Watch this very funny man. He’s called Sean Lock. Unlike Milton Jones, a naive character (see my post ‘Look and Learn’), Sean Lock is the man-in-the-street, challenging conventional thinking. This is a very important aspect of the stand-up’s role; obviously the first is to entertain, but there’s a great opportunity – and one might argue, a […]

I did stand-up comedy for about ten years part-time, and then went full-time for over two years. During that time I met a lot of very unusual people: some smart, some deluded, some needy, many very talented. Here’s the secret: We were a bunch of weirdos, but we’d managed to find something we were good

I can talk about – and for that matter, tell – stories all day, and it was the basis of what I used to do as a stand-up comic. My favourite story structure is the ‘Hero’s Journey’, used for films like ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ (read more about it here). The elements

Picture the scene: you’re really worried about your next presentation for a variety of reasons, and your stomach’s churning at the very thought of getting up in front of everyone to speak. It’s easy to fall into a spiral of nerves; the brain kicks into its ‘fight or flight’ mode and you start shaking with

I have a son, aged 5. He’s trouble. A bit like Batman’s arch-enemy, the Joker. I also have a daughter, who’s nearly two. She’s trouble as well (the Harley Quinn to his Joker, if you know who that is). Okay, most of the time they’re actually fantastic, but my wife and I live with the