Diary of a Newbie Standup Comedian

This week I finally got to enter my heat of the So You Think You’re Funny competition,  upstairs at the Signal Pub in Forest Hill. It’s a nice venue with a room that lends itself reasonably well to standup; they run regular pro nights there but I’m not sure if they also do an open … Read more

I did a spot at Battersea Power Comedy on Thursday, which I think was the third or fourth time I’ve been there. I really like the night because it’s a nice venue, the guys who run it are cool, and it’s easy for me to get home from, which is always a winner. I was … Read more

I’ve not done any gigs for a couple of weeks as Real Life stuff has got in the way, but before I slacked off I did a spot at Rising Star which ended up being a chaotic night that kind of went off the rails. I think it was the MC’s first time. If you … Read more

Just the one gig last week; Comedy Virgins at the Cavendish Arms. I’ve been feeling a little deflated recently – even though I’ve been trying to improve my act, it just doesn’t feel as easy as it used to, the laughs haven’t been coming as readily as they did in the first few months I … Read more

For most of this year I’ve been trying to focus on getting 7 minutes of material polished for the So You Think You’re Funny competition in June, but about a month ago I was told I’d got a place in the Laughing Horse competition as well, which is a 5 minute spot. My heat was … Read more

The past four weeks have been wildly busy as far as my day job is concerned, so comedy has taken a bit of a back seat, but I’ve managed to get four gigs in since I last posted. I did a spot at Rising Stars a few weeks ago,  then We Are Funny Project last … Read more

It’s been a full on couple of weeks for me – this is my busiest time of the year at work and my mortgage-paying day job has to take priority over everything else, until Netflix offers me a deal. Aside from that, I’ve had some big stuff going on in my personal life; a long … Read more

Not much to report this week – I did just one spot at Comedy Virgins, and I stuck to same five minutes of material I’ve been working on recently. I’m determined to keep doing it until I can reel it off effortlessly, without having to use a set list. Once it’s second nature, it should … Read more

This week I trudged (drove) through arctic conditions (a couple of inches of snow) to get to the Cavendish for a spot at Comedy Virgins, because I am committed to this shit. My bringer, Pauline, heroically dragged herself from the other side of London by public transport just to make sure I could still go … Read more

This week I did my 27th open mic spot, at Heavenly Comedy in the downstairs room of The Green pub in Shepherd’s Bush. It was a bit of a weird night because the gig got derailed a couple of times by random drunk twats who’d wandered in from the bar. Nothing too heavy, but it … Read more