Diary of a Newbie Standup Comedian

A disappointing week. I wasn’t feeling it on Tuesday night so I skipped my planned visit to the Lion’s Den, since I was going to try for a walk-in spot at Comedy Virgins on Wednesday and felt confident of arriving early enough to get on. But despite getting to the Cavendish pretty early, and the … Read more

This week I’d planned to return to Lion’s Den on Tuesday and try to get a walk-in spot at the Cavendish Arms, but it turns out that the Cav was running its summer competition so the latter wasn’t possible. On Tuesday morning I noticed that Instant Laughs had a few walk-in spots available at its … Read more

Last night I went to the Cavendish Arms in Stockwell, which runs an open mic night called Comedy Virgins three days a week and seems to be one of the most popular stand-up comedy nights in London. I was there supporting my friend Pauline (who’s already looking very polished after just a few spots), and … Read more

I’ve been away on holiday and wanted to get on stage as soon as possible, so I went back to the Lion’s Den Comedy Car Crash open-mic night on Tuesday evening and got there early to make sure I got a spot. While I was waiting to get in I got talking to a guy … Read more

The stand-up course is over and the excitement of showcase night has faded, but a handful of us are keen to make sure we don’t lose momentum so we’ve started investigating London’s open-mic nights. The week after showcase a few of us headed up to Funny Feckers at the Constitution in Camden just to scope … Read more

After six weeks of playing around on the stand-up comedy course every Wednesday evening, suddenly it was time for the showcase night. This was the main reason for me doing the course – I could have just turned up at one of London’s many stand-up comedy open mic nights, but I was struggling to take … Read more

I’ve always loved stand-up, but for a long time I never imagined it was something I’d be able to do. I know I can write funny material (my first job was as a reviewer for video games magazines, back when the industry had a sense of humour) and I can always make people laugh in … Read more