How comedian Sapphire McIntosh went from homelessness to Ted Lasso

When it came to naming her upcoming debut Edinburgh Fringe show, it was only natural that comedian Sapphire McIntosh turned to football. 

Squeaky Bum Time, an Alex Ferguson reference, was originally coined to refer to the tense final moments of a football season – something McIntosh knows all about as a former semi-professional player. But she says, “It’s also a reflection of my artistic journey, living in London as a working-class creative – there’s been a lot of squeaky bum times, and a lot have been centred around housing, and paying London rent without having London money.”

The show will combine all these parts of her life, McIntosh says, from growing up playing football in Leeds, to living in a London housing co-op as a working comedian – via a period of homelessness as a teen and a criminology degree somewhere in between. 

It’s “very absurdist and very weird” she says, and draws heavily on the types of sketch characters she has made her name depicting on social media over the past decade. “It’s not just full stand-up; there’s a lot of acting, there’s expressions. We’re going to be using sound, props – all to make this weird autobiographical show about my life.”

McIntosh, 36, was born and raised in Leeds, where she lived with her mother until the breakdown of their relationship at age 16. It was then that she found herself homeless, living at first in temporary accommodation in a hostel.

“But it was a really interesting time because while I was there I was also trialling for Leeds United,” she recalls. “So I would be out in the back garden, literally all the time, just playing football. It was like one of those African-American sports movies.”

After three months, she was given a studio flat in the area, where she lived alone until moving into university halls in Manchester at age 19. 

“I can imagine it’s not like this now, but I actually felt very supported,” she says, crediting a council support worker and her sixth form college for backing her over those years, as well as benefits like education maintenance allowance and income support.

Her football fixation also got her through. “I did grow up too quick, definitely. But football at that point was my life – I was just obsessed,” she says. Alongside a job at Nando’s and studying for three A levels, McIntosh trained at least twice a week, playing with various different teams in between. 

“I was just locked in, and football really helped with my situation.”

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McIntosh played semi-professionally until the age of 19, when she moved to Manchester for a criminology degree which she realised during a lecture on the history of policing “was not for me, actually”. But it was during this time that she made her first social media skit: Cooking with Rhonda, in which she played a Jamaican chef, teaching people how to cook basic dishes. 

“I uploaded it onto Facebook. And then I went out that week and someone said to me, ‘Saph, we keep on watching that video, we’ve been watching it over and over.’” 

“But I knew then that was what I wanted to do. So then throughout my twenties I’d make little videos, I’d make characters, vox pops. And I always talked about doing stand-up but I just never did it.”

That is, until 2020, when she enrolled in a stand-up comedy class. She excelled in the class but still lacked the confidence to get up on stage, until she saw social media clips of others from her course putting themselves out there. 

There was the small matter of a pandemic in the way – but in 2021, McIntosh booked her first stand-up gig and hasn’t looked back. 

In the five years since, she has reached the finals of countless comedy competitions, performed with improv and sketch groups, appeared in Channel 4’s Comedy Shorts series and continued making her own viral content. And last year, she even found the time to film the upcoming season of Apple TV’s Ted Lasso, starring as a player for the new Richmond WFC. 

The audition process was unconventional – more keepie-uppies and football drills than screen tests and table reads. But for McIntosh, it was a perfect full-circle moment. 

“I was so happy [when I got the call], because the reason I live the way I do is so that I’m flexible for my art,” she says, referring to the years of London renting that have variously seen her lodging illegally, boarding in a mansion and now sharing with eight housemates in a co-op. 

“To be able to get what was basically a full-time job, on one of the biggest comedies – a flagship show about women’s football. It was just great.”

As for the future, McIntosh hopes there will be more acting gigs, as well as opportunities to tour more and hopefully get into writers’ rooms. 

Previews of Squeaky Bum Time have been well-received, and she’s looking forward to bringing it to Edinburgh. 

“I’m proud of the show – it’s something new and fresh,” she says. “I feel like there’s not many comedians who’ve had my upbringing. I’ve overcome things and I’ve got a new perspective.”

And when it comes to renting in London? 

“I’m the most secure I’ve been now because we’re protected in the co-op – everyone is a landlord and you can’t get kicked out unless you do something really, really bad,” she says.

“So yeah, I’m here now and I live with a lot of people, and it allows me to do the work I do. But maybe it also pushes me, because I don’t want to be living like this forever.”

Squeaky Bum Time by Sapphire McIntosh will be at Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe at 5.45pm each day, 5-30 August. The fourth season of Ted Lasso is on Apple TV from 5 August 

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