Recently one of the Funny Women Team was asked why I run our workshops in stand up comedy when I am not a comedian. A perfectly reasonable question. The fact that I do run them is a happy accident. We had a workshop booked and the performer who was to run it for us fell ill – at such short notice I had no option but to run the session myself.
It turns out that I am quite good at it – I have watched over 2,000 women take to the stage in our Awards and other events over the last 13 years so am well placed to advise and facilitate. However, one of the most frequent questions I get asked when I am running a session or speaking in public is ‘are you a comedian yourself?’, or ‘have you ever performed stand up?’
The answers are as follows. If I had wanted to be a stand up comedian on the circuit, I would have been one and, God’s honest truth, I absolutely love helping other people to take to the stage. I get as much of a high about seeing one of my ‘students’ performing as if I was doing it for myself.
And yes, I have performed in school plays, amateur dramatics and community pantos! I also took part in Logan Murray’s unbeatable Stand Up & Deliver comedy course, which culminates in a graduation showcase. I learned that my love of stand up comedy doesn’t extend to actually doing it myself.
Shortly after my impromptu facilitation of that first workshop I received negative feedback from a corporate client about a comedian who we had sent in to facilitate a session. Apparently she had ‘talked too much’ and treated the workshop like a gig rather than engaging the participants. Since then I have opted either to run the ‘Stand Up to Stand Out’ sessions myself or send in somebody who has the same ‘stand back’ approach as me.
Let’s be clear about this – we are not teaching anybody how to be funny. In my opinion, everybody has the ability to tap into humour and use it. It’s all about how you encourage those who want to perform to create their own material and develop a persona whether that be for the stage or the boardroom. This is what drives me and what I enjoy the most.
My next Stand Up to Stand Out Workshop takes place at the Edinburgh Fringe on Saturday 22nd August, as part of the Fringe Society’s open access What the Fringe?! programme. For more information click here.
