‘I hated being called Joy but now I love it’

Nigerian-born comedian Joy Carter was abandoned at birth, lost her twin and then raised by a white British couple. She spoke with Alex Noel about infant trauma and learning to navigate the sexist and racist world of comedy

Joy Carter’s comedy credentials have earned her award nominations and plaudits from fellow comedians, TV personalities and broadcasters. But her beginnings were no laughing matter. Joy was born into the Biafran War (the civil war that devastated western Nigeria in the late 1960s). She was found, together with her twin sister, by a Save the Children nurse: “She found two [abandoned] babies. One was dead. One was alive – she picked me up and took me to the local hospital.” Because of the war and lack of any records, there was no information about Joy whatsoever, not even a name.