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If present day examples are anything to go by, Jesus going all-in on Christianity in his 30s makes me wonder what the Hell he'd been getting up to in his 20s. There may be a reason that none of the Gospels talk about it.
Over to Hertford this evening to do a Q and A for Alistair Barrie's renowned stand-up comedy course. It must be a while since I was last at Hertford Theatre because it's now called BEAM and has had a major refit.
Once again my blog holds the answers that my memory can not and
it seems I was last here in 2020 for a charity gig. I remember the gig but had forgotten that I had attempted a set with Ally and that it was during the year of the (first) plague (another on the way guys and this one means business).
Before that for Oh Frig I'm 50 in 2018.That blog details an entirely forgotten (by me at least) exchange with an audience member who had apparently gazumped us (or believed she had) for the house we were two weeks away from buying in Hertford Heath.
I am living life in a blur. If I don't write it down did it even happen.
Tonight there was an audience of about 12 - but that was OK because we were in a small studio space and that was the number of people doing the course. Al had billed me as a surprise guest but at least a couple of them had no idea who I was (one of them wasn't really sure what a podcast was), but I filled them in about my illustrious career and answered their questions. Though it's hard to be too encouraging to newbies as it's much harder to make it in comedy nowadays than it was when I started. The truth, that no one really wants to hear is that you need to dedicate your life to comedy to really have a chance to make it. And that's very tough for someone with a job or a family. For my twenties and thirties comedy was my number one priority and even with that sacrifice I am now mainly doing a puppet show from my house and failing to be recognised by aspirant stand ups.
There are some positives to doing comedy in the modern world - the internet does provide a potential avenue to success or at least recognition. Again though I got into podcasting at a time when hardly anyone was doing it. I have been pretty lucky. Though I think it's fair to say I have put the hours in.
Someone asked about the importance of Networking and it is an incredibly useful skill to have if you want to get on. It is not a skill I have and I recounted the times where I have met people at parties and they have been keen to offer me opportunities and I have been too embarrassed or modest or honest or awkward or stupid to grasp the opportunity. At one party the then controller of Radio 2 and 6Music (or some similarly high up radio position) said that they thought I would be a good host for a radio show and I told him that I didn't really know enough about music. He said that that didn't really matter as that wouldn't be what they'd be employing me for, but I made it clear that I wasn't sure I'd be any good and never heard any more about it. I would have loved to have hosted a Radio 2 or 6Music show (and would do later, but he'd moved on by then). A successful comedy film director asked me if I was interested in acting and again out of some innate fear of looking pushy said, "Oh not really." When he left Catie said "Why did you say that? You are interested in acting." And I have to confess I don't really understand why myself.
People will believe what you tell them and no one is going to walk away from that conversation thinking, I know he said he didn't want to act, but he was probably being modest or would be embarrassed to promote himself or has low self-esteem, so I will give him a job.
It's remarkable that I have ever been employed by anyone, but it's mainly because I've usually never met them or had the chance to tell them that I think someone else would do the thing better than me.
I just opened a book that arrived in the post and the opening quote is "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be." - Kurt Vonnegut.
Anyway, being able to (or pretend to be able to) accept compliments, grasp opportunities and not feel the overwhelming urge to bolt from social situations are definitely useful skills for getting on. But I am proof that you can still get a certain way with none of those skills.
The only real useful advice I have to aspiring comedians and writers is get on with it, do it as much as you possibly can and also maybe diversify within the field of comedy as much as you can so you have different skills to draw upon.
Everyone had something to offer and just like I am never going to be a master potter, but gained a lot of confidence and self-worth from the Throwdown, these people are not necessarily going to be going all in on a stand up comedy career, but were still rewarded by getting up there and giving it a go. It's easy for me to forget what a mind fuck it is to try stand up (that Covid gig in Hertford in 2020 was a little reminder as I was going on with hardly any material, having decided to bin all pre-Covid material - a pledge that I have almost entirely stuck to) and there were some interesting perspectives, some very promising routines and gags and no one choked or tanked and they all looked pretty comfortable doing this stupid and terrifying job.
Kudos to Alistair for taking this on and getting the right mixture of criticism and encouragement. This group of people, united only by their interest in stand-up, had a palpable camaraderie.
Will any of them make the leap to professional comedian? A couple of them might, if they have the determination. In the early 90s when I told Jimmy Tarbuck I was a comedian he said "Good luck son, being a comedian is the hardest job in the world."
It was comparatively pimpsy to get started in the 90s as it is to now and I bet it was even fucking easier in the 50s. Tarbuck and me would struggle if we were starting out now. Not least because he is 86 years old.
But if you have the right balance of persistence, luck, self-confidence, insecurity, extroversion and introversion and rich parents who can bankroll you/ the ability to live off baked potatoes whilst sleeping in a tent in the woods, then give it a go.
