Nic Lamont - Dark Comedy Actress
The founder of Funny Women introduced me to Nic Lamont, a dark comedy actress. This is another career that intrigues me as I often wonder what might have happened if I had the guts to have gone to do an acting qualification, this was my chance to ask!
Nic grew up in rural Lincolnshire and refers to herself as having been quite shy when she was younger but something about being on the stage brought her out of herself. She found it easy to learn lines and was herself when performing, it helped develop her confidence.
When going onto university to study acting, she decided to choose a course that would also compliment her love of English, she went to York University to study English and theatre, she wanted a mix of academia and performance. There wasn't as much performance involved in her course as she would have liked so she bolstered it by joining the university societies in drama and pantomime. After university, Nic applied to go to a drama school to fully qualify, she found out 3 days before it started that she had been accepted on a cancellation place. This meant she spent 2 weeks on sofas until she found accommodation. To earn money whilst studying and whilst waiting for acting jobs, Nic talks about her ‘money jobs’, she always tries to make sure that these align with her passions and interest. One of her first jobs was being a ‘scare actor’ at Madame Tussard’s scaring people in the chamber of horror.
It was here that Nic meant her comedy partner Adam, they realised they worked really well when performing improv together and had quite a ‘dark style’ for comedy. This relationship has grown and blossomed and they have created a series about ‘The Twins McCabe’ which you can check out here.
I asked Nic about how she considered having a family. I know from speaking to friends and family and people on Instagram that most women tend to plan having a family around money and career and knowing the unpredictability of acting and responsibility of having ‘money jobs’ too, how on earth did Nic decide it was time for her and her partner to start a family? In 2019 Nic was in a play coincidently about a woman who was secretly pregnant and it turned out to be true for her.
In 2020 when we went into lockdown, although it was a scary and shocking time for the arts industry, Nic was able to enjoy a bit of ‘maternity leave’ as she had her baby. She received a grant and decided to dig out an old script, gather some acting friends and record the show. It got picked up by local radio and became a success. From here, post Covid and post lockdown, Nic has reassessed what work she will do and what she won’t based on her priorities. This applies to her acting jobs but also her ‘money jobs’. Nic and her baby actually got a role in a new baby advert where she and her daughter act together. She told me about how she also had to pump on set recently and the team were really supportive about it.
Her daughter has turned 2 so I was interested to hear what was next for Nic. She has set up an amazing new community project which you can check out here and she has written and is staring in her own new show about her take on Mary Shelley.
The best advice that Nic shares about being in her industry is to be nice to work with and know your value/ worth.
More resources Nic references on the podcast can be found here: