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Dear John

Is stand-up really the 'hardest job in the world'?

First published 23rd August 2007

Question:
I've always wanted to be a stand-up comedian, but is it really the 'hardest job in the world'?

Answer:
This is certainly a frequently asked Dear John question, and one that is asked even more frequently than usual when the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is in full swing.

I suspect this is because, while there may be some debate as to where stand-up is in relation to other very hard jobs, from a performance point of view, the plethora of stand-ups at various levels who make their way northwards every year are a testimony to the fact that, at least from a cost and logistics point of view, stand-up is easier to take to a festival than other kinds of theatre, especially for a first timer.

With that in mind, here is a Dear John special - the observations of one young, aspiring comic who had the good fortune to serve a temporary apprenticeship with one of most experienced stand-ups at this year's festival.

Daniel Sloss

Daniel is a 17-year-old student at Waid Academy in Anstruther, Scotland, where he is starting his sixth year. He aims to go to university to study either journalism or media studies, but is also interested in trying his hand at comedy writing and stand-up.

While Edinburgh is currently the comedy capital of the world - at least until the end of this week - Anstruther for some reason does not have quite the same density of comedy clubs per square inch.

My initial interest in stand-up was therefore mainly fuelled by as large a collection of DVDs and books as a student budget could beg, borrow or blag.

Besides examples of comedy, I also tried to get my hands on books and resources about comedy. I found most of the ones readily available tended to be for the US market, but there are one or two good ones written from a UK perspective.

What all the books had in common was the advice that, while there are formulas and techniques you can discover while reading, it really isn't possible to develop your comedy skills unless you actually do something with them.

Being 16 at the time, getting gigs on the pub circuit wasn't a viable option, so I concentrated on churning out as many gags as I could and testing them out on friends and family. It's surprising how if you stick at this, 'polite and encouraging' responses quickly dry up - it's not that people start putting you down or avoiding you, but you have to keep raising your game to keep them from doing so.

A chance meeting between my mum and top comic Frankie Boyle led to my being invited to work as his 'apprentice' at this year's Edinburgh fringe. This might seem pretty jammy, but I think the fact that I'd been working fairly constantly at getting better before the 'lucky break' is what convinced him to follow through on his offer when festival time rolled around.

Frankie Boyle

Appearing on BBC2's Mock the Week, 8 out of 10 Cats, They Think it's all Over and FAQ U, Frankie Boyle is an established name in the world of comedy. He has also written for series including the UK version of Live Floor Show, 2DTV and 29 Minutes of Fame. He is currently writing and developing two new shows for Channel 4.

Here are some of Daniel Sloss' comments on observing Frankie during the run of his show Morons, I Can Heal You, at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, until August 26.

Having spent a couple of weeks as Frankie's 'apprentice', here's just some of the stuff I learned. Everyone else hates hecklers as much as comics do. If you go to a comedy club, you'll hear the occasional funny heckle. But if you're there regularly, either on stage or in the audience, you'll realise how occasional the genuinely funny or original heckles are. Even then, it's often the comic's skill which turns the heckle into something funny.

Before coming to Edinburgh, my assumptions were that comedy was harder than it looks, that writing jokes from scratch was difficult and that stand-ups who are not at least a little scared before their first gig are not human. I can now guarantee that all three statements are true.

One assumption that didn't hold up was that all comedians secretly hate each other and most of them aren't funny off stage. Comedians, from what I've seen at the Festival Fringe, are generally very supportive of each other and certainly the ones I have met (Rich Hall, Adam Hills, Glenn Wool, Josh Howie, Jimmy Tingle, Limmy, Andrew Maxwell and, of course, Frankie Boyle) are just as funny off stage.

Audiences, on the other hand, can be very different from one gig to the next. I remember Frankie coming off one of his sets at the fringe and grinning at me, surprised, saying "I don't think I was offensive enough!".

I noticed that many of the best comedians I saw coming off stage did so with similar comments about what mistakes they made and how it could have been better - they never seem to stop working on their acts.

John sums up

A big 'Dear John' thank you to Mr Boyle for allowing our fledgling funnyman to follow him around the festival.

While the observations about the hard work involved in building a comedy career aren't new to anyone who has taken the plunge on the comedy circuit, it is a useful for newcomers to realise the work doesn't necessarily get any easier the further up the ladder you rise. In fact, it could be argued that it gets harder, since the better you get, and the better the bills you appear on, the harder you have to work to keep your act strong and the less understanding the audience will be if you don't.

It's unlikely many beginners will be given the access all areas view of the business Daniel had, but even from a distance there is a lot you can learn about your own act by watching closely what those on the next rung up do on and off stage.

It is worth pointing out again that when Daniel got his 'break', he had already put in whatever work he could beforehand to be ready for it. He tells me that his Edinburgh experience has made him all the more determined to pursue stand-up.

* Read more about Daniel's experience on his website: www.danielsloss.co.uk.

* Details of Frankie Boyle's Edinburgh show, Morons, I Can Heal You, and many other projects may be found on www.frankieboyle.com

* Feedback/queries are welcome to dearjohn@thestage.co.uk
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