"Doing comedy allows me to switch off from my day job as an immigration lawyer"

Ahead of her third Edinburgh Fringe solo show, immigration solicitor and stand-up comedian Sikisa Bostwick-Barnes shares her unique career journey. From legal aid cases to ‘Live at the Apollo’, discover how she went from disliking “talking in front of people”, to finding confidence speaking in court through comedy.

As the daughter of an immigrant, my career aspirations were influenced by my mum: “You’re gonna be a lawyer, a doctor or dead”. I was much more into creating things than academics at school. Dancing was my biggest passion. But I saw the sense in pursuing a more formal career and studied undergraduate law at Kingston University.

I had four part-time jobs during law school. I come from a working-class background and I’ve worked since I was 16, so I’m used to hard work and hustle.

A black woman dressed in a bright blue outfit stands on stage in front of an audience holding a microphone. She is in front of a back drop that says "Live At the Apollo" and is performing comedy on this TV show.

Now, I’m a part-time solicitor and full-time stand-up comedian. I work four days a week at a homeless charity working as an immigration supervisor which often involves advocacy work in court. I also gig on evenings and weekends all over the country. I’ve earned the reputation as “the hardest working comedian” on the circuit.

Honestly, earning money and having a decent life is my biggest motivation. When I say I’m a lawyer, people assume I've got money. But my legal career has never been in a fancy office where they give you free coffee or luxury perks. I've always worked with Legal Aid clients so it's more about assisting because it's the right thing to do rather than earning money. But money would be nice. That’s why I keep hustling.

“I stumbled into stand-up as a student”

I was working behind the bar at a comedy venue and my manager thought I had a good personality for comedy. It was that manager’s suggestion that I give it a go. I’d never had any dreams of becoming a comedian – I wasn’t into telling jokes or anything like that.

I figured comedy could be a good way to get better at public speaking. This is going to sound strange, but I’m not a communicative ‘words’ person. I don’t really like talking in front of people. Trying comedy was a big step out of my comfort zone, that I hoped would build my confidence.

A black woman stands on stage with a microphone performing a stand up routine at a comedy club. She wears a baggy t-shirt and checked shirt over the top. She has black hair with red highlightsMy first set was rubbish, I riffed about lions for five-minutes. To encourage me, my manager gave me a sound technician job – a role that came with the ‘perk’ of doing a five-minute set each week. From there, things escalated and I pursued stand-up alongside my legal studies.

I emailed the Law Society and SRA to check if pursuing comedy would present any professional problems. They were very supportive and advised that as long as I wasn’t talking about law in a defamatory way, there shouldn't be an issue.

“I never intended to go into immigration law”

During my studies, media law was the practice area I was most drawn to. But when I finished my LPC, the country was in a recession and the job market was very competitive. I managed to get a paralegal role at a high street firm. They then offered me a training contract on the condition that my accreditation was in immigration.

Working in immigration is rewarding when you get a positive outcome. It’s a good feeling knowing that the work you do will change a client’s life for the better. But it’s also a complicated area of law and I work primarily on Legal Aid cases.

“There’s a lot in the system that’s not fair. The public understanding of immigration is also frustrating to contend with – there’s so much misinformation.”
In the future, I’d like to see our society be more appreciative of human rights. I think the way we deal with a lot of things these days has lost sight of that. It’s important to remember that we are all human beings.

Initially, I didn’t like the advocacy side of my role, but I’ve grown to enjoy it. Preparation is key for me, because I’m not very good at coming up with things off the top of my head – even though that’s not what most people would expect from a comedian.

I don’t rehearse what I say in court, but I do always prepare. With experience I've learnt to pre-empt questions and issues that a judge might pick up on. Preparation is as important in law as it is in stand-up comedy.
“I don’t know how I’ve juggled two jobs for so long”

Comedy allows me to switch off from my day job as an immigration lawyer. Once I'm out of the office, I'm in a completely different world and I don't have time to think about law.

The most common question I’m asked is, “When do you sleep?” I do get enough sleep; I had a lovely eight-hours yesterday. I burnt out a few years ago by doing too much, so now I make sure I have one night a week off.

When I’m on stage, I have a very different persona to who I am in real life. Sikisa the comedian is an exaggerated version of who I am. She gets away with anything and can say whatever she wants. There are things she says on stage that I would never say to my friends.

Comedian Sikisa stands in front of a dark orange backdrop whilst wearing an orange shirt. Her smile is a wry one and she looks off to the side with an air of intrigue. She has black curly hair with red highlights

In one of my jokes I reveal I'm a lawyer – it’s always fun to see the reaction. People never guess. In this day and age, there is a stereotype of what lawyers look, dress and sound like and I appreciate me being a black woman from a council estate in South London is probably not that.

I managed to become both a solicitor and comedian without knowing I was dyslexic. I was only diagnosed a couple of years ago and it helped make sense of a lot of things in my life. For instance, when I read I’ll often re-read paragraphs and it will often take me a while to read complex words. It wasn’t until I was reading something aloud live online during the pandemic - and I stumbled over my words – that I realised something might be going on. I did a whole show about my diagnosis at the Edinburgh Fringe.

“I'm proud of how far I've come”

My greatest comedic accomplishment is performing in front of 4,000 people on ‘Live at the Apollo’. Initially, I didn’t appreciate what it represented because of my unplanned route into stand-up – but it’s the goal that aspiring comedians all aim for. When a cab driver asks what I do and I tell them I’m a comedian, the next thing they always ask is if I’ve done ‘Live at the Apollo’. It really is the pinnacle of the comedy world.

A poster for comedian Sikisa's upcoming Edinburgh Fringe show called Serving Justice. Sikisa stands in a spotlight smiling with her hands on her hips looking authoratative. She is wearing a white shirt-dress with black tunic over the top. Sikisa is a black woman with black hair with red highlights.In terms of my legal achievements, I’m proud to have been involved in a country guidance case that changed the law. The change meant that if a child has lived in the UK for seven years, both they and their primary carer were entitled to apply for leave to remain. It's nice to know that something that you’ve been involved with helped established a good law.

I enjoy my current job in law, but I’d love to go all-in on comedy if I was able to. Social media has replaced TV as the platform where comedians thrive – especially as comedy shows like ‘Mock the Week’ and ‘The Mash Report’ have been axed. But I never got into comedy to be a content creator, so I’m not sure that’s for me. I’m grateful that whatever happens, I’ll always have law.

 

Photography credits: Adrian Tauss @ Swiss Chocolate Pictures; Natasha Pszenicki @tashphotography; Edward Moore @edshots.

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