Comedian Justine Stafford: 'More often than not, I am surprised positively by people'

"I don’t know if it’s an Irish thing, but I find it very hard to speak positively about myself! I can juggle or say the alphabet backwards (great party pieces) but empathy is certainly the thing I think is my greatest quality."

Justine Stafford: "I’d like to be remembered as someone who never dipped out when it was their round"

I grew up on a farm in Kilbeg just outside the village of Nobber, County Meath with my parents and older brother Lorcán. Living in Dublin, I now appreciate the upbringing I had more and as much as I love my life in the city, it’s always lovely to be able to go back home to the fields (and scream in them.) There wasn’t a lot to do growing up so I entertained myself by learning to juggle late. Later, when I got a camcorder from Santa at age 11, I started creating my own comedy films to occupy myself and I cast my family members in them - much to their annoyance.

My earliest memory is being over at my cousins’ house while waiting to get a family photo taken. Me and my cousins and brother were playing outside on our plastic toy tractors when my brother fell and scraped his entire face. Subsequently, the whole photoshoot had to be rescheduled.