Would-be comics train for the Claire House Comedy Stand-up Awards

May 11 2011 by Jane Clare, Birkenhead News

Would-be comics train for the Claire House Comedy Stand-up Awards

I HATE shopping. Quite passionately to be honest. Queues and crowds are not for me, unless it’s in a bar on a Friday.

When I went seeking retail therapy last week there had to be something I was desperately trying to avoid.

There was. My first training session with the Claire House Comedy stand-up team. My nerves were so bad, I even tried to squeeze into a Size 14 dress, which is a joke in itself.

But regardless, I tucked my Visa back in my purse (one pair of shoes later) and headed to the charity’s Liverpool office.

A whiter bunch of faces I hadn’t seen in a while, but coffee, hello’s, crisps, slight smiles, twitchiness, chocolate biscuits and all was well.

First up; our mentor Stephanie Davies, director of Laughology, was slightly late because she’d got on the wrong train carriage at London which remained stationery as the rest of the train moved off ... a nice comedy sketch there. (Apologies for spilling the beans SD!)

So Claire House’s own area manager Helen Carlson (an ex-stand-up veteran) led the way.

There were about 12 of us in the room, mainly strangers, but within a few minutes we’d chatted about our favourite comedians – and why – which was a fine way to break the ice. Next up, we took a subject – wordplay, pets, travel, pubs – and then talked about them. Anything funny? There sure was.

As Stephanie explained, humour is all around us. Even watching the Liverpool-bound train disappear without her on it was material for the future.

So our homework is to be aware of people, listen to conversations, think more carefully about everyday life and what we do, watch TV and stand-up comedians ... and then deliver our first minute’s worth of material at the next session.

Which I will miss, because I’m on holiday.

So if you hear the one about the charity comedian who stood up on stage and didn’t have a clue, that will be me.