Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Comedy is more like 50/50. Just one of many nuggets from Gavin Smith's session on writing comedy which set the tone for the weekend: writing and performing comedy is not as hard, terrifying or impenetrable as you’ve probably built it up to be.
I signed up to the Workshop Weekend because I've always wanted to try stand-up comedy and, while I thought I probably have some experience that would help, I had no idea where to start. There's hardly a clear career path. Indeed our facilitators throughout the weekend all took very different paths to becoming comedians. Lucy Frederick, facilitator of Stand Up to Stand Out, appeared on a Channel 4 show then tried stand-up as part of a 'where are they now' catch-up show. And it took off from there. Twisted Loaf met while working as drama facilitators, started improvising characters together and the rest is history. It was reassuring to know there are lots of different routes into comedy and experience in other fields can be a help rather than a hindrance.
After spending Saturday afternoon learning about performing as a character from Alex Maher, we got the chance to try stand-up for ourselves on Sunday morning. This was the perfect point in the weekend having spent the previous day getting to know each other. You couldn't really have asked for a nicer or more supportive atmosphere to get up on stage (really just the front of the room with everyone sat on sofas around you) for the first time.
For me, speaking in front of an audience wasn't the scariest part, probably because I've done live storytelling and a degree in Drama. Not having a clue what I'd say once I was up there was what I needed help with. But with Lucy's expert guidance, we all came up with material. I can honestly say that no one died on stage. Literally or figuratively. There wasn't one person who got up there and blanked or fainted or vomited or any other horrible eventuality you could dream up. Even better still, everyone was funny. We all gave each other feedback and it was overwhelmingly positive. People were surprised at how endearing their quirks they turned out to be onstage. The way they laughed at their own jokes or their intonation turned out to be assets that they could develop as part of their act.
If you had asked the group of 18 at the start of the weekend who wanted to try stand-up, I suspect it would have been less than half. But the way we were coached and encouraged throughout the weekend gave us the confidence to just get up there and have a go, knowing that we would be praised and supported whatever the result.
This was the first comedy course of any kind that I’ve done. But I suspect you wouldn't find the same atmosphere at a workshop of men and women. It was so empowering to be surrounded by a diverse group women who were so supportive of each other. In the workshop we did with Lynne Parker on Sunday afternoon, How To Produce and Promote a Show, everyone's individual strengths shone through. We learnt that to produce and promote a comedy show takes a huge range of skills and you probably already have at least one of them in spades, and you can learn the rest.
I woke up on Saturday morning very nervous of what 'they' might make us do and how I would feel about myself throughout. The reality was that no one was forced to do anything, we were just encouraged to have fun and not be worried about the consequences.
I am determined to develop the material I wrote during the weekend into a 5-minute set and try it out at an open mic night. I know between now and then I'll want to chicken out but I'm going to try and remind myself of something emphasised by all our facilitators: comedy isn't an Olympic sport. You can't hire a coach, practise for years behind closed doors then go out into the World and win the gold medal. You have to put time into writing some material and go and try it out in front of audience. See what works, develop your material some more, go out and perform it again, and repeat. There's no quick win solution but from the women we met over the weekend who are doing it professionally it doesn't look like a bad way to spend your evenings and weekends.
Ruth Wright – you can follow Ruth on Twitter @ruthie_w
Pictured below: Our workshoppers at the Union Club, Soho
