Sorry, I haven’t written for a while. I have been moving house, moving out of London (the first time in my life I’ve not lived in a city) and I’ve been settling in our new kitten (Cat lovers can go to my Facebook page for the kitten pictures!) But we are all settled now and thought I’d write a run of blogs on one of my biggest passions – Comedy.I have always loved comedy and wanted to be a comedy actress. I just love making people laugh, I was your classic class clown and even now love nothing more than sitting with a group of friends bantering back and forth. I have written sketches most of my life, funny poems and songs and generally just used comedy as a tool to turn any bad experience into entertainment. I still live in hope that someone may pay me to do just this, one day soon….I was told, when I first left drama school, that if I wanted to be a comedy actress I had to do stand-up comedy. The thought terrified me, and I ignored the advice, hoped it wasn’t the case. I saw myself as a comic actress, a sketch performer, even an improviser, but not a stand-up comedian. That seemed a whole other kettle of fish. Partly because its just you alone on stage but mainly because people can heckle you. Equally a sketch tells a story even if it isn’t funny. If your stand-up isn’t funny there is nothing – you die on stage. That’s the term for it, and embarrassment wise it pretty much feels like a death. And so it’s much harder to go out as a stand-up, with the audience demanding that you make them laugh, pretty much immediately. It’s just you, and your jokes, naked on stage.
So not surprisingly I put it off. I continued to write my unseen sketches and plan my sitcom. I performed with various improvisation teams and even played comic acting roles such as Feste in Twelfth Night. But by the time I hit my thirties I started to feel really fed up that nothing was happening for me. I didn’t have the contacts or an agent even. All my fringe jobs and attempts to marketing myself had failed. I had failed. How long could I keep persisting. But I thought I couldn’t give up acting, until I have exhausted every possibility. Tried everything I could possibly try. Knocked on every last sodding door. And so decided to face the final frontier and I enrolled at the comedy school in Camden on a stand up comedy course.
The course itself was brilliant. We had a great teacher and just being in such a random mix of weird wanna be stand-up comedians (mainly men) trying out jokes for 2 hours was hilarious. It was terrifying waiting to get up each week and then such a buzz when things went the way you intended (i.e. people laughed). The support you have for each other is immense. And you realize that though some people might sit back in the audience thinking, “Go on then, make me laugh” most are desperate for you to be funny as no one enjoys watching some fail on stage. It’s too painful. So in reality you sit and you will people to be good.
In my next blog I’ll tell you about the showcase gig my class did , which was my first ever stand-up. It’s an interesting story involving a heckler, a.k.a my own mum….
Again – if you liked this, you know what to do….
To read more advice on enhancing your acting career chances buy my book here Talent Isn’t Enough.
