Brighton’s Katy Schutte is an improvisational comedian who regularly performs with sketch group The Maydays and is one half of improv comedy act Katy & Rach. She studied improv at Chicago’s Second City and iO Chicago, and was a finalist in the national Funny Women awards. She spent several years performing with Bafta-nominated satirists The Treason Show and has just completed her first season writing and acting with the Perrier-nominated NewsRevue.

Which film star/musician/artist/writer/other figure do you admire?

Tina Fey – she’s done so much for women in comedy just by being herself and working really hard. And she’s darn funny.

Which TV programme you couldn’t live without (and why)?

I couldn’t live without Ray Mears’ survival programmes – I did actually get stranded on a Swedish island once and had to make a shelter. Thanks, Ray. For sheer entertainment, however, I love The IT Crowd and pretty much everything on HBO.

Do you remember the first record you bought – what was it, and where did you buy it?

My first tape was Madonna’s Like A Prayer. We used to make up dance routines in the sitting room. Now I have an Xbox Kinect, which is much the same without the creativity.

Tell us about any guilty pleasures lurking in your CD or film collections…

My whole playlist is embarrassing, let’s not go into it.

Favourite film?

The Princess Bride is definitely up there – it’s hilarious, romantic and incredibly well-written and acted. My hangover movie is Enchanted (for the same reasons) and my old skool favourite is Some Like It Hot (for the same reasons, plus some sexual overtones). Jen of The Maydays recently bought me a selection of Princess Bride badges. They’re awesome.

Favourite book?

My favourite book is Papillon by Henri Charrière. It is such an uplifting narrative of optimism under any circumstances, of where there’s life, there’s hope. I also like Not Now, Bernard, about a monster that eats a child.

Is there a song or individual piece of music you always come back to?

I can listen to AC/DC for long periods of time and, with my crappy headphones, it’s the only music that cuts through the sound of transport.

What are you reading at the moment?

At the moment I’m halfway through the third (massive) book of George RR Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire – A Storm Of Swords. I was turned on to it by the amazing TV series and I actually look forward to getting on the train just so I can carry on reading. I love it.

Tell me about a live music/theatre/ cinema experience that sticks in your memory...

Fuerzabruta was an incredible piece of theatre at the Roundhouse in London. I laughed and cried all over the place within the first few minutes, and I still have all the huge-scale images in my head. If you haven’t heard of it, think of a perspex box of dancers in water being lowered directly above you, of people running on the walls, of a man sprinting as fast as he can and being shot over and over again. Stunning. Comic Daniel Kitson is a legend in just the opposite way.

Is there a book/record/film/play/ person that made you want to do what you do now?

I don’t think there’s a person, particularly, but I was inspired to be a comic and an improviser by The Stand-Up Show, Whose Line Is It Anyway, Blackadder, Red Dwarf and Mr Don And Mr George. Certainly Linda Smith and Victoria Wood were strong female role models too.

If you get a spare 30 minutes, how are you most likely to spend it?

Hula-hooping.