Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up?

Si Finnigan: I’ve been doing stand up a little over a year now. My first gig was an Open Mic in Huddersfield, my friend drove me all the way to the venue and I remember being so nervous. I walked to the guy behind the bar and asked when the comedy will start; he told me it wasn’t till the next night. I had to go through the whole thing all over again 24 hours later and proceeded to bomb in front of 4 acts, 2 punters and the bartender I spoke with the night before. It was the 20^th April, 2011.

Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up?

Madeleine Culp: I’ve been doing solo stand-up comedy from January this year (2012).  Before that I worked in a duo for 3 years.  Doing solo stand-up is fun but took sometime to get used to. I’m still working it out. It’s like a roller coaster… one where you have the fear of popping your pants while you are on it… but it rarely happens. Rarely.

Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up? 

Jed Salisbury: I had my first gig on 1st November 2009, I did a one day comedy writing course called the Art of Comedy in the Hull comedy festival, and I then had my first gig that night. But I’d say I’ve been gigging regularly since June 2010.

Comedy Blogedy: How would you describe your comedy?

Jed Salisbury: If someone took the mischievous crudeness of Frank Skinner, cheekiness of Lenny Henry and edginess of Daniel Tosh threw it in a blender and performed some voodoo on it and placed it in a man that slightly resembled Velma from Scooby Doo… then I guess that would be my act.

Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up?

Sean Morley: I guess roughly a couple of years? So many people I met early on were counting down the gigs, and I made a point of not doing that. I’d recently quit smoking and needed something else to make me seem nonchalant.

Comedy Blogedy: How would you describe your comedy?

Sean Morley: Difficult and overambitious.

Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up?

Mark Quinn: Well I was performing solo for quite some time, although what I was doing could barely be described as comedy. I would never write any material and go on stage just to see what happened. I enjoyed it but the same couldn’t be said for the audience.

Charlotte Young: I’m an artist ‘by trade’ and do a lot of performance stuff. I was in a rubbish sketch group about 4-5 years ago, which slowly self-combusted. When we were down to two members, we were booked to do a show in Edinburgh. The member that wasn’t me basically was supposed to do the fringe admin. They didn’t. Instead, they vanished and I was forced into a position where I had to do a show on my own. So, I did. And then I carried on.

Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up?

Njambi McGrath: I’ve been gigging for 18 months since December 2010.

Comedy Blogedy: How would you describe your comedy?

Njambi McGrath: Edgy, dark, wicked, political satire…ish.

Comedy Blogedy: Which comedians influence your comedy?

Njambi McGrath: Robin William, Shazia Mirza, Russell Peters.

Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up?

Eric Hutton: About 6 years but for the first couple I was only doing it every once in a while. I hadn’t even told anyone I knew that I was doing it at that point. I was like a middle aged married man sneaking off intermittently to indulge some socially unacceptable sexual kink. Now I’ve realised that kink is who I really am, left my family to pick up the pieces and started living the life I always should have been.

Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up? 

Lea Emery: I’ve been gigging for about a year, I think I’m around 30 gigs in.

Comedy Blogedy: How would you describe your comedy?

Lea Emery: It’s self-deprecation the whole way through– essentially a chronicle of embarrassing stories and social anxieties but exaggerated.

Comedy Blogedy: Which comedians influence your comedy? 

Lea Emery: As far as my set I actually get a lot from TV shows like 30 Rock and Miranda, or at least like to think I have a similar style. Comedians that I love at the minute are Louis CK and have been having a second love of George Carlin- which means spending way too much time on Youtube.

Comedy Blogedy: When did you start stand-up?

Ed Surname: 15552000 seconds ago. But I’ve been performing in comedy for over a decade. Being experienced in a lot of the factors that go into stand-up, such as showmanship, working an audience and injecting my personality into my presentation has helped.