as a woman, there are a cacophony of blokes trying to take it away from you. It does hurt, but they are never going to see it.”

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Although renowned for her stand-up, Jayde tells me that it is acting which was always her ultimate career goal: “Comedy has been great but actually I just did it because I couldn’t find another way into acting.”

Fulfilling her dream, this year has seen Jayde take on more acting roles than ever, from Alma’s Not Normal and the forthcoming Take That movie to her own sitcom – Ruby Speaking.

Out in 2023, the ITVX series is inspired by Jayde’s former job in a Bristol call centre which was “boring as hell, but my best friend worked there so we had a great time”.

Her open casting call for the project, which is seven years in the making, led to her to find “a star” in the form of a Wetherspoons chef that made Jayde feel “like Simon Cowell when Paul Potts walked on stage”. Giving a platform to young performers is a goal for Jayde, who is keen to “send the ladder down”.

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Despite fighting to take down the patriarchy, one joke and dance at a time, Jayde admits that the problem is ingrained.

“I’ve been more compassionate with men’s problems than I ever are with women,” she says, revealing her single new year’s resolution for 2023. “So I’ve decided to like stop holding women to the higher expectations that I don’t hold men to.

“I always think to myself, before I start blaming other people, what’s my role in this? How can I be better before I start pointing the finger at other people? That’s what makes a good comedian.”

For tickets to see Men, I Can Save You at Bristol Old Vic in 2023, visit www.bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/jayde-adams-2022

Main photo: Jordan Rossi/ Hunger

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