"I have a lovely picture of me coming second in a talent contest at a caravan park on the Isle of Wight," laughs comedian Lucy Porter. 

"I sang the song Little Bird and it was widely regarded as one of the finest performances ever seen on the Island.

"I could say I was 38, but I was probably 4.

"That was the peak of my career."

Isle of Wight County Press: Quay Arts in Newport.Quay Arts in Newport. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press.)

The Croydon-born writer, actor, comic and Radio 4 regular, brings her Wake Up Call tour to Quay Arts in Newport, on Thursday, May 4.

Speaking to the Isle of Wight County Press, she promises, "rambling anecdotes about my middle-aged life.

"My agent gets annoyed, because I keep saying it's only for middle-aged people but there is a lot of mid-life crisis chat.

"It's about bin schedules, local Whatsapp groups and lower back pain."

Lucy writes what she knows - sometimes after putting a wash on and stand-up is her favourite thing to do, but it wasn't always.

After her commanding childhood Island performance, shyness kicked in and for a while she was a self-confessed comedy nerd, who spent her time listening to laughs on the radio and watching them on TV.

It played out in her writing, which she described as introspective, and it soon became clear she needed to put herself out there to get noticed.

"I only did stand up as a way to become a writer - then it took over and I loved it.

"There was a massive show-off lurking inside me. There's no putting the genie back in the bottle now."

Lucy's ideal venue is small enough to feel like you're chatting with friends and large enough to get the right amount of laughter, but she says every gig is different and special - like a snowflake.

Lucy Porter performing on Live at the Apollo

Next year marks two decades since Lucy joined a stage cast of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, alongside Hollywood A-lister True Romance and Heathers star Christian Slater, Pirates of the Caribbean and Detectorists' Mackenzie Crook and Olivier Award-nominated actor, Francis Barber.

Lucy said she 'lucked into' a small part in the 2004 Edinburgh Fringe show.

"It was chaotic. We were pranking each other and having high jinx," she recalls.

"It was like being on a field trip with a crazy manic energy. 

"People went nuts when they saw Christian. They were star struck. I was star struck!"

It's the varied nature of her career that keeps Lucy interested and she says she could never hold down a day job.

She talks about her 'disastrous early working life' in Wake Up Call.

"The show is for for middle aged women and anyone who loves them. 

"If you're wearing an item of clothing you bought at a garden centre, this show's for you.

"People have said to me, 'now I get why my mum's so angry.' It's a public service, really.

Comedy means she gets to beautiful places and when she is here she may even get a chance to experience it as we - and Isle of Wight resident, broadcaster Anneka Rice - do.

"There is talk of wild swimming!

"I did a show with Anneka, in Guernsey. She said, next time you come to the Isle of Wight you must look me up and we'll go for a swim.

"I'm apprehensive about whether the sea's warmed up enough, but I did it when I was four. It will be like coming home again!"