She has always done things her way, ever since graduating with a first in Performing Arts from Salford University. She arranged her shows in Edinburgh without an agent and let people in for nothing, creating a buzz and collecting cash in a bucket at the exit. “It was just between me and the audience. I decided I’m gonna talk about sex, play music, have a dance, wear something glittery and go ‘fuck you industry’. The main thing is that people are loving it.” She has the instinctive ability to turn every gig into an event: “Talking onstage is easy. Real life I find hard.”

Life has moved very fast since her breakthrough Beyonce show. Three years ago she was living at home with her Polish mother and on anti-depressants. “It’s still a whirlwind. I moved out of mum’s house, came off anti-depressants. Things have been going really well, but you are always working on the next project. I just had my first holiday in four years and I thought ‘shit I’ve done a lot.’ Nobody has had so much success with their debut show. it’s blown everything out of the water.”

It is no surprise to discover that she admires another strong woman, Margaret Thatcher. In What Would Beyonce Do?! she talked about being impressed by the former Prime Minister but now she wants to clarify things. “One article said I was the Face of Right Wing Comedy. Dur? I went to see The Iron Lady and joked onstage that I thought Margaret Thatcher was a pop star from the eighties. I thought she had tenacity and that was amazing, so I posted ‘I love Margaret Thatcher’ on Facebook and got annihilated! It was my ignorance. I learnt more and I don’t agree with her politics at all.” 

She has certainly had to be tenacious herself. “My parents separated when I was seven and I only see my dad a couple of times a year. I’m very close to my mum. She’s a grafter.” Like mother, like daughter. She has done her share of temp jobs in call centres and now realises that all that effort was worth it. “I thought I’d be a star in my twenties. What I’ve achieved in the last 4 years has been a lifetime’s work.”

Omielan writes about what she cares about: “You have to have a strong feeling to write. I can’t just write a joke about ketchup.” Instead she writes about her life. “My first show was ‘I haven’t got a boyfriend, my career is going nowhere, what am I doing?’ My second show is ‘My career is is going ok, I still can’t get a boyfriend.’ My third show is going to be ‘Guys, it all worked out alright’. I’m going to call it ‘Famous with a baby’.”  

She hasn’t written it yet because she hasn’t met the right man. “I have no personal life whatsoever. Guys get intimidated. I haven’t found somebody good enough yet. You’d be surprised at the guys I fancy, I’m not fussy.” The new show and the boyfriend might both have to wait. She has recently signed a book deal with Random House to pen her autobiography and has to finish it by Christmas. 

Meanwhile she nurses lofty ambitions for her back catalogue. “I want these shows to be massive. I want Beyonce to be a West End musical like the Spice Girls show. Beyonce could be the show Viva Forever should have been. I’d love it to have backing dancers, black gay men in leotards behind me…” With drive and determination like hers it could just happen.

Am I Right Ladies?! is at The Bloomsbury Theatre on July 18. (0844 844 0444, ticketmaster.co.uk)

This is a longer version of an interview that first appeared in the Evening Standard here.