With venues closed, comedians have found new ways to reach audiences with online gigs and gags (and saving hundreds in petrol costs). If you've always wanted to try your hand at Stand-Up but don't know where to begin, why not take our fun and inspiring Beginning Stand-Up course online?
Teaching stand-up comedy over Zoom has been much more satisfying than I, perhaps pessimistically, thought it would be. It was crushing to come to the understanding, several months ago, that live performance was not going to be on the docket for the time being. That feeling, of course, has recently been renewed. So, how does one who performs and teaches stand-up keep up with their craft? Moreover, how can you introduce people to the form when it's unlikely that there will be any 'physical' gigs soon. Well, it turns out...you can't kill comedy.
Even with the current limitations, that human urge to make people laugh lives on. Many of us have had the urge to 'take something up' during this lockdown. Whether that's learning the piano, paying more attention to your Duolingo, or getting more reading done, it still takes discipline and encouragement. For most of us, that discipline can be introduced via workshops. Happily, there are excellent lessons and exercises we can still cultivate via virtual learning. Zoom is also where, for the foreseeable future, open mics, new material, and professional level gigs are going to take place. (Other software and hosting platforms are, of course, available). At CSzUK, we've taken steps to ensure effective and fun remote stand-up teaching.
We offer short, dynamic, and inspiring sessions.
In these sessions, we want people to develop important writing and performance habits to jump-start their creativity. Additionally, we want everyone to have the chance to build confidence and afford them the time to be heard and to receive valuable, constructive feedback.
We made the decision that the workshops would only last an hour to deliver a focused, engaging session that would feel like a pleasure not a chore. Secondly, we’ve limited the number of participants for the four week session. Stand-Up classes have a maximum of 5 attendees so that workshoppers are getting the needed attention during that class time. Thirdly, as a free supplement to the 7pm Monday sessions, we offer short, weekly one-on-one sessions to review the regular writing challenges that the participants are working on. Finally, we will be offering our participants a slot at our LIVE showcase which will be scheduled once live performances are safe to put on the calendar again.
So, four weeks of invigorating, silly, compelling practice for both this zoom-based comedy world and the hopeful beyond... that's what you get on the course. As well as plenty of laughter!
