Having run lots of events I know how hard it is to pull a successful ‘do’ together. Booking performers, managing ticket sales, bringing in catering and often sweeping up afterwards. It’s a stressful business. Today, I’m fortunate that all I have to worry about is performing but experience has taught me a successful event doesn’t…
Category archives: Stand up
Man Up? Time to talk about Mental Health
“Man up, sit downChin up, pipe downSocks up, don’t cryDrink up, just lieGrow some balls he said,Grow some balls..” Powerful lyrics by IDLES on the topic of toxic masculinity. They make me think about the impact that language like this has and it’s why I’m supporting Emma-Jane Taylor by compering her event on male mental…
How the WI has Stayed Relevant for 100 Years
I love the WI. Having performed for dozens of groups and with bookings stretching out to 2021 (know this if you know nothing else, they are organised) it has been my absolute pleasure to meet hundreds of women who are hell-bent on supporting not only their fellow members, but fellow human beings too. Since its…
Chortle!
I have been trying for some time to figure out where I might be able to pitch content that talked about my experiences as a stand up performer. I can’t believe it took me so long to consider Chortle. Having thought that they only focused on reviews, I had that preconception completely challenged when they…
Stand Up for Sue Ryder
It was my absolute privilege to perform stand up at the Sue Ryder Duchess of Kent day hospice in Newbury yesterday. The decision to do so was inspired by the care that the hospice services in Berkshire showed my brother-in-law’s wife, Paula (pictured left with her daughter, Alice), and my beautiful friend, Bel (pictured right…
Comedy and Palliative Care
“What we’re going to do”, said Bel, “is put the FUN in fundraising!” Corny, yet memorable words from a friend who coupled living with an incurable form of cancer with raising money for the charities that were caring for her. It is something I have never forgotten and her legacy lives on not just in…
What your recycling bin is actually called
One of the things I get great pleasure out of when performing is to ask the audience how their recycling gets done. You may not be surprised to know that in Henley, the recycling bins have lids so that you can discretely hide your alcohol intake or cover up the fact that you have not…
Comedy in the Care Home
I’ve done some difficult gigs in my time – one in a pub with three punters, one in a boiling hot hall with terrible acoustics and one where choosing to take the stage from a place in the audience set completely the wrong tone. (Top Tip: stride from anywhere except the middle of the audience…
Showing the Love for Local Radio
Thanks to BBC Radio Berkshire I had the very exciting experience that was performing on stage at the After Dark Club in Reading (previously graced by the likes of Supergrass and Manic Street Preachers and leapt off by me in a bout of drunken excitement decades before). The event was the War of the Words…
A Question of Courage
“Love the ultra-local stand up – that takes a double serving of courage!” This is what my coach said to me when she heard I’d performed stand up at a beer festival in a local village….