Did you hear the one about........

Nowhere on any of my lists was "give stand-up comedy a go", so how was it I found myself up on stage at The Imperial a couple of weeks ago hoping that the crowd would laugh?

Still not sure.  Seemed like as good idea as any when Belinda "year of yes" Dane suggested it last year - get this, both sober at the time.  Maybe it was because when I clicked on the School of Hard Knock Knocks link it mentions bucket list tickers. That's me, I thought and I like to make people laugh. In fact a few people have commented that "I'm quick" and funny.  Just not sure if they mean funny ha-ha or just "funny" and others just think I'm an idiot.

Anyway, we signed up.  And forgot about it for a while until we realised "holy shit what have we done - we now have to come up with some material."  Double DB's girls were always going to feature - plenty of material there for the both of us.  The rest of my set - well I'm not really sure where that came from, but once the seed was there, it was ok - thanks to my lovely sweetie-pie.

So the course started on a Sunday evening and fortified with several delicious Frose's (rose slushies) we got down to funny business.  We'd already had a bit of a read through the online course material
and Richard Codron had given us a bit of a heads-up. So over 4 nights and countless Frose's we went over the basics, joke structure, taboos, learned about the comedy circuit, worked on our material, practised and received plenty of feedback and advice.

Fright night - aka Graduation Night.  Few nerves.  Probably shouldn't have gulped down a burrito followed by 2 quick Frose's - had to run to the loo thinking it was nervous poo time. But no, false alarms - just a bit of wind.  All good.

B and I were in the 2nd half with Richard doing his set between us.  The tension built.  Our fellow classmates did brilliantly!  And then it was all over!  We'd done it! Felt brilliant, a real sense of accomplishment. High fives all-round.   Click here for a link to the video.

I can now add stand-up comic to my CV.  Maybe I've missed my calling? Not that it's something I really want to pursue, but it was fun and I'm glad I did it.  A great course for anyone who does want to give it a go. Good way to make connections and everybody seemed really supportive and encouraging.

The school of January 2018!

That's me - fully qualified now