Lucy Beaumont is the Best Newcomer shortlist for the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Earlier in the month we spoke to her about how she got started in comedy, and the pains of having to leave Hull so she could gig regularly...

Hi Lucy. How did you first get into comedy?

I was an actor. I could never do another accent though [Lucy has a strong Hull accent], so I didn't get that much work. I was at university studying drama when I realised I needed to do something else. Quite a lot of funny things have happened to me, so I thought about having a go at comedy.

So what was your first time on stage?

I went all the way to London to do five minutes. I got off the train, went and did the five minutes, and then came straight back again. I was in London for like half-an-hour. I was really skint, I couldn't afford to get anything to eat there.

The gig was like an out-of-body experience. It went ok and I got quite a few laughs. I think if I hadn't got any laughs I wouldn't have carried on. I was helped though by the fact that, as I walked on and went to the microphones, I opened my mouth at the same time as a car horn went off outside - it looked like it was coming out of my mouth. It got a round of applause!

You won the BBC New Comedy Award in 2012. Did that have a notable impact on your career?

To apply for that award you have to send a recording of your act, and I found out afterwards that there was nothing on it - it was blank. I was very lucky that Carl Cooper, who was the producer, looked me up.

I did So You Think You're Funny? [the new act competition at the Edinburgh Fringe] as well, but I was so new when I did that. Something feels a bit mean about competing against other comics, because some of them are my friends. You don't do that in other jobs. If you were look at a whole year and then decide who was the funniest, that would be fairer - because a lot can happen on a night.

But I felt really comfortable [performing in the BBC New Comedy Awards final], and I felt like I knew the audience.... I think they were a little bit older, and I like older audiences, I don't know why, I just feel a little bit more relaxed.

Winning really helps get your name out. I used to find it quite hard getting gigs, but it got a lot easier after that award.

Does that bring with it pressure though, as you're now announced as "the award-winning..."

Usually the compere asks how you want to be introduced. There's only one or two gigs where I said 'yes' [to the award being mentioned]. It's a great award, but it's not it's not the be all and end all - there's lots of great comics who don't go through that.

You went on to appear on Live At The Electric. How did you find that?

I couldn't look at it for a second. I don't think I'll ever watch it. It's terrifying.
I did Comedy Central At The Comedy Store too. I hope I get better at it, but at this stage it's literally terrifying.

Why accept TV work if it's so stressful?

... Because of the money! Ha ha.

I'm sure it'll get easier. I'm sure I'll work out how to present myself. I think it'll just become second nature.

You're looking pretty comfortable on stage now. Which brings us on to your Edinburgh show, We Can Twerk It Out. What's that about?

Well I think it's sort of bringing people into my world really. It's biographical. It's a culmination of the last three years of me gigging, and my reactions to the world around me.

Before the Fringe, Radio 2 broadcast To Hull And Back, a sitcom pilot you created. You must have been very pleased with how that came out?

They've commissioned another script and I'm just waiting to hear if they want it as a series. It probably works better on Radio 4 - that went out on Radio 2.

It's quite good they've commissioned another episode, because it means they think it might get a series? I'm hoping it will go to series because the characters become real.

I've also got a commission to write another pilot for another idea, for Radio 4, so I'm going to be quite busy writing.

Maureen Lipman appeared in To Hull And Back with you...

She's incredible. I realised there's a reason why actors like her are where they are. I honestly thought she was genius. She brought something extra to that.

She was a really good script editor. She helped me with a few bits that weren't quite right. If it did get to the series, and I could work with her more, that would be brilliant.

Hull - where you grew up - is important to you isn't it? But you moved to Surrey a couple of years ago. Why's that?

I tried doing it [forging a comedy career] from Hull, but I don't drive. You have to gig every night at the start to get good at it and you just can't do that in Hull. You can't even gig every night in Manchester... so I moved to London.

I think I first started talking about Hull because it's all I knew. There's quite a lot in my stand-up now about the difference between London and Hull, and living in Surrey. It's lovely but it's different. I go back to Hull a lot.

I really massively care about Hull because it's had such a bad time. In World War II it was the most bombed city outside of London. When you go to the Old Town, you can see how beautiful the city would have been if it hadn't been bombed so much. Then the fishing industry collapsed. It's got huge unemployment.

It's got so much going for it now though, and will be the City Of Culture. I honestly think it's got such a great arts scene; so much talent - I think it will rival Liverpool soon. It's a city on the up.

I don't know for a fact, but I haven't seen any other city developing as fast as Hull is. Every time I go back there's something new happening and there's a real excitement that wasn't there literally a couple of years ago. People used to be the first to put it down, but now they're really proud of it.