2025 is shaping up to be a big year for comedian Rosie Jones as she heads back out on tour with her latest stand-up show I Can’t Tell What She’s Saying. She also stars in a bold new Channel 4 comedy that she has co-written, entitled Pushers (pictured below), and a second run of her hit Comedy Central series Out Of Order is in the pipeline too.

  

There really is no stopping Jones. She has also found the time to set up the Rosie Jones Foundation, which is on a mission to empower lives and change minds, taking a stand against isolation for individuals living with cerebral palsy. Rosie’s tour will also include in-person events around the UK. 

  

These are the two sides to Rosie Jones. The outrageously funny, irreverent comedian and the committed campaigner determined to fight for what she believes in. She talks about her tour, her new TV comedy and her charity below. She also spills the beans on the true love of her life – gravy. 

  

Pushers starts on C4 on Thursday, June 19 at 10pm. 

Thanks for finding the time to do this interview. You're always busy, aren't you?

  

Yes. I go through my life apologising mostly to friends and family for not seeing them. Things are pretty full-on.

  

  

I did a work in progress in Melbourne in March and April and I've been doing a lot of gigs here ever since, so I know what i'm going to be talking about. Anyone who has seen me perform live before will know that it will fun, positive and very rude. If you like what I do on TV or you've seen me live before and liked it you won't be disappointed.

  

  

Yes. I'm in my mid-thirties and I've never had a relationship. If I find myself in a relationship before the tour starts I'm buggered. Really buggered!

  

  

24% of people in the UK have a disability and that is not nearly represented. It's constantly on my mind. I have to stress that I am only one person who happens to be disabled, but I have a voice and I really feel passionate about using my platform to do good things right now. 

  

  

Well I'll be talking about disabled stuff and I talk about the gay stuff but I'm also talking about what really matter in the world right now. Gravy.

  

  

Anything you give me, I will drink, Gravy is everything, it needs to be part of every drinks menu. I've had a long morning and I'm excited about the fact that when I finish talking to you I'm going to Popeyes chicken shop and getting a shitload of wings and a shitload of gravy. Extra gravy. I dip my chicken in the gravy and then any excess gravy is going down the hatch...

  

  

We just want to create a world in which nobody with cerebral palsy feels unheard or alone. There will be mentoring and support. We are starting in the UK, but we've got big ambitions to make it worldwide. We want to focus on careers, communications and create a community environment where a person with cerebral palsy can feel proud and capable and can feel like themselves. I'm just so excited that we can get our vision and our mission out there and change lives.

  

  

Yes. A year and a half ago I met people with cerebral palsy and not only were they isolated but a lot of them had never met or communicated with another person with cerebral palsy. When I was in school I was the only disabled person to go to my school, so on my tour I want people to be able to meet me. 

  

  

It's always been my dream. I grew up watching shows like dinnerladies and The Vicar of Dibley.

 

  

  

It the proudest thing I've ever done. The majority of the cast have a disability. I didn't want it to be like everyone is white, straight and non-disabled and there is one disabled character and they just give disabled storylines to that one person. That isn't a true presentation of the UK. Also it's incredibly damaging because you almost suggest that being disabled is a personality type. The characters are so much more than their disability.

  

  

I really hope it starts a few different conversations. I hope it starts a conversation about disability. I hope that creators will watch it and realise how important it is to represent disabled people as real three-dimensional people. Maybe there's a world in which I could have written a lovely family tea time sitcom about a little disabled lady and her family. But that isn't me, I'm going to write a raw, gritty sitcom about drug dealers. Me and Peter (Fellows), my co-writer, were very passionate about showing the reality of drugs and drug dealing. 

  

  

We started this process in 2018, so for most of the time we were doing it under a Conservative government and it had that political undertone of how the Tories treated disabled people and how they lose their benefits. Then last year, I was so excited to have a Labour government and we thought things might get better. Unfortunately, it hasn't played out that way so Pushers is needed now more than ever.

  

  

I really enjoyed doing it because it was a real marriage of acting and my stand-up self. Also I've never been the main character in a show before, which was an added challenge because when you're number one on the call sheet, you're really the temperature of the production. If you're not happy, no one's happy. So I was very aware that I brought positivity to the set.

  

  

I could do that. I'd have to say - 'must love gravy.'