Alice Snedden

Snedden grew up in Auckland,^[2] the youngest of five children in a Catholic family.^[3][4] Her father Patrick Snedden ran a publishing company,^[4][2] and since has had positions including the chairman of The Big Idea, Housing New Zealand Corporation, Auckland District Health Board and director of the Ports of Auckland.^[5][6]

Snedden comes from an extended family of professional cricket players,^[7] including Warwick Snedden, Nessie Snedden, Colin Snedden, Martin Snedden and Michael Snedden. Snedden attended the University of Otago, first studying physical education and politics before deciding to study law.^[1] Snedden graduated and was admitted to the bar, however has never practised law.^[1] The night before she was admitted to the bar, Snedden performed her first stand-up comedy set.^[1]

To save money for a trip to New York, Snedden got a job at The Basement Theatre in Auckland.^[1] Comedian Eli Matthewson encouraged her to try out for the comedy improv show SNORT (which included a cast of Rose Matafeo and Laura Daniel), which developed Snedden's love of comedy and improvisation.^[1] When Snedden travelled to the United States, she enrolled at the Upright Citizens Brigade.^[1]

After returning to New Zealand, Snedden met with producer Bronwynn Bakker in order to write for season two of the Rose Matafeo comedy show Funny Girls.^[1] Bakker was impressed by Snedden's pitches, and employed her for both Funny Girls and Bakker's other comedy programme Jono and Ben.^[1] In 2016, Snedden became a columnist for Stuff and the Sunday Star-Times.^[1] During the same period, Snedden began to work for the panel show 7 Days, first as a writer and later as a recurring panelist. Snedden was the head writer for episodes of Funny Girls and Jono and Ben,^[8] and became the head writer for Golden Boy (2019).

Snedden performed her first stand-up show, Alice Snedden: Self-Titled, at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival in 2017,^[9] later bringing the show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2018.^[10] Snedden was nominated for the 2018 Billy T Award.^[11]

In 2018, she became the host and writer of Alice Snedden's Bad News, a documentary comedy series focusing on New Zealand political and social issues.^[12]

Snedden co-wrote the BBC series Starstruck alongside Rose Matafeo,^[13] who she had hosted the podcast Boners of the Heart together with since 2016.^[14][12]

In 2025, Snedden appeared in series 6 of Taskmaster New Zealand.^[15]

During her 2019 show Absolute Monster, Snedden discussed coming to terms with her bisexuality.^[16]