Open mic comedians - where are they now? The girls

Diary of a stand-up comedian Entry #55
Yesterday I posted on the two-year anniversary of the day I first ever took to the stand-up comedy stage. After that little trip down memory lane, I started to wonder about all funny people I had met along the way and what might have happened to them.

Well, the internet is a  wonderful tool and here is what I found out about the girls who I used to see on the open mic stand-up comedy circuit (click here for the boys).

The girl who got me into comedy: Gemma Beagley
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Gemma Beagley was one of the main reasons I decided to give stand-up comedy a go. I had actually known Gemma since we were at school, and she had been performing stand-up comedy for about a 18 months before I first gave it a go. "It is the best hobby in the world," were Gemma's exact words when I asked her what stand-up comedy was like, and that was enough to convince me to get up on that stage and die a slow and painful death...!

I'm pleased to report that Gemma is still going strong. She still hosts Comedy Virgins at the Cavendish Arms in Stockwell, and over the last 12 months she has been in the final of Funny's Funny Female Comedian of the Year, as well as a show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she blogged about her experiences.

The shy, but very funny girl: Harriet Kemsley
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Harriet Kemsley is fast on her way to becoming a very big name on the comedy circuit. I was lucky enough to see Harriet a few times on the open mic scene. At a Comedy Bin gig at The Carnivale in Whitechapel, I had a chat with her, and couldn't believe how this shy and softly spoken person could be so outrageously funny. In her first year of comedy she was crowned Funny's Funny Female Comedian of the Year 2011, as well as picking up the Up The Creek One To Watch 2011 gong and was a finalist in the Reading New Act of the Year.

And 2012 has been just as good as Harriet was the winner of the Bath New Act of the Year, Brighton New Act of the Year, and was a finalist in the Laughing Horse New Act of the Year. The praise and plaudits have come from the likes of Chortle and talent agency Sternberg Clarke, with comedian Rhod Gilbert naming her as one of his top ten comics to see in 2012. She is now writing and working on a pilot for the BBC - watch this space!

The lads mag model: Naomi Hefter
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I only met Naomi a couple of times, but she was certainly not the type of girl you failed to notice, especially when she wandered into a dingy open mic comedy venue in her stiletto's and that long mane of blonde hair. She was also pretty easy on the eye it has to be said, which she has certainly played to her advantage having done a photo shoot for lads mag Loaded earlier in the year. And that's not it -Naomi has been a busy girl this year. She went to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and put on a show with her comedy partner Catherine Povinelli (who I never met), has been blogging on the Huffington Post, and has also got a TV presenting gig.

On the comedy circuit, Naomi made it through to the final of Jongleurs Comic Idol 2012, which got her exposure in The Sun newspaper, which is further proof that the Hungarian is on track to become a comedy star.

The catwalk model and TV presenter: Michelle de Swarte
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Feisty, fierce, and feckin' beautiful! Unknown to me at the time when I first met Michelle at an East Meets Jest comedy gig in Covent Garden was that she was already carving out a TV career for herself, having presented The Fasion Show in 2008 alongside George Lamb and Abbey Clancy.

In 2011, she co-created and hosted E4’s satirical celeb roast Dirty Digest, and then presented for eight hours straight alongside Tom Deacon when the BBC filmed the UK’s first ever 24-hour panel show for Comic Relief entitled Panel People, hosted by David Walliams, and was streamed live around the world. More recently she has been working alongside Jake Humpheries on the BBC3 current affairs debate show Free Speech. This year Michelle made her debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The Essex Girl: Hannah Deasy
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Okay, okay - before you say anything, I know you might be noticing something of a pattern here with the girls I am choosing, but I can assure you I am picking these girls based on my ears, rather than any of the other senses that might be going through your filthy minds! I saw Hannah perform open mic comedy lots of times, but perhaps the funniest was when I saw her take to the stage at The Railway after a pretty heavy drinking session, and she brought the house down. Granted, then I think she fell down flat on her face, but she got the job done first!

Perhaps her Bowled Over comedy CV describes her best: "Often seen clutching a pint in one hand and a mic in the other, this is when she is at her most dangerous, and should not be approached." Hannah has been busy working with comedy partner Michael Kossew, and has also taken a couple of shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, including Gagstronomic! with Mark Jeary and Gemma Beagley.

It's been a quiet month...

Diary of a stand-up comedian Entry #47
Hey, long time no speak! I know that I have been a bit quiet lately, and that is basically because I have had nothing to say! I have not been gigging in November at all apart from the not so great night in Green Park for the Laughing Horse competition.

So this month has not exactly been the best preparation for next weeks Golden Jester comedy final, but hey, shit happens! The truth is the real world took over this month and unfortunately I had to give way to the day job. Plus I have been moping around with man-flu. Still, there is one more gig left this year so time to go out with a bang - hopefully!

Last night was the second semi-final for the Golden Jester so I now know that I'll be facing James Alderson and Darren Walsh from my quarter final, along with Vahid Jahangard and Chris Blackmore from my semi final. I'm gutted Gemma Beagley didn't get through last night, especially as I know how good she is, but it is a tough line-up but fingers crossed it'll be alright on the night!

New material and a new opportunity!

New gig: I got carded after my gig at
The Cavendish Arms tonight

Diary of a stand-up comedian Entry #6
I have to admit that the gig a couple of weeks ago was a bit of a blow to the ego. It didn't exactly go according to plan, but the good news is that it didn't put me off either.

Earlier in the week I caught up with Gemma Beagley, who hosts Monday nights at the Cavendish Arms, to ask for a bit of advice. Gemma has been on the open mic circuit since November 2009, and she advised me to write some new material and to avoid doing a whole set on one subject, because if the audience don't like the story you're telling them, you don't really have anywhere else to go.

Trying to write something funny that will appeal to everyone is not easy, and I've realised that most of the time when I'm being 'funny' around my friends, it is because I am taking the piss out of them. It's easy because I already know them - I'm not too sure I'll have enough time to go around each audience member to find out a bit about them before going on stage to carry off that routine.

So I sat down and wrote. I tried to write about every day things, like relationships, having babies, holidays, and a bit of nostalgia. It seemed to go okay, and it certainly felt like it was punchier.

A good friend of mine from university, Ben Righton, also performed tonight. Ben is an actor and uses stand-up to keep himself match fit as he calls it. He did a hilarious set about the personalities of different railway stations, and his stage presence was spot-on as you would expect from an actor. He certainly put me in the shade!

But being with Ben looks like it has got me a new gig. After the show a guy called Matt came up to Ben and gave him his card as he is setting up a new comedy night in Streatham, and said how much he enjoyed his set. He then looked at me and it slowly dawned on him that I had performed as well. It was an awkward moment, I'm not too sure he was going to invite me down, but he handed me his card anyway.

Sod it, I'll take what I can get at the moment!

Comedy Virgin

Diary of a stand-up comedian Entry #2
The people of Stockwell will be laughing at me on September 14! Well, that is the dream anyway...

Hopefully you understand the gist of this blog despite this being only my second post, and understand that I am talking about performing stand-up comedy for the first time, and not lacking a severe amount of ambition; my life-long dream is obviously not to just be laughed at by the people of south London.

On the advice of Miss Gemma Beagley I have chosen The Comedy Virgins night held at the Cavendish Arms in Stockwell to break my comedy cherry. Gemma has told me that the Cavendish Arms is a really friendly place and a great place for a novice comic like me to do my first gig.

It also gives me two weeks to con people into coming along to support me, and fake laughing at the appropriate times.

Hmmm, nerves kicking in already...

The funny guy in the office decides to give comedy a go...

Diary of a stand-up comedian Entry #1

Today is the day I decided to try stand-up comedy. I've always been a huge fan of stand-up and have a great admiration for all those funny f*ckers who have the balls to get up on that stage and do their thang!

A few times I have thought about giving open mic a go, but being the so-called "funny guy in the office" is one thing, getting up in front of a bunch of strangers is a completely different ball game, and I have never even come remotely close to actually giving in to the temptation... That is until about two weeks ago.

I found out recently that a friend of mine has been doing open mic comedy for about 10 months now. Gemma Beagley, who I have known since we were teenagers on the mean streets of Mitcham, was telling me how she got started after attending a comedy course. "Why don't you come down and give it a go?" she said.

I went back to the office and happened to mention this to a few people and before you knew it I was being encouraged to try it out from all directions. Well, by the person sitting next to me, and the person sitting directly opposite me. And sometimes the cleaner when I'm working late and we crack a few vacuum-related jokes. Ah, good times...

To cut a long story short, I resisted their pleas for just enough time to have my ego rubbed a sufficient amount before giving in and agreeing to try it out. After all, you only live once. At least I can say I gave it a go and have no regrets.

Unless I die on my arse and it completely knocks my self-esteem and confidence to ground zero. I'd probably regret it then!