Diary of a Newbie Standup Comedian

Just a quick update, as I realise I’ve not posted anything since May. I’ve not done many spots for the past month or so, mostly because I had a lot going on in my day job, some minor health problems (all sorted now) and then going on holiday for a while. All of which coincided … Read more

Last night I was back at Sam Rhodes Comedy Explosion at Maltby St Market, where I closed the show again, and just like last time it went pretty well. I even remembered to film myself this time, so I have an objective record that it was a great set and not just my memory playing … Read more

I’ve not been gigging as much as I should recently, mostly because of being too lazy to get any spots booked in. I sometimes forget that doing stand-up actually requires a shitload of admin at this level, and unless I’m constantly on the ball with applying for spots then it’s all too easy to find … Read more

I feel completely stuck in a rut at the moment. I’ve been doing a lot of 10 minute bar shows and, while it’s been great to get those longer sets, they’ve just not been going particularly well. While I’m always keen to beat myself up over everything I did wrong after a mediocre set, most … Read more

I’ve done a few gigs since my last post, but I’ve been lazy about posting, so I’ll try to cover them all in this one. I’ve been at We Are Funny Project a couple of times. The first spot was just five minutes, and I used it to try polish some newer material I’ve been … Read more

On Sunday night I did a ten minute spot at Whole Lotta Comedy at the Castle in Surbiton, which is rapidly becoming one of my favourite gigs. On top of the fact that it’s local to me, and on a really convenient day (Sunday is the one evening when I’m almost always free), and they … Read more

Just a quick update – last night I did my first gig since before xmas, and while it’s actually been pretty nice to chill out for a while without having to feed the comedy monkey on my back, it was good to get started again. Even if it was a bit of a trainwreck. The … Read more

I did a couple of spots since my last post: Five minutes at We Are Funny Project – it was going OK, and I was scoring laughs, but I tried too much new material in one go and ended my set by completely blanking on the punchline for a new bit. 15 minutes at a … Read more

It’s been a busy couple of months for me as far as stand-up is concerned, and I feel like I’ve improved in a relatively short space of time, which is exactly the opposite of what I expected so soon after lockdown. The catalyst has been doing a bunch of Sam Rhode’s pop-up gigs around south … Read more

Since I posted about my mediocre performance at We Are Funny a few weeks ago things have been a bit of a rollercoaster. But one of those small, underwhelming rollercoasters you get in old seaside towns. The night after that WAF gig, I had a 15 minute spot at a pop-up pub gig in Wimbledon, … Read more