Katie Cariad Lloyd (born 21 August 1982) is a British comedian, actress, writer, and podcaster.[1] She is a member of the improvisational comedy group Austentatious, the creator and host of Griefcast, and an improv teacher.[2]
Lloyd was nominated in 2011 for Best Newcomer at the Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Awards for her debut solo show, Lady Cariad's Characters. She also won the Edtwinge award for most positively tweeted-about show during the Fringe.[3]
Lloyd's podcast, Griefcast has won several awards, including best Entertainment Podcast and Podcast of the Year at the British Podcast Awards and an ARIA Award for Best Podcast.[4]
In November 2023, it was announced that Lloyd signed a five-book deal with Hachette Children's Group.[5]
Personal life
Lloyd was born in North London. She is of Welsh descent on her father's side.[6] He died of pancreatic cancer in 1998, aged 44,[7] when she was 15.[8] Lloyd has an older brother; four years her senior.[9]
She studied English literature at the University of Sussex, where she first met her friend and fellow comedian Sara Pascoe.[10] Lloyd worked with Pascoe as a tour guide on open-top buses in London.[11] Whilst appearing on Would I Lie to You? Lloyd mentioned working at a call-centre where she was fired for impersonating various accents;[12] whilst on QI she mentioned that she has also worked as a barmaid.
She wrote and performed in her own comedy pilot for BBC Three, The Cariad Show. In May 2014, BBC Radio 4 aired a pilot for The Cariad Radio Show, which was featured on the BBC Comedy of the Week podcast. Since 2014, she has been co-writing and performing in the BBC Radio Wales sketch comedy show Here Be Dragons.
In 2014, Lloyd starred as Holly in the BBC Three comedy pilot Vodka Diaries and as Poppy in the comedy series Give Out Girls on Comedy Central. In 2015, she played Dawn, a warden in a young offenders' institution in the BBC Three comedy series Crims. In 2016 she appeared in the initial two episodes of Walliams & Friend on BBC One. She was also a series regular, playing several semi-improvised characters on Murder in Successville with Tom Davis.
She appeared in the final series of Peep Show as Megan.
In 2020, she appeared in Sara Pascoe's comedy series Out of Her Mind for BBC television.[15]
In March 2021, she presented the BBC Radio 4 programme What Have We Learnt About Grief? This programme mentioned the work of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. From March 2024 she appeared as a member of the Wales team on Round Britain Quiz.
Live performance
Lloyd has performed in a variety of live shows since 2006, including The Freewheelin' Cariad Lloyd[16] at Edinburgh Festival Fringe[17] in 2012. In 2013, she performed in The 50 Hour Improvathon at Hoxton Hall,[18] and The Freewheelin' Cariad Lloyd at Soho Theatre[19] among others.[20] In 2014, she performed at the Edinburgh Fringe with Louise Ford in Cariad and Louise's Character Hour.[citation needed]
Lloyd is a member of the improvisational comedy group Austentatious. In 2014, the show won the Chortle Award for Best Character, Improv or Sketch Act,[citation needed] and two DVDs of one of their live shows have been released by Go Faster Stripe in 2015 and 2018.[21] Other members of the group include Rachel Parris, Amy Cooke-Hodgson and Joseph Morpurgo.
Writing
Lloyd's book, You Are Not Alone, [22] was published in 2023. In a review in The Times, the book was described as "a blackly funny, honest, thought-provoking and compassionate book that will be of comfort to all who know loss".[7]
Lloyd created and hosts the podcast Griefcast, a series of conversations about death, bereavement, and coping with the loss of a loved one. It has won several awards, including: "Best Entertainment Podcast", "Best Interview Podcast" and "Podcast of the Year" at the British Podcast Awards[23] and an ARIA Award for "Podcast of the Year".[24]
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