Sha Wylie, England’s oldest stand-up comedian, passed away peacefully and surrounded by her family, on Sunday 5th July in Brighton, following a brief illness that required her to go to the GPs in her crocs and the hospital in her WTF earrings.
She was 81, a regular at the Brighton Fringe and still gigging to the end, getting to venues using her bus pass and a bright yellow Alinker walking-bike.
Having been brought up in boarding schools, Sha Wylie’s Radio 4 tone belied the fact that she spent time as a sex educator in Siberia, blowing up condoms on Russian TV. From marriage (as a registrar) to divorcee (of Hove), Sha’s voice of experience meant she could digress just like her comedy hero, Ronnie Corbett, reflected in her 2012 show, “And It’s Goodnight From Her.”
Sha once said that if she were to have a headstone, it would say, “Sha was fat and that was that.” We’d like it to say: “Sha was loved by her three children, her grandchildren, her many foster children, her nieces and nephews, her friends, her pen pals, and her whole comedy family.” But that’s too many words, so we’ll just hold her in our hearts and remember her unctuous voice calling us “darling”, her bright pink hair, and her spectacular earrings with recent ones being Lego seagulls ready for a chip.
Sha’s 2012 Brighton Fringe Show was endorsed by Ronnie Corbett, who said:
“Sorry I can’t be with you or see any of it, but I am elsewhere at that time of year and couldn’t be more disappointed. I wish you the very best on your journey.”
She will be terribly missed.
Rest in peace, Sha.
Sha Wylie, comedian: 25th March 1945 to 5th July 2026
