By James Dann

Sweetcorn is a short film written, conceived and gestated by myself, James Dann and Michael Westwood. It’s made from the cast and crew of Chicago Rice, our Manchester based sketch show. The Sweetcorn plot came from when myself and Michael were up in Glasgow sat outside a Wetherspoons and pondering the surrealness of the world. After a few J2O’s and tap waters (with lemon) we realised that the corn-in-a-cup phenomenon was one of the strangest things we’d seen all year (and we’d seen 4 strange things that year). We didn’t quite understand why a hot cup of corn was appetizing or appealing, yet still people flocked to the truck like it was the next gold rush (a name for the film we toyed with for a while, then dismissed one afternoon after ‘Gold Rush’ returned a lot of hits on Google)

So on a limited budget of nothing we went out to shoot our first short! The first stage was getting a tracking dolly to follow behind us as we’re chased by security. The way we got over this was having our D.O.P, Dan Thorburn hang out the back of our actor (Julian Leiners) car as he drove at a steady speed infront and behind us. It was then that I realised what it must feel like to be a dog and run after a car. The thrill of the chase, the heat of the moment, the exhilaration of the diesel fumes that keep you pumping and in a wonderful acting haze.

The technical crew we used were friends that have worked on numerous projects with us before. We’ve all been actors and film makers on eachothers projects at some point in the past. I found Dan Thornburn, the D.O.P, through Facebook when applying as an actor for a short film he made. Dom Old, who did the colouring, is Dan’s colleague and now we all work on films together. The sound was done by Abul Husain, who was a flatmate of Michael Westwoods (M in Sweetcorn) and did most of the sound / sound design for Chicago Rice’s sketches (www.chicagorice.com)

Sourcing the window to throw corn from was another challenge of the film. We had to door-to-door knock on buildings in the Northern Quarter until one agreed to let us do the shot. So one day we walked up the stairs of a corporate office carrying through tins of sweetcorn, pans and corn cobs.

The main thing which stands to mind is how much tinned sweetcorn actually smells and sticks on you. The water is much more dense and congealed that one might think – and every night we ended the day by rinsing and draining corn starch from our hair and bodily extremities. It’s nice like a cleansing ritual of the old, reminds you what it must have felt like to have a good harvest.

So, without further adue, you can check Sweetcorn out here! https://vimeo.com/235842221

Also please see www.chicagorice.com for all of our other sketches.

Thanks!

James Dann

by Shawn Wickens

Someone once told me, “The creation of any work of art is an invitation for people to hate it.” I can’t remember who said that, maybe a teacher or fellow comedian or a friend. But as an artist – someone who appreciates and even longs for approval, that quote rings true. We all want to be laughed at and applauded and celebrated but fear harsh rejection.

On the other hand, we’re also told to tread new ground. Remember to think outside the box, break the rules, and push boundaries. But push too hard… your audience might push back. If it’s too different, people might just not “get it”.

Approval vs. Artistic Integrity is a tough balance to maintain. In 2012, when my good friend Gavin Starr Kendall and I decided to start a theater festival – we landed on a name that energized the both of us: Bad Theater Fest. Theater is supposed to provoke so “BAD” felt right. It felt “New York City-ish”, we loved that it conveyed a certain amount of safety to the performers so they could experiment and try anything, it cleverly undersold the audience and… it got press. The name alone got us local, national and international press. But back when it was just an idea, several friends and colleagues warned us that Bad Theater was a horrible choice for a name. Five years later, the festival continues to turn a modest profit, the participating shows make a little money (most festivals won’t even give you a dime) and it easily spawned a Bad Film Fest.

When I decided to put out my own album of material, various sets recorded at different NYC open mics, I received similar advice:
– don’t do it
– that’s a horrible idea
– it’ll never work

The decision to record and release my open mic appearances was a happy accident. In January of this year, I spent a lot of time and effort to record a 15 minute set for comedy festival submissions. The video was completely unusable which was disheartening. Later that week I dragged myself out to a new open mic and overheard two comedians discussing recording their sets with their phones. “Do you ever review your material?” “Nope. I never listen. I don’t even know why I record them. I never do anything with the files.” With that, I had another “bad” idea.

I didn’t care that the recordings were a little inferior or the sets weren’t perfect. I didn’t even care that I bombed (a little… on track 5). It doesn’t matter that my very first album is not perfect because… it doesn’t have to be. Over 4-5 months I recorded over 20 sets across NYC. I chose my favorite seven tracks, my friend Marshall York recorded a song to close out the album (also cause “why not?”) and just like that… SILLY JOKES @ SORRY OPEN MICS is up on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, Tidal, Youtube and more.

So far it has one review. Comedy Cake called it “Pure, unadulterated comedy at it’s finest.” Pretty good. Maybe it’ll get more, maybe not. Personally I think it’s a pretty ballsy experiment in presenting some unpolished material. Plus maybe the second album will be even better. Some people will like it. Some people will probably hate it too. Comedy is hard. Sometimes people don’t laugh. That’s no reason to give up. You just need to try harder or try something a little different.

—

Shawn Wickens is originally from Cleveland and now lives in New York City. He just sold out two shows in his Fringe debut at the Rochester Fringe Festival. It was a stand-up show called GOOD JOKE/BAD JOKE BINGO that several friends also had told him sounded like “an idea that would never work”.

@shwickens
BadFilmFest.com
and check out this brand new BOOK! Only $5.99 on Amazon.

If you want to write comedy do you have to get involved in all the performance stuff too? Stand up is daunting and surely very far removed from writing a sitcom.

Actually, that’s not true. They are more connected than you might think.

Ray Romano is best known around the world for writing and performing in Everybody Loves Raymond, where he plays a version of himself based on his experiences with family life. You may have heard of it.

Yet in a podcast discussion with fellow comedian Pete Holmes, Ray spends almost the entire time talking about his enjoyment of stand up, and how that is the true marriage and life of a comedian.

Stand up comedy and live sketch comedy allow a comedian to do something that is such a rare privilege on screen. Write, perform, cast, direct, produce and have full creative control of the comedy.

So why wouldn’t you do it?

Writing often doesn’t go hand in hand with getting on stage and performing. It can be uncomfortable, scary. And what if it turns out you aren’t funny after all?

Except that you know you are, because you understood exactly where the beats and comic timing should go when you wrote that script. The difference here is you don’t have to rely on someone else to do it right, you can make sure it is perfect yourself.

There are some obvious advantages of getting on stage too. When writing for someone else it can be difficult to get feedback. When performing your comedy on stage you get it straight away from your target audience. They are actually there and you can see the reaction to your jokes. The testing opportunities are superb. You can tweak a joke here or there and try it again the next night. Or even do exactly the same material and just test whether the audience was the difference.

It also forces you to be on the look out for funny things to include in your set. The best mindset for anyone creating comedy.

Trying other disciplines is about appreciation and flexibility. Don’t rely on someone else to do something until you have some knowledge and experience of doing it yourself. What better way to learn about writing for an actor than to experience performing your own writing, or performing someone else’s writing first?

Here’s another surprising example of comedic flexibility. Henry Normal is famous in comedy for not being famous. He is the writing and production partner of Steve Coogan, and one of the main writers on the superb British sitcom The Royle Family. He is never on screen in either, and yet Henry Normal started out in live performance reading poetry, which is where he now focusses his time.

How about Friends. The biggest sitcom of all time. Written and produced by Marta Kaufmann and David Crane, neither of whom feature in the show. They met in acting college.

And there are many more. In fact most people you can think of in comedy have tried their hand at various roles in writing, performing, directing, and producing at some stage.

There is something to be said for being a master of your specific trade. But increasingly the benefits of being a jack of all trades are coming to light.

If you want to master comedy, there is a whole world out there to explore. Don’t be scared to try it.

We asked renowned comedy coach, director and script editor Chris Head to give some advice for people writing Chorts comedy scripts.

But first, for those not down with the latest comedy lingo, you might be wondering what Chorts are exactly.

Chorts are teaser videos, max 2 minutes in length, that showcase a comedy character or characters. They should be funny in their own right, and show potential for further development. They are the new way to test out your comedy ideas.

The best Chorts are screened at festivals and events. You can check them out here

So back to the advice.

We asked Chris some questions that crop up for many creators when writing a Chort script. The advice is fantastic and very detailed. This is worth a read whatever type comedy script you are writing. Or even if you just want to learn some comedy writing essentials.

Here it is.

How can I create a comic character?

Think about developing comedy characters from these starting points:

INDIVIDUALS
TYPES
YOUR SELF

INDIVIDUALS
Here you are basing your character on a specific person. A real person whom you think has rich comic potential. You’ll be looking at people with:

Hypocrisy
Neuroses
Incompetence
Delusion

You start with someone real then fictionalise and exaggerate. Remember that it is the negatives and dysfunctional aspects of the character that are the funny stuff. And remember to distance your version of the person from the real starting point. Often this can work if they are the wrong person to be in a particular role or if they are behaving badly for their situation.

TYPES
Here you’re creating a character that is a recognisable type in society. Eg: Bouncer, cab driver, university lecturer… You are probably amalgamating a number of examples of the type that you have come across in the real world; people that you have encountered or seen in the media etc… It needs to ring true with how the audience view that type.

The danger of starting with a ‘type’ is that it ends up being a one-dimensional stereotype.
Three dimensional stereotypes are okay! By this I mean that people do exist who are basically stereotypes. As long as your character is as fleshed out and rounded as a real person then it doesn’t matter if they are a stereotype and comedy often uses stereotypes. It’s also a quick way into the joke of the character as we get what they are about already.

The major opportunity here is that if you nail the type you can get big laughs of recognition.

YOUR SELF
Here you are using yourself as the starting point for the character. It is a similar process to the individuals process, but instead of shining the light outwards, you are shining it within. This needs a lot of self-awareness and an ability to laugh at yourself and show your dysfunctional sides.

What do you need to consider when writing for a single actor and a single camera?

Remember the shot is likely to be framed quite tightly on the upper body. So picture your character in a portrait setting. Write in some physicality that will come across within those confines. For example, say how they’re sitting or if they keep running their hands through their hair.

Make sure you write speech. Don’t write it like a short story or a newspaper column. Try and capture the feel of someone speaking spontaneously. A way to approach this is to write a draft of your monologue (or of their dialogue responses to the off-camera voice), turn it into bullet points and then record yourself speaking it aloud with only the bullet points to guide you. Play back this recording and you will have a more natural sounding, spontaneous version. Use this recording as a basis to rewrite the original text.

Ask yourself:
What is the context in which the character is speaking?
Who are they speaking to?

Context:
The viewer needs to know very quickly where the piece it taking place. Here you need to set up the context in the words. Don’t assume the piece will be filmed in a relevant location so giving us visual pointers. (It might be, but don’t rely on it.) Make sure the words give us the context. Don’t leave the viewer confused as to where it is.

They could be:
In a social context, just talking as if to a friend or family member.
In a work context, as if addressing colleagues or a client.
In a media context where they would address a camera – eg, reality TV, news, sport, documentary.
Or it could be a dating video or a charity appeal or a Skype call, or a phone call…

Who they are speaking to:
There needn’t be a second voice – but if there is, it needs to have minimal input and for the focus to be on the main character. A simple approach would be if we the viewer don’t hear the off-screen voice (as in a phone call). But you need to be clear in your own mind what they are saying and what your character is responding to. It also opens up the potential for jokes when we discover through your character what the other person has just said.

If it is just a monologue, still think about who they are talking to. Even if they are just addressing the viewer ask yourself how they are speaking; is it as if to a friend or to a professional colleague.mAnd crucially ask yourself what they want. Why are they speaking? They must want something. Be clear about what they are trying to achieve, even if it’s only to get something off their chest. Whatever it is, being clear where they are, who they are speaking to and why will help enormously.

Any tips or “must dos” for showing off a comedy character in 2 minutes?

Be clear about what the central comic idea is; what is the game of the character? Eg, they are a nerd who is trying to be really cool. Or they are a teacher who doesn’t know anything about their subject. Structure your two minute piece in this way:

SET-UP – preparing the ground – the who/ where/ what
REVEAL – where the central comic idea is revealed – you need to be clear what the main joke is about the character and introduce it here. This is the ‘game’ of the character.
ESCALATION – You now build the absurdity of the central comic idea.
PAY-OFF – Give it a twist at the end.

For example:

SET-UP – The person is a therapist. They are doing a phone consultation.
REVEAL – They don’t listen and are not at all sympathetic.
ESCALATION – They get more and more dismissive and unsympathetic
PAY-OFF – We discover they are talking to their spouse.

A key thing thing to keep in mind is the gap between how the character sees themselves and how the audience see them. Essentially the character has a better opinion of themselves that they are projecting. So in the above, the therapist will think they actually are helping but we the audience clearly see they aren’t. This is dramatic irony – we the audience get something the character doesn’t. You can think in terms of persona/shadow. The persona is how they want to come across and their shadow is all the negative things that leak out and undermine the impression they are creating. This is a key to comedy characters. The bigger the gap, the more absurd they are. A classic example of this is Alan Partridge.

One way to achieve a persona/shadow effect in writing is to switch abruptly from a positive to a negative statement, or from nice to rude switching. Dame Edna is a great example of this. And she is also projecting friendliness and bonhomie (persona) but this is constantly undercut by snide comments (shadow). You could think about switching from/to:

Nice/nasty
Clever/stupid
Informed/ignorant
Sophisticated/crude

The end result you’ll try and make look chatty but with a pretty tight rhythm of setting it up (statement A) and paying if off (statement B).

Common mistakes when writing a monologue for a character

The main mistake to avoid is making it unclear or confusing. I watched some of the films from the original Chorts initiative with a group of students. We picked a small random selection. We discovered that some didn’t work because they were simply confusing. The performance was often okay, even intriguing. But we didn’t understand where they were, what they wanted, who they were and what the joke was meant to be. The ones that worked had a clear set-up and a clear comic idea. It showed how important it is to be clear with the set-up, then reveal the joke (or the game of the character), then escalate the idea, then finish it crisply.

We’re chuffed to see so many Comedy Crowders strutting their stuff at Edinburgh this year. Here’s the lowdown on where and when you can find 15 of them, including 3 Chorts winners:

The Grouchy Club – John Fleming and Kate Copstick

John Fleming and Kate Copstick gossip to the comedy industry people in the audience. We’re open for anything – slander, VERY BRIEF excerpts from shows, moans, complaints, recommendations, dubious sexual anecdotes… anything that comes up.

 

Free to enter. Free to leave. No bucket. Free speech too.

When – Aug 14-27 14:15 – 15:15

Where – The Counting House Lounge

Aaron Twitchen – Curtain Twitchen

Aerial-circus-stand-up fusion show. Mixing relatable stories of friendship, love and wine with jaw-dropping stunts on the aerial silks into a gossipy cabaret explosion, Aaron Twitchen takes comedy to highs you’ve never seen before… literally. As featured on BBC Radio 4 and tour support for Luisa Omeilan. An innovative new approach: intimate circus, led by stand-up comedy to a power-pop soundtrack.

‘Seriously talented. Hilarious, warm, energetic and capable of busting some awesome moves, Twitchen is a quadruple threat’ (Skinny). ‘Positive, fun, feel-good… best free fringe show I’ve seen’ (Scotsgay). 

When – Aug 6-14, 16-28. 18:50

Where – C Venues, C south (Venue 58)

Get Tickets

Ben Clover – Inheritance

What do you do when a friend asks you to marry his mum to get out of inheritance tax? A new stand-up show from award-winning comic Ben Clover on what we get from our parents and what we pass on.

‘A delight’ (Steve Bennett, Chortle.co.uk). ‘Comedy gold’ (Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard). ’Impressive’ (LondonIsFunny.com).

When – Aug 7, 10-11, 14, 17-18, 21, 24-25

Where – Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters

Get Tickets

Mark Harvey Levine – Big Bite Size Breakfast Show

Three funny, thought-provoking menus of bite-size plays. Fresh coffee/tea, croissants and strawberries. Great UK/international writers. The perfect way to start your day – stimulating, refreshing and engaging.

Mark has 2 Comedy plays showing at the Big Bite Size Breakfast Show. The shows are ‘Wishes’ and ‘Scripted’ on menus 1 and 2.

 

When – Aug 2-28 10:30am

Where – Queen Dome – Pleasance Dome

Get Tickets

Edy Hurst: Theme Show

Award-winning comedian Edy Hurst presents a debut work of comic ingenuity and imagination, plundering against forces far beyond his reach to create the world’s greatest theme park. Expect rides (homemade), fireworks (homemade) and more (homemade) in the world’s first (only) theme park show!

‘A manic ball of comedy energy’ (Gigglebeats.co.uk). ‘A joyous comic to behold’ (ManchesterWire.co.uk). ‘A real gem’ (York Press).

When – Aug 20-27 11:00am

Where – Just the Tonic at The Tron

Get Tickets

Joby Mageean and Edy Hurst – Dead Nice Boys

Edy Hurst and Joby Mageean are great friends and great comedians. This year they’re putting both to the test by sharing an hour at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Joby Mageean is Leicester Square Act of the Year and Chortle’s Comedian to Watch 2017. ‘Actual proper gags… and charisma to spare. He should go far’ (Chortle.co.uk). ‘Hilarious gags and brilliantly written songs’ (ThreeWeeks).

Edy Hurst is winner of Tickled Pig and has appeared on BBC Radio Lancashire. ‘A manic ball of comedy energy’ (Gigglebeats.co.uk). ‘Joyous comic to behold’ (ManchesterWire.co.uk).

When – Aug 21-25 12:00

Where – Laughing Horse @ Southside Social

Get Tickets

Emma Lundegaard – The Prophetic Visions of Bethany Lewis

Did you know your neighbour’s mum’s got chlamydia? Bethany Lewis, TV psychic extraordinaire, said so. Beth’s enjoying her fame – but the spirits have got other plans. Big plans. Beth starts to get visions of dark government secrets, making her a threat to the men in power. Ssspssshhwhh… Oh, hear that? The Pope’s an escort. An adult comedy with puppets, from the creators of the 2015 hit The Ascension of Mrs Leech.

When – Aug 3-27 22:50

Where – Underbelly, Cowgate

Get Tickets

Jeanette Bird-Bradley – Context, People!

Waste hours online amazed by ridiculous niche products? Seek creative ways to get revenge on those you love? Value the work of questionable action heroes? After selling out at Nottingham Comedy Festival, Jeanette Bird-Bradley is here to share your shame, doubt your choices and put things into perspective!

 

When – Aug 5-14 16:45

Where – Bourbon Bar, Room 2

Katy Schutte – Schutte the Unromantic

A comic solo show written & performed by Katy Schutte (Happily Never After/Knightmare Live/Who Ya Gonna Call?). Katy is not a romantic. This is the story of her trying to find love despite freezing up at chocolates, serenades and thoughtful surprises. For the record, Katy is perfectly happy to put Baby in a corner.

Praise for Katy’s previous work: ‘Hilarious’ (Colin Mochrie). ‘Bloomin’ marvellous’ (David Schneider). ‘Brilliant!’ (Matthew Holness). ***** (ThreeWeeks for Who Ya Gonna Call?). **** (Breaking-the-Fourth-Wall.com for Happily Never After). ***** (Edinburgh-Reviews.co.uk for Knightmare Live).

When – Aug 6-14

Where – Laughing Horse @ The Counting House

Get Tickets

Next Best Thing – How to be Good at Everything

Being a millennial in the modern world is hard. But best friends Jay and Katie have all the answers. Luckily, they’re willing to share their wisdom with you. Over a riotous hour of absurd, grotesque and boldly original sketch comedy, these two idiots will make you good at everything. No refunds.

‘Surreal’ ***** (FemaleArts.com). ‘Frighteningly unhinged and consistently well-observed’ (BroadwayBaby.com). Written by Next Best Thing and Chris Gau. Directed by Chris Gau (creator of Borderline, Channel 5).

When – Aug 6-14, 16-28 16:45

Where – Pleasance Courtyard

Get Tickets

Ships – Dr Audrey’s Fatal Mistake

Ever made a huge mistake? Audrey did! Having realised her childhood ambition to be a doctor, Audrey makes a fatal error… quite literally. Stripped of her pride (and medical license), she is plunged into a search for a new identity, a new life purpose. Michelle Fahrenheim, ‘tremendously charismatic’ (Stage), and Cathy Young, ‘outstanding’ (Independent), combine their talents for the first time in this tale. Why do Panda’s dance? And why is my bread warm?! Will these seemingly unrelated questions ever be answered? Join ships to find out as they make their fringe debut in this whimsical journey of self-discovery.

When – Aug 6-13, 15-20, 22-26 14:10

Where – Southsider

Get Tickets

Simon Jablonski – Generation Hummus

Brilliantly observed jokes and odd stories from a feral comedy mind. Simon Jablonski launches a probing needle into the eye of Generation Hummus – grab a bread stick and dip into his bland new world.

 

 

When – Aug 6-11, 13-19

Where – Laughing Horse @ The Newsroom (6-11, 11:05) & Laughing Horse @ Southside Social (13-19, 12:00)

Get Tickets

Steve Hili – Burning Love to the Ground. (And, Lasagne)

Steve Hili – with ‘the energy of a dog that needs to be taken out’ (VICE) – takes on the notion of romantic vomit-inducing love and batters it into submission through ridiculous adventures, a bit of ropey science and a real-life page three girl. Afterwards, he gives you free lasagne! A show described as ‘perfect’ (ArtsAwardsVoice.com).

 

When – Aug 6-27

Where – Nightcap (Venue 383)

Get Tickets

Wisebowm – The Struggle is Real

Wisebowm presents the world’s first urban poetry musical. Chronicling his heroic struggles with addiction (to gluten), his attempts to win the heart of middle class beauty Samantha and how mindfulness came to his rescue. Performed by character comedian Steve Whiteley and directed by Chris Head.

‘This is a warm, funny and relevant urban yarn, with a big, baseball-cap-wearing, rhyme-spitting heart’ **** (FringeGuru.com). ‘Impeccably original. Had the audience in stitches’ (LondonTheatreDirect.com)

When – Aug 6-19, 21-27. 13:45

Where – Opium (Venue 96)

Get Tickets

Apocalypse Live With Professor Jack Darcy

It was the Brexit of times, it was the Donald Trump of times, welcome to Apocalypse Live.

Musical comedy from the star of The BBC New Comedy Show (nominated for The Best Radio Sketch Show Award in The British Comedy Guide 2016).

 

When – Aug 12-27. 21:45

Where – Banshee Labyrinth Cinema Room

Get Tickets

Chorts! are 2 minute comedy teasers showcasing talented and daring new comedy writers and performers.

From hundreds of entries 13 Chorts! were chosen for screening at Chorts Live! at Angel Comedy on 13th July. On the night the audience voted for their favourite and here’s the result!

1st – Anne Crowther

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2nd – Detective Nutbreeze

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3rd – Anna and Max

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And here are the 10 shortlisted Chorts (in no particular order). Which is your favourite?

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To stay up to date with the latest Chorts! news and events sign up to our weekly newsletter by entering your email below:

Leave this field empty if you're human:

By Lauren Johnston

The Twisted Capers (who also go by the name of Myles, Connor, Tom & Lauren) first met at university, except Myles and Connor; they first met in the womb. Studying the BA TV & Radio course at the University of Salford, it wasn’t until the second year that they all met as presenters on the local television station That’s Manchester. After that seemed to go well, it was around a year ago that they decided to have a go at forming a sketch group, creating videos for online platforms.

The name ‘Twisted Capers’ was pulled from a Matt Berry lyric in ‘The Hangman’ featured on his album Opium. With Matt being a huge inspiration to the group, it was only right to steal from him, as all great art does…

There was already an exhibitionist streak among them: Myles and Connor were in the final of Britain’s Got Talent in 2010 as part of boy band Connected, Tom was a finalist in sketch writing contest Sketch In The City and had already been making his own solo comedy work, and Lauren once got her trousers pulled down in ASDA in Grantham.

Having had encouraging feedback from Facebook and YouTube videos, after launching with Stuffed Crust – a short musical based on the intimacy of a pizza delivery – the next thing the Capers must do is perform live. Being poor graduates, Manchester Fringe this summer is the perfect opportunity and it’s not too far north (i.e. Edinburgh) which is handy because Connor doesn’t have a head for heights.

After a scout around the city and a challenging decision between two fantastic venues, the Capers chose the Lounge at Gullivers pub on Oldham Road as their Fringe home for three nights – the 7th, 8th and 9th of July. The convenience of a projector, lights and a sound system were the contributing factors, as well as the central location. This means short sketches or music videos can be played between live sketches to allow for character changes.

To introduce the night with a short set is the brilliant stand up Tony Wright, finalist of the Student Chortle Awards 2017. Coming together, the Twisted Capers hope this will be an hour of upbeat merrymaking in the greatest city of them all… now all they need to do is rehearse.

In the meantime you can check out all of the Twisted Capers’ sketches online by visiting their Facebook page and YouTube channel.

https://www.facebook.com/twistedcapers/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWO2hdNGAhwK1Dj-da5-0tA

By Rob Morgan

So I had an idea at work. Basically I eat a lot of apples, we’re talking 4/5 a day, that’s my thing. One time I picked up an apple and a thought came to me.. ‘Imagine if a guy ate too many apples, he actually became an apple.’ That was it.

I told my flat mates and they were polite and encouraging in their response, however I don’t think they were expecting me to immediately hop an Amazon and order a discounted apple suit for next day delivery. (God bless you Amazon prime)

Originally it was meant to be a sketch idea, but we have (I have) just decided to keep on going. I’ve roped my flat mates into doing 11 of them now. I do feel bad, none of them want to be comedy writers in any way, but we just have such a laugh doing them. You can probably tell we all love and adore The Office.

I edit them all now on Final Cut Pro, previously Imovie but it was getting too limiting. I use a Canon 50d camera and a Rhode shotgun Mic for filming. For the talking heads I switch it up and use a 50mm lense which is sharper and better for static shots.. Evernote is really good for collecting ideas and writing out the rough episode beats. Also me and Jacob (flat mate) wrote and produced the theme tune using Logic X if anybody cares.

In terms of the writing process, a lot of the ideas come from actual things that have happened in the flat. We pretty much then just act it out again but with me in an apple suit. After everything’s done I then put them out on Facebook.. I won’t lie it’s very hard though to get people to watch, the internet is now so saturated and so many people are creating things it’s hard to hold people’s attention.

That’s why Chorts is good, it’s great to have a place where writers and performers can watch other people’s stuff and give good feedback. Through Chorts I also got to go to the Craft of Comedy conference and have Apple House screened, which was a great opportunity and fun experience.

More of Apple House coming soon.

By The Duntmeister

After 30 years down the Information Technology pit at the data face, I decided to throw the towel in. After throwing the towel, I then left the job, turning my back on the grey world of IT forever and breathed in the fresh clean air of . . . . well . . . . what exactly?

In a fit of peak, I had left my safe and secure job behind and was now left looking for other ways to make a living. I’ve always enjoyed writing, I’ve always enjoyed comedy and I’ve always enjoyed satire. Is it possible I could make money through writing?!

So I Googled it.

“Easy peasy”, said Google (it’s amazing how they’re getting all the colloquialisms right these days isn’t it), “loads of people do it.”

“Great. Where do I sign up?”, I typed.

“Ah”, replied Google, “you don’t sign up, first you need a blog. Anyone who wants to write for a living needs a blog! To showcase your work”.

Oh right! A blog. OK.

“Great. Where do I sign up?”, I typed.

“Ah” said Google, “we’ve done our bit, we’re just a search engine, the rest is up to you”.

Oh right. Er, thanks a lot.

I think.

Right then, I need to find out how to set up a blog. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of companies out there only too willing to help you but which one to choose? I mean there’s so many, like WordPress or Blogger or Tumblr or Weebly or Medium or Wix or Squarespace or Penzu or Svbtle and that’s just for starters!

Ignoring the fact that I felt like I was just reading a list of nonsense words, I used my strategy coin and picked Wix. No other reason. And it’s free, unless you want to host the site with your own domain name, which I did, eventually, but it meant that I could play about and see what was what before spending any money. And anyway, wasn’t the money supposed to be coming in rather than out?

The Wix site seemed easy to use and they had lots of templates to choose from and after about an hour I had a site up and running. I was well on my way to earning a fortune.

Next thing, what to blog about?! Mmm. I know. Blogging. I can blog about blogging. Hang on wait a minute, do your research, there’s loads of people out there doing that already! Alright, what about blogging about blogging about blogging?! Oops, found a couple of them already too. What about . . . no forget blogging. Try something else. What about the news? Yeah. Plenty of new material every day. I could write acerbic, witty comment on the latest stories providing an antidote to the constant barrage of negativity we get every day. News it is then.

OK. What about branding? Do I do this as me? Or do I use a persona? Does it matter?

Well, it matters to me. I plumped for using a persona – The Duntmeister. Why the name? What does it mean? Well, to be honest, it’s what my kids call me. That’s it. I could make something up, but hey, people want straight these days, so I’m giving it straight. It also gives me my domain name – www.duntmeister.com – not a lot of confusion there. Search for Duntmeister on Google and you’ll see loads of stuff. All mine I tells ya. Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.

The other thing that I like about using a persona is that it allows me to stand back a bit and be his friend on Facebook. I might write to him and he might reply (he doesn’t always though). He’s quite lefty in his views (a bit like me) but he’s more outspoken than I am. It allows me to disagree with him as well if I want to (I haven’t yet, but I’m tempted 😊 ).

Alright, so that’s the easy bit done, next thing is how to attract an audience. Mmm. More Googling please.

Well there’s no shortage of advice out there that’s for sure. In fact, there’s whole industries built up around how to market your blog! In addition to the plethora of apps to support you, the companies who will happily promote you who (for a fee of course), the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) rules to learn, networking to be done, connections to be made. Nobody told me about all this?!

With the benefit of hindsight, the marketing is the hard bit. Getting followers. You have to stick at it and find like-minded people out there who will appreciate what you are saying. Just clicking on Facebook friend suggestions doesn’t cut it (and can even breed resentment if you’re not careful). The best thing I have found to date is to pick a meme, write the blog, then root out those people/sites who you think will be receptive to it and share it with them. It would be easy to do it the other way round i.e. pick a popular meme, write about it, then share but that would be compromising my principles. I pick the story based on my own set of values.

But it’s working. Slowly. I am starting to get messages and comments from people who have seen my site but are not friends or followers and a steady trickle of people are now coming to me rather than me going to them.

Another thing to do is guest-blogging (hey look, I’m doing it now). Sharing your views across different platforms. If people like the cut of your jib, they’ll be tempted to have a poke around. If not, they won’t.

So what have I learned.

Well, I think the main thing that I have learned is that it doesn’t matter how good your blog is if no-one is reading it. This is a pitfall that I and others have fallen into. I started off spending more time on the writing than I did on the marketing and while I got a lot of personal satisfaction out of it, I might as well have been writing letters to Father Christmas and leaving them by the chimney. So it’s the other way round now. And it’s better.

So what about the money bit?

Mmm alright, well I can’t say that I have earned enough to make a living from it.

Yet.

But now that I’m doing the right things, it’s growing in the right direction!

Watch this space.

When Steve Stamp left school he knew he wanted to write comedy. The problem was that he had no contacts or experience. He had no internship lined up, he hadn’t won any competitions, he had no credits to his name. In fact he didn’t even write scripts, and he had to hold down an office job to pay the bills.

Two years later Steve’s show ‘People Just Do Nothing’ was commissioned by the BBC. It’s now in its 3rd series and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2016. Steve no longer works the office job.

So how did he do it?

Steve was lucky enough to have funny friends, with a variety of skills in filming, acting and editing. So they got together and started filming themselves, showcasing the main characters in the pirate radio based mockumentary and creating ‘webisodes’ for YouTube. These were seen by producer Jon Petrie, who saw potential in the idea and helped them develop it for the BBC.

Steve got started by making his comedy. And it worked… not only was he able to showcase the characters, he demonstrated that there was an audience through its reception on YouTube. This was enough to persuade Roughcut to take a punt on them. (Last year we interviewed Steve at a live event – here’s what we learnt about making your own comedy show.)

But what if you don’t have a network of funny, talented people around you?

In 2012 Thomas Gray was a nobody in comedy. He started filming himself performing character monologues from his bedroom. For 6 months they sat on YouTube and nobody noticed. Then this one went viral:

This was a springboard for Thomas. Since then he has performed live and been commissioned by the BBC to create a series of 10 minute shorts of this character (they’re really funny, check them out here).

So what can we learn from these comedy journeys?

1. Comedy is all about funny and engaging characters – if you can show potential in a character nothing else matters, including production values. Filming on a smartphone is fine.

2. Agents, producers and commissioners are looking for new talent, and are willing to take a chance on creators.

3. If you’ve got no profile or agent to fight your corner, showing people a video showcasing your comedy gives you the best chance to get noticed.

4. Once you’ve made a video, simply putting it on YouTube may never get you noticed, and if it does it won’t happen overnight. You need a way of promoting it.

5. To succeed in this way you either need to be a good writer and performer, like Thomas, or you need to embrace collaboration.

So making your comedy show is no longer about sending a script to a list of production companies. Times have changed and as creators we need to change with it.

Which is why at The Comedy Crowd, we’ve created a bespoke platform to help you showcase your comedy character. It’s designed to support you to get your comedy noticed whether you are a writer, performer or both.

Chorts! are 2 minute videos that live on a dedicated page where you can promote them, get feedback, and get noticed. You can add as many as you like, it’s free, and if they’re good and you promote them (we’ll help you with this) then you’ll have a shot at getting noticed by producers and commissioners who can access and get updates on the best performing Chorts!

We showcase the best Chorts at Comedy events and festivals throughout the year – the next screening is at our own Chorts Live! event on 13th July in front of an audience of fans and top UK producers. Submit yours by 16th June for a chance to have it screened.

Click here to see the latest Chorts! and find out how to submit.

And right now if you’re a writer who doesn’t want to perform you can get involved too. We’ll soon be re-opening our competition to write a Chort!, and the winners will be shared with actors groups to help you find the right performer to showcase your character.

This is an exciting time to be a comedy creator. Commissioners are desperate for new talent. If you want to make the most of these opportunities we’re here every step of the way to help you make your comedy show.

Lets start creating!

By Lynsey Bonell

I’m from Amelia Comedy, and we’ve started putting on ‘comedy experiences’. I’ll be honest I’m not sold on the phrase ‘comedy experience’ but I’m 100% bought into the concept. They’re shows where the audience doesn’t just sit in their seats going “that was a clever joke”. Instead it’s something they can get involved in, be a part of it and hopefully they respond emotionally to it – an emotional response is the currency of great comedy and it’s the response we’re seeking!

The show we just ran was called ‘Save the date’ and was an improvised comedy experience where we staged an audience member’s dream wedding in the room. There were tears. Actual tears, from the bride, not us at the stress of wedding admin! That’s magic right!

So I thought I’d share how we’re creating ‘comedy experiences’*

1. Blurt it all out and follow what excites you!

When we started our planning we knew the kind of show we wanted, but we didn’t have any ideas of what that would or could be. So we started by listing all the experiences people have in their lives – getting married, having a child, buying a house. We wanted a show people would relate to and want to get involved in. All our ideas went up on a board and some ideas hit in the room way more than others. They were the ideas we’d all jump on immediately – we’d suggest bits we could do for that show, poster ideas, the set dressing etc. They were the ones we, well, cared about and connected to, and weren’t just wordplay or a funny idea. And we figured if we were all that keen it was a good gauge that other people would be. We kept track of the hits with an intricate coding system (a big circle round them). At the end of the night we had 40 ideas, and 6 clear winners!

2. Be organised and collaborate

Sorry, I know it’s dull (we’ll get to that ‘magic’ we hailed about in the article title soon), but it’s so important. Once we’d locked in Save the Date as the first of these shows we set up a google doc to keep track of all the ideas, content, research and show running order. We all live together (cue possible sitcom and terrible theme tune) but we still schedule time to meet and keep a running list of priorities so we can work on the most time sensitive bits first.

At every meeting the google doc goes up on the screen, and we bring along our home work – the jokes and research we’ve all been working on while apart (i.e. in different rooms of the flat). We pitch everything to the room, and then punch up and build on each others work.

To keep things moving when apart (when we’re all working at different tables in the same coffee shop up the street) we use slack and what’s app to share links, research, ideas, promo copy and images and actions so the show can keep on growing. We’ll then regroup again with that doc and add news bits, rejig and improve on earlier ideas.

3. Don’t be scared of work

You need to put in those hours. We’d all been to weddings, but that wasn’t enough. We broke down every element of a marriage and wedding from proposal to get driving off in a ‘just married’ car with cans attached. We say ‘examine your topic like scientists and detectives’. Capture all your thoughts, dig deep, don’t just scratch the surface. We wanted to know about weddings from every perspective as the people marrying, as guests attending, every kind of wedding – modern weddings (pop up food van), traditional weddings (merringue dress), celeb weddings (Britney’s lasted 55 hours!). We watched clips on youtube (don’t search for fatherdaughter wedding dances, oh boy!), we googled wedding gift lists (Game Over toilet paper is available), we read blogs (there are nine tips on how to include your dog in your engagement photos). And we considered buying a lie detector, (how else do you know if they’re telling the truth during the vows) but they cost £100.

4. Be flexible and fast

We knew some ideas would work better on film – so we took them out the show. We decided that at 11am during a meeting one Saturday morning, we wrote those bits up straight away and filmed them that day. We had more wedding content and bits than you’d have at an actual wedding, but that way we got the best bits.

5. Commit to your bits

We are all fans of Connor Ratliff a comedian at UCB. He is king of the slow build comedy bits – he’s run for president (and made a 50 page book to go with that campaign) and trained for the Olympics – team Rio! How could we commit to a wedding show (without getting married)? We could all become ordained ministers! This was an idea from the first ideas generation session, and a few clicks later we’re all ordained and can actually marry people. Do all those extra bits! We made an order of service with wedding advice tips, we gave everyone cake, we’ve even made a film of the wedding.

6. Play to your strengths to create the magic

We all trained at UCB – the Upright Citizen’s Brigade in New York and have a strong improv background so we mixed a lot of our improv skills with empathetically listening to the audience and trying to actually honour the things they wanted. Mean comedy is fine but we genuinely tried to throw someone an amazing party that everyone enjoyed. We chatted to the bride to find out what kind of partner she wanted, if she had thoughts on a dream wedding. We had an outfit for her to wear, we had an elaborate proposal, and during the vows our audience member started to cry “I’m getting married”. Now that’s magic right? Perhaps only slightly bettered with an alarmist cry of “”Wait wait … I want to get a photo” as the two brides cut the cake. Just like a real wedding, our audience didn’t want to miss out on that key photo opp!

7. Make it better

Our wedding show went pretty well, we didn’t have a guest book but people said: “Thanks for having us. Was such a laugh” and “Loved the Wedding show…a riot, great fun!” Next time it’ll be even better, there was definitely magic, but we know there can be more. And so we’ll be working on how to bring that in on the 7 July – when we improvise another dream wedding – someone has already been in touch interested in how to take part. And a friend I’ve not seen in ages has contacted me to find out when we’re doing the show again so she can come along “it sounds so great!”

*seriously any new name ideas welcome

You can get tickets for 7th July show here

Check out Amelia comedy’s improv experience shows on their Facebook page

By Dave McKenna

The tale of how I became the man making the ‘most expensive & offensive thing ever made for the internet.’ Like many of the episodes of The Hateful Tate it started with too much alcohol and spending unnecessary amounts of money. It was a standard night in Margate, there was a rave to attend which began with a buzz and ended in the not so early hours of the next day, with the similar feeling of doom, regret and the question that always lingered. ‘What in the name of Susan Boyle am I doing with my life?’ Arriving back at my basement flat (which isn’t relevant to this article at all really apart from the fact you might think ‘oh Margate that’s nice, sea views, fresh air’… No, There were no sea views, actually no view at all but still the squawk of the Seagulls penetrates. Anyhow, it was in this fragile state of mind that I began talking to my significant other (H) about my next film job and how its going to come about. It was a speech executed not in the style of a leader, giving a detailed plan of the route to victory but more in style of a stuttering modern-day politician when faced with the fact they’ve backtracked on a lie they told months before.

H asked if there was a site specifically for film-based jobs. She saw that as a more realistic & rational approach, compared to my priors pretending to be a qualified electrician just to get on a Bollywood film set (true story, I was sacked after a few hours. Turns out it’s quite difficult to pretend to be an electrician). I knew of one site, FilmandTvpro.com. I’d recruited on it while producing a French Short Film, discovering the finest (well cheapest) filmic folk from the corners of the web. Three out of Five of my recruits turned out not to be completely useless, one of them turned out to be mental and lived with me for a while. So I’d paid the price for my cheap labour, what I hadn’t paid for, as I explained to H that night was a membership for the site.

FilmandTvpro.com allows you to advertise jobs for free but if you want to apply they ask for a £170 annual membership fee, which I deemed absolutely unacceptable & beyond all sensical spending. Telling this to H expecting a similar squashed facial expression and tut from her, I was baffled to find her smiling, telling me to invest. I stood like Teresa May, not in shiny gold trousers but ‘Strong & Stable’, refusing any such expenditure.

I’m not sure if it was the weary hour, the effects of the night before or just plain madness but the next thing I knew H was taping in her credit card details. Now scrolling through the listed jobs with the ability to apply felt incredible, I was empowered. I was freed from window shopping, finally I was a millionaire, and I could make a purchase (application) whenever I felt like it. Despite this initial delight, four or five days passed without an application being completed.

Jobs that I did eventually apply for were standard editing, presenting roles that were naturally ignored as I do have the habit of coming across quite sarcastic in both my CV & cover letter. In fact I’ve never got a job on the merit of my CV, which might make it the worlds worst CV. Fortunately, a job posted as ‘Videographer – to follow a kick boxing world champion around the world with his entrepreneur brother’ required no CV but a short video demonstrating why I was the man for the job.

I remember I made the following video briefly before my friend came over to go to the pub I told him of the opportunity and how I’d applied, questioning whether I should pester the Kickboxer on his personal twitter? I did and showed the video to the pub-wantaway. He hurriedly said ‘its really good mate, yeah its really good … so we going out or what?’. We did and we were ending the night with a curry when a Mr Andrew Tate called to arrange a Skype interview. I naturally stayed out for a few more pints before staggering home for the interview that could lead to the escape from the basement flat.

I spoke to the Tate brothers for about half an hour, we had a mutual understanding of what the series should be within this short space of time. We arranged dates, rates and that was that. I learnt soon after that the Brothers had already employed a filmmaker and were no longer paying attention to the Filmandtvpro applications, it was the personal twitter pestering that had bought me to their attention.

So, the advice I would give to people searching for that elusive comedy job would be the same Ray Kroc the founder/ stealer of MacDonald’s said to himself many a time, ‘Persistence is everything’. However over that it would be that ‘luck is purely a mix of preparation & opportunity’. I’d prepared my whole life by making funny films, and strange documentaries without a patron, no purpose, no need & certainly no viewers. Luckily for me post rave blues credit card generosity/foolishness and two millionaires presented an opportunity for me to utilise such preparation.