"Find Your Funny" (I did a stand-up comedy course!)
I admit it! I'm the annoying guy in the office who simply *has* to tell the jokes (and re-tell them for anyone who might have missed it the first time around!). My long-suffering work colleagues are brilliant, however - and provide me with plenty of opportunities for much-needed improvement.
I thought I was naturally funny enough not to need any help, but my employers thought differently and saw fit to send me on a stand-up comedy course one evening a week for seven weeks, which culminated in the most terrifying public appearance of my life, performing 5 minutes of poorly-rehearsed original comedy material to a packed out room at the Station pub in Kings Heath, Birmingham. Read on to find out how that went ...
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Back in February 2024 I attended James Cook's excellent stand-up comedy course at the Station, Kings Heath in Birmingham. It's a seven-week course - one Monday evening per week - spent in the company of James and my fellow would-be comics, aged approximately 30+ to 60+, with a male/female split of about 75%/25% respectively.
Huddled together in the freezing back room of the Station pub we introduced ourselves and explained what each of us hoped to get from the course.
It was interesting to hear the variety of experience levels in the room - people who'd done other courses, or some stand-up or improvisation before. Some were there to just to improve their comedy script-writing chops, and others just wanted more confidence when talking to an audience in a work setting.
Our host has run dozens of these courses over the years so we can forgive his somewhat jaded demeanour. I suppose I hoped he would be hysterically funny all the time, but we weren't there to be entertained - but to learn. And the slow gentle pace and structured of the course worked really well. He assured us this was the time and place to make all our embarrassing mistakes - yet it was hard to fully let go and commit among the assembled students, who I barely knew.
The end-goal was to perform a 5 minute piece at a showcase event after the course ended. I'd never really written an original comedy before - preferring to re-tell far funnier people's jokes! It turns out this is frowned upon in comedy circles - so there was nothing for it but to write something original.
Fortunately, James was able to prove that everything - no matter how mundane - can be funny. You just need to make it funny. Split into groups we'd pluck headlines from the newspaper and come at it from different angles to reveal hitherto unseen comedy gold.
The final showcase event was sold-out, and the room was packed. Everyone did great - and even when it went wrong it was funny and the crowd lapped it all up.
In summary, I can genuinely recommend James' stand-up comedy course - it was thoroughly enjoyable, well paced & structured, and I left with a better sense of how to "find my funny", more confidence, and several new firm friends.
If it sounds like something you'd be interested in, follow the link below ...
p.s. James is also a massive board game nerd and has written an excellent and funny book delving into 101 of the best board games out there. Do check that out too .... https://101boardgames.com/