Comedian Suzi Ruffell admits she comes from a family of show-offs.

And she concedes that she was always more likely to end up on a stage than in a boardroom.

The stand-up brings her new show to Cumbria this weekend, stopping off at Whitehaven and Carlisle with Dance Like Everyone’s Watching.

Ruffell has made a name for herself by turning tragedy and anxiety into big laughs. This year she is actually happy.

This show answers the question: are all stand-ups at their best when they are miserable?

Providing a mix of storytelling, observations, a dash of social politics and a lovely routine about a smear test, she says her show has everything.

“My mum has a sign in our house that says ‘dance like no one’s watching’: the rest of my family are the least likely people to dance while nobody’s watching,” she says.

“We are a family of show-offs, so we dance like everyone’s watching.

“Everyone does show off a little bit. People who are super-smart show off by being able to do a crossword really quickly. We all do it in our own way.”

When she was growing up, the entertainer/show-off gene rather than the academic one seemed to be dominant in Suzi.

It was recognised by the rest of the Ruffell family, as she says: “I’m not super academic. I remember talking to my mum about me going to university and she said ‘your brother’s the clever one; you can tap dance’.

“And that’s been the mantra of my life.

“When you’re a kid, it’s rubbish doing stuff that you’re not very good at, and maths and English were really hard for me at school.

“But when I was able to go to an am-dram society and put old-lady make-up on and walk with a stick and pretend to be someone‘s granny, I had the time of my life.”

Her ability to show off has paid off. Over the past 12 months, she has racked up a sell-out UK tour and TV appearances including Live at the Apollo and Mock The Week.

She is also a regular on BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz and The Now Show.

She appears at the Rosehill Theatre, Whitehaven, tonight and plays the Old Fire Station, Carlisle tomorrow.

For tickets, go to www.rosehilltheatre.co.uk or www.oldfirestation.carlisle.city