After three months she was given a studio apartment in the area, where she lived alone until she moved to university halls of residence in Manchester at 19.
โI can imagine thatโs not the case now, but I actually felt very supported,โ she says, crediting a council support worker and her sixth-form teacher for their support during those years, as well as benefits such as education support and income support.
Her obsession with football also helped her survive. โI definitely grew up too quickly. But football was my life at that point โ I was just obsessed,โ she says. As well as working at Nandoโs and studying for three A levels, McIntosh trained at least twice a week, playing for different teams in between.
โI was just locked in and football helped my situation a lot.โ
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McIntosh played semi-professionally until she was 19, when she moved to Manchester to study for a degree in criminology, which she realized during a lecture on the history of policing โwasnโt really for meโ. But it was at this time that she made her first sketch on social networks: Cooking with Rhondain which she played a Jamaican chef who teaches people how to cook simple dishes.
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โI uploaded it to Facebook. And then that week I went out and someone said to me: โSaf, we keep watching this video, we watched it over and over again.โ
โBut then I knew thatโs what I wanted to do. So in my twenties, I was making little videos, creating characters, vox-pops. And I always talked about doing stand-up, but I never did it.โ
That was until 2020, when she enrolled in a stand-up comedy course. She excelled in the class, but still lacked the confidence to get up on stage until she saw videos on social media of others in her course performing up there.
There was a small problem like a pandemic standing in the way, but McIntosh booked her first stand-up gig in 2021 and hasnโt looked back.
McIntosh grew up in Leeds obsessed with football. Image: Michael Jullings
In the five years since then, she has reached the finals of countless comedy competitions, performed with improv and sketch groups, and appeared on Channel Four programs. Comedy shorts series and continued to create her own viral content. And last year, she even found time to film the upcoming season of the Apple TV series. Ted Lassostarring in the new Richmond WFC.
The audition process was unconventional: more checkers and football drills than screen tests and table reads. But for Mackintosh, it was the perfect moment to come full circle.
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โI was so happy (when I got the call) because the reason I live the way I do is because Iโm flexible with my art,โ she says, referring to her years of renting in London, when she variously lived illegally, lived in a mansion and now shares accommodation with eight housemates in a co-op.
โTo be able to get a full-time job on one of the biggest comedies โ the flagship womenโs football show โ was just great.โ
As for the future, McIntosh hopes there will be more acting gigs, as well as opportunities to tour more and hopefully get into writersโ rooms.
Preview Squeaky ass time were well received and she is looking forward to bringing it to Edinburgh.
โIโm proud of this show โ itโs something new and fresh,โ she says. โI feel like there arenโt many comedians who went through my upbringing. I overcame adversity and brought a new perspective.โ
And when it comes to renting in London?
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โIโm safer now because weโre protected in a co-op: everyone is a landlord, and you canโt get kicked out unless you do something really, really bad,โ she says.
โSo yeah, Iโm here now and I live with a lot of people, and that allows me to do the work that I do. But maybe it also pushes me because I donโt want to live like this forever.โ
Squeaky ass time by Sapphire McIntosh will be performing at Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe, every day from 5th to 30th August at 5.45pm. Season four Ted Lasso on Apple TV starting August 5
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