WHAT OUR EX-STUDENTS SAY!
TAFF - ex Para
I did this course and another comedy course at the same time from another comedy course provider - ‘sucker for punishment’. I can truly say that the whole experience was so different as on the other course I never even got near a microphone until the second week and that was a 4 week course which cost 50% more!. On this Greenwich Up The Creek comedy course, the first thing you do is practice microphone technique and I was using the skills I learnt on this course to advise some of the fellow students on the other course I did. A number of students came to watch me from the other course and they wished they had gone on the Greenwich course instead. The biggest draw is how this course teaches performance as much as comedy writing skills which you don’t really consider at the start but is so important in stand up comedy. Of course the chance to play such a major club as ‘Up the Creek’ with so many important bookers there to see us was fantastic draw and selling point for me also! In the first couple of weeks after finishing the course I have over 20 spots booked at comedy clubs including some very established ones.
KIRSTY - Singer
I work as a professional singer around pubs in Kent and came on the course to learn to do some banter between the songs. I leant so much about myself and saw just how different stand up comedy is to any other form of entertainment. I was in the right place at the right time as I approached after my showcase by a booker who saw what I did that night and liked the funny songs and my audience skills and because of my performance that night I start with Celebrity Cruises as the Ents Host in April. What really was drummed into me was to learn to make fun of yourself before you can make fun of others. This was Alien to me as I came from a world of showbiz and greasepaint where you hide behind the real you.
ANDREW - English Teacher
I turned up for the first class not knowing what jokes to tell or how really I could ever be funny. Not a massive comedy club goer but seen some comics on ‘You Tube’ etc. Now, after a few weeks, my tutor came up with this great comedy character and I became him on stage and I started to get some good reactions in class and then got real belly laughs on every joke at ‘Up The Creek’. You don’t imaging just how loud all the laughter is until you are up there on the stage with the lights and they drum it into you about the pauses, so you don’t get freaked out by the reactions. I found it really easy to write for my stage persona and you do your set so many times in class that once live at the showcase, it really is second nature. What I learnt most is to perform the joke, not just tell it!
AL - University Student
I have just done a MA in creative writing ,but this is so different I discovered it is one thing writing jokes and another thing telling them. I liked the buddy system on the course where someone who is good at writing material but lacks confidence buddies up with someone who has a good grasp of performance skills and you help each other. What you learn in week one alone puts you about a year into the career of a comic who hasn’t done a course.
JAMIE - Open spot comic 4 months
I gigged two or three times as a open mic spot before a promotor suggested I look at this comedy workshop. It is amazing, in 10 minutes of doing my material in front of the tutor - I had a whole new opening and stopped pacing like a caged lion by my second attempt on the same day. Warning! They don't pull any punches but the results are amazing!
DEBS - Actress & recording artist
I became part of a female double with someone who I was buddied with and after we went on to play some great venues all over the UK including getting a great reaction in‘The Funny Women’ competition.
AND OF COURSE DON'T FORGET WHAT PROFESSIONAL COMEDY CLUB BOOKERS SAY ABOUT OUR COURSES
Katherine Webb - THE COMEDY COMPANY 'Each act had a well crafted 5 minutes and their performance skills and stagecraft was faultless. I noted some names to come and play at our comedy clubs for the new season'
Kevin Precious - BARNSTOMERS COMEDY CLUB CHAIN 'The mark has been set high with the first of these new acts and maintained throughout the night'
Mike Fox - BROMLEY & CROYDON COMEDY CLUB 'Just watching how each act handled a mic and conducted themselves on stage - you could see they had all been professionally trained'.
Maff Brown - 'OUTSIDE THE BOX' comedy club and past Chortle comedy club of the year winner 'Excellent'
Paul - Club Booker - UP THE CREEK 'Great night of comedy and each of them performed like a pro - amazing - you wouldn't know this was their first ever gig and how well trained to be able to play a big comedy club like this'
Application form and course information