Comedy Workshops at Upstairs at The Western interview

On Sunday 12 April Upstairs at The Western held their inaugural Comedy Workshop. This was the first of a short course of four sessions designed to introduce you to writing and performing your own five minute set with a view to performing it at a charity gala on 11 May for Coping With Cancer. You will also be on a bill with a professional compere and headline act at Upstairs at The Western. Not only will you be mentored by cult local comedian Dan Nicholas but you will also be guided by Artistic Director of the theatre, Gary Phillpott. And it was Gary who I went to meet to find out more about the workshops.
Gary was living in the south east, was invited to appear on an open mike comedy night and found he was quite good at it. When he moved up here to Leicester as a mature student to study script and drama writing at DMU he continued his fledgling stand-up career. But he quickly realised that while he relished the whole process of writing and refining his material, performing was not something he enjoyed.
While he was studying he got involved in the creation of the DMU Footlights, the performing social club which has, in so many universities, nurtured a huge number of successful comedy performers. DMU Footlights, with Gary's involvement, found their inevitable way to the Edinburgh Comedy Festival and have been a fixture there every year since.
Experience has taught Gary that people come into comedy and stand-up for various reasons. "Many young guys think 'Oh, I’m going to stand up in front of people because it will make me attractive to people'"
The Comedy Workshops aim to recreate the mentoring and nurturing that he learned in Footlights and help them go some way towards achieving their performing dreams and aspirations
I asked him “What do you hope to teach in these workshops?”
“Interestingly I don’t think we do teach. I think we help them think in terms of what they’ve got and what they are trying to do.
"They all want to get out there and make people laugh. Although there is currently one guy [on the course] who doesn’t want to perform, he wants to write for other people. But we do get him to deliver the material so he can feel the words in his mouth as he delivers them. Why? Because then you know how the comedian is doing it and you get to feel that.
“We try and give them experiences so that when they are writing or standing there they can say think ‘Oh yeah, I know this, I’ve done this’
“There is a logical progression as there is a performance at the end of it. We are working with these guys bringing up new material. We have two gigs booked for Coping With Cancer booked for them on the same day”
There are still places available on the course for the remaining 3 weeks. For further information email Sally at sj@off-the-fence.com

First published in Western Gazette
© Paul Towers 2015