TALKING about a childhood growing up with a psychopathic grandfather is a brave move for anyone, but to turn those experiences into comedy meant that Sophie Hagen took the reins of life back in to her own hands.

Dead Baby Frog comes to Swindon’s Arts Centre on Sunday, October 15 at 7.30pm, as part of Sophie’s 30-date UK tour, following her successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe.

She said that she never believed that she would stand on stage and speak of her grandfather, but she suddenly felt that it was something she needed to do.

“I never thought I would speak about it, but last year I went back home and he was on my mind and my shows are always about what is turning in my head. So it is not courage, I did not have a choice. I do what comes naturally on stage,” she said.

Her debut show, Bubblewrap, won the Edinburgh Comedy Awards for Best Newcomer but she believes it should be for endurance rather than her comedy as the show was jinxed from the start.

“It was at the Fringe and everything went wrong, I had a fractured coccyx and had to carry a donut pillow everywhere. I had broken up with a guy before the trip and ended up playing at a 500-seat hall rather than the 70-seat venue. I loved it on stage but then I had to stumble off,” she said.

But for her new show, Dead Baby Frog, she says she needed a title that was tougher, not so sweet.

“The title is a metaphor,” she said. “So many people who came to the show said how powerful it was to know that they are not alone in these experiences, others go through it too. These psychopathic people deliberately isolate you, it’s to have power over you.”

Despite the heavy material, Sophie is a comedian, candid but still a comedian, and she says that few people cry after her show, unless it is with laughter.

Since turning professional, Sophie has worked with Russell Howard on Russell Howard’s Stand Up Central and Alan Davies on Apres Ski for BBC 2 – both were her heroes when she was at home in Denmark watching comedy shows on television.

“Working with them was so weird, so strange working with someone I remember watching on TV. I was so nervous meeting Russell Howard that I tried to avoid him.

“He had come back stage after my show and I kept turning left and he was chasing me through the theatre. It was incredible but made the whole thing real for me,” she said.

The stand-up comedian is very much into her podcasts, and is the creator and host of Made of Human in which she chats to a number of famous faces including Jo Brand. She is also a fan of social media.

“The podcast shows that even famous people like Jo don’t always know what to do in life,” said Sophie. “And social media, while being a mixed blessing, is a great way of connecting with people. The reason I became a comedian was through imitation, I would write it down and then make videos for social media, which for young Danish comedians like me meant reaching people all over the world.”

Sophie says that she feels most at home on stage and before her shows she will stand at the door saying hello to the audience or have dance music playing to put her in a happy place. Tickets to Dead Baby Frog are £13.50 on 01793 524481 or swindontheatres.co.uk.