21 October 2023 , 12:00
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Rose Matafeo has opened up on the awkward experience she had when trying to tell jokes at the Royal Variety Performance.
The comedian took to the stage at the event in 2018 after her Best Show win at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, but she admits it didn't quite go to plan. The New Zealand native was on the London Palladium stage when she reeled out her funny lines in front of members of the royal family, including Meghan Markle.
Now, Rose has confessed that it was far from her favourite performance, claiming she was telling jokes to a "sea of white haired people".
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Harry and Meghan at the Royal Variety Performance (ITV)Speaking on Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett's the Dish podcast, she admitted to doing a reel of "really bad Christmas cracker jokes" with the intention that the worse they were, the better it'd be. But she revealed the irony seemed lost on many in attendance, saying: "Many people came up to me afterwards going, ‘Stay at it.’ ‘Keep going, girl.’ So I think the irony of it really was lost."
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Despite the jokes not hitting the right note, she said Meghan tried to play down the fall. "She kind of glided over. It was almost like she was on a hoverboard," Rose said. "She glided over like Mrs Danvers, and she was like, ‘You must be so proud.’ And I was like, of what? Of dying on my a*** in front of f***ing royals? Yeah, I’ll be writing home about that."
Rose Matafeo opened up on her experience (Getty Images)
She said Meghan 'glided' over to her (Samir Hussein/WireImage)Despite the experience, Rose has continued with her stage work. In fact, she explained how her Edinburgh comedy award not only led her to performing in front of the royals, but also landed her the support needed to get her TV romantic comedy Startstruck in production.
The series about a 20-something year-old who is struggling to keep two jobs going while paying for an overpriced London flat before discovering she had a connection with a film star features Rose herself in the cast. It was released on BBC3 in 2021 and has so far had three series.