About Comedy: Stand-Up Comedy Courses

About Comedy: Stand-Up Comedy Courses, Edinburgh City Football Club (Venue 164), Aug 8-9,11-12,15-16,18-19,22-23,25-26,29-30 12:00
(2 Day Courses, 4 hrs 30 mins each day)

I felt really privileged to be able to review this course, such an exciting prospect, particularly as Donald Mack asked me to participate to gain a different perspective. Hmmmm..... Well, we now know I am NOT a comedian, but it was a fascinating experience.

The course was led by Kevin McCarron. I have to say, he really does seem to know what he's talking about. He started with a brief history of comedy and how it came to be what it is today followed by getting the group to write down some ideas for their own comedy sets.

Unfortunately, the day was just not long enough for such a large group, and so there was not really enough opportunity to get into the writing and give individual feedback more than a few pointers. I felt, due to time constraints, that this was rushed, and so McCarron didn't have the opportunity to listen entirely to the ideas of the participant. Occasionally, he seemed to miss points they were raising. I'm not saying he wasn't a good teacher, I just think, with such a large group, as a creative writing lecturer myself, I would've done it differently.

At the end of day one, I have to say that my confidence was at an all time low. Fortunately, as a reviewer, I bounced back pretty quickly. I'm not a comedian, and nor will I ever be, so all is well.

Day two came around, and only three of us turned up. I'd had very little sleep. In an effort to prove I could write comedy, I had stayed up for most of the night writing. Just a quick note here, many thanks to Elise Harris for the support and bullet points that I developed in the early hours into a set.

With only three of us there, there was more time to work on our individual ideas and sets. I have to say though, I am glad that Mack and McCarron were leading the course together. Mack was the polar opposite to McCarron and that was definitely required.

At the end of day 2, having learnt how to use the microphone, practised our sets, and talked about getting onto the circuit, we were advised that we would be performing that night at an open mic session.

Well. That was a bit sudden. I think that we needed at least 24 hours before we first performed. None of us felt truly ready, and when it came down to it, only one of us had the balls to give it a shot. I personally felt I needed more editing time, more rehearsal time, and more time to learn the set that I had written.


Overall, I felt that this was a good course, but it needed more time and more positivity. More time in the teaching hours, more time for the participants to prepare for their first show and more time in between to think on things. I also felt that there needed to be more encouragement, which, with more time, would be possible.

Would I pay to do that course? Almost certainly, however, I would definitely prepare material in advance so I could feel more able!

My vote: 3*