"Is This On?" Starting Stand-Up Classes

Thinking of joining our next Stand-Up Comedy course?  Always wanted to try your hand at Stand-Up but not sure if taking a course is right for you? Read on to find more about our classes...

ComedySportz Stand Up Workshops Manchester

There's No Wrong Reason To Take Stand-Up Classes

Maybe you've always wanted to try your hand at Stand-Up but you're not sure how to get started. Maybe your friends think you're hilarious but you're not sure how to structure your material. Perhaps you want to hone and tighten your comedic writing. You might already have a few gigs under your belt and you want get feedback on your material, and focus on crafting new jokes. Or, maybe you just want to build confidence in speaking in public. Whatever your reason for taking a Stand-Up class you'll get regular feedback to help you find your voice. Classes are a safe and supportive environment to try out ideas, overcome jitters or just enjoy a couple of hours trying to make other people laugh.

There Are A Billion Different Ways To Be Funny

There is no one right way to perform stand-up as everyone has a different sense of humour and style of delivery. So why take a class? Classes are a great way to hone your material, work on the craft of joke telling and see what works. Whether you want to to be a quick-witted One-Liner comedian or develop a surreal character act, workshops are an environment to discover the kind of comedian you want to be.

Even People Who Are Naturally Funny Can Benefit From Workshops

You might be the funniest person your friends know but performing Stand-Up in front of strangers can be a very different experience. Even the naturally funny can benefit from a little direction, helping to shape gags to get maximum laughter from your routines, stories and jokes. They're a great way to get regular feedback from professional stand-ups & peers and to try out new ideas in a supportive environment.

Stand Up Workshops

Learning Stand-Up Can Give You Fresh Perspectives

Successful Stand-Ups tell jokes and stories with clear points of view and the best try to find a new perspective on even the most banal of subjects. Performing Stand-Up encourages you to think outside the box and see things from a new perspective.

Stand-Up Is Not As Solitary As You Think

Stand-Ups are often told "oh, I could never do that. It's too scary." Of course, standing in front of a crowd with only a microphone and a few jokes can seem very scary. However, starting your stand-up career with another group of comics helps ensure you get the support you need to take your first steps onto stage.

Feedback from a previous course. Shared with permission.

Sign Up To Our Stand-Up Classes Today!

ComedySportz UK has been performing and teaching since 2001. Our workshops have featured in The Stage, Cosmo UK and The Guardian.  If you’re thinking about starting stand-up classes with us we’re happy to answer any questions you have before signing up. You can sign up here.

All of our classes and workshop leaders are fully accredited by CSzWorldwide, one of the world’s largest comedy performance schools. So, when you take a class with us, you’re not just benefiting from our experience but the knowledge of over 30 ComedySportz teams worldwide!

Feeling a little more spontaneous? Why not check out our Foundation in Improv course.

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Presentation Skills Workshop

We're running a Presentation Skills workshop on Saturday 28th September run by ComedySportz player and Stand-Up comic John Cooper. This one day class will show you how to use the skills of a stand up comic to help deliver engaging, entertaining presentations for your work and business.

This fun and friendly session is perfect for anyone looking to build confidence in public speaking or learn new tricks to help spice up their presentations.

Below you will find a few tips and tricks to get you started!

Use the skills of a stand up comic to deliver entertaining presentations

Make A Connection

Whether you're talking to ten people or over a hundred, before rolling out pie charts and bar graphs, you must make a connection with your audience. You're speaking to people, not performing a monologue.

Try sharing a short personal story with a positive outcome in only three sentences; beginning, middle and end. Show your audience that you don't fear them, and you're human.

Once More With Feeling

Like a good comic would, approach your presentation topic from as many angles as you can think of. Try finding fresh ways of expressing the subject. Don't cram too much in. Let your personality come out, it's not an exam.

Give your brain and mouth room to breathe during rehearsal and delivery. Keep the language simple and natural, the way you would normally speak. Don't become a mechanical delivery automaton.

Watch A Stand-Up Comic

If you have a favourite comedian, go and watch them live. Observe how they move and speak. Aside from their jokes, great comedians have a pace and rhythm that complements their personality. They have a strong sense of their own identity and how they are perceived.

What is yours?

Deliver fun and engaging presentations

The Bridge

There's a phrase in stand-up comedy: "Put your best jokes at the beginning and end, and let the middle sort itself out."

As a metaphor, imagine columns supporting a bridge. Place the strongest points of your presentation at the beginning and end. Then think of each topic in your presentation as a pillar, evenly spread across the bridge.

This helps build rhythm to your delivery.

Keep It Clean

Making people laugh is a great way to deliver a talk that will be memorable. It's also a minefield of personal taste, sense of humour and knowing when it is and isn't appropriate within the context of subject you're speaking on.

Comedians learn this the hard way. Three words of advice: Keep. It. Clean.

Take A Presentation Skills Workshop With ComedySportz

If you'd like to learn more you can sign up to the presentation skills workshop here. There will be plenty of laughter and learning and valuable feedback from John. The workshops will run Saturday 28th September 12.30-4.30pm. Workshops are held at the ThoughtWorks space in Federation House, Balloon St, Manchester.

The full cost of the presentation skills workshop is £45. Price includes £10 non-refundable deposit. Alternatively, you can pay the £10 deposit here and pay the rest on the day.

Want to take your learning even further? We're also running an 8 week course in Stand-Up Comedy for those wishing to develop their own material with regular practice performing in a safe and supportive environment.

Looking to build connections, develop your listening and communication or get comfortable with going off script? Why not try our 8 week Improvisation classes?

Both Beginning Stand-Up Comedy and Foundation in Improv commence 5th October and will run Saturdays 12.30-2.30pm for 8 weeks. Visit our workshops pages for more information or get in touch and we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Our workshops and classes are fully accredited by CSzWorldwide so when you take a workshop with ComedySportz you're not just drawing from our 18 years+ experience teaching and performing but from the combined experience of over 30 ComedySportz teams worldwide.

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Back To School

We hope you've had plenty of summer fun and are ready to get back to school... No? Don't worry we've shows to keep you laughing at Waterside Arts... find out more below!

Back to school? Don't worry, we've still got some summer fun lined up!

We're just about recovered from the Edinburgh Fringe now and had a little time to reflect on what has been an amazing summer of laughter, jokes and comedy shenanigans.

It kicked off with our time at the ComedySportz World Championship where we were honoured to be chosen to  perform in the final against host city Philadelphia!

Just a few days later and we were off to the Edinburgh Fringe to do two shows a day (some of us more) plus guest slots for 17 days! We had a fantastic time with amazing audiences and suggestions plus visiting players from ComedySportz worldwide.

A big thank you, as always, to all the staff at Laughing Horse Free Fringe Festival and the staff at our venues the Pear Tree and The Free Sisters.

You can catch up with all that we got up to over at our instagram.

Our last day at the Edinburgh Fringe! Thanks to the team at The Free Sisters!

...But the fun isn't quite over as ComedySportz and ComedySportz 4 Tots return to Waterside Arts for some more family friendly fun on Saturday 31st August!

Never seen a ComedySportz match before? We have two teams, one ref, no script and lots of jokes as players fight for your laughs with quick-witted gags, games, sketches and songs. There are penalties for bad behaviour and bad jokes as the referee ensures a good clean match - it's a family friendly show after all. Who wins? You decide!

ComedySportz 4 Tots is a show for kids aged 6 and under with lots of silly stories, songs and games guaranteed to make you giggle. There are plenty of big laughs for little kids and loads of opportunities for children to get involved in the fun. You can find out more about these and all of our upcoming events on our shows page.

Speaking of back to school, our next batch of workshops starts in September. We're starting with a special one off Presentation Skills workshop and our new intermediate drop ins on Saturday 28th September. New to Improv? Our Foundation in Improv and Beginning Stand Up Comedy courses start a week later on Saturday 5th October and will run for 8 weeks. You can find out more at our workshops pages.

Autumn Winter 2019 Workshop Dates

Our regular 8 week classes in Foundation in Improv and Beginning Stand Up Comedy will return in October. Postponed from May, we are delighted that we will once again be running our Presentation Skills one day workshop in September. We're very close to confirming dates for our next Sketch Writing course and these will be going up on our website soon - sign up to our mailing list today to never miss an update!

New Term - New Classes!

We're trying something new with our continuing/intermediate improv workshops this time round. We will continue to run a rolling curriculum of workshops that focus on different skills and aspects of improvised performance but instead of having to sign up to a bulk course you can now drop in as often as you like. We're trialling this new way of running the course for the autumn and will be announcing a schedule of workshops closer to the start date. Each session will cost just £5.

The intermediate workshops will be for people who have attended our Foundation Improv or an equivalent course/background as a certain level of knowledge will be assumed. If you have any questions about the course please don't hesitate to get in touch. Keep an eye out on our website for a schedule of workshops!

Stand Up Workshops

Courses with ComedySportz

Courses are fun, friendly and affordable. We encourage play in safe and supportive environment and workshops are a great way to learn new skills whilst meeting new people. People from all backgrounds attend our workshops for lots of different reasons - to build confidence, learn performance skills, develop communication and presentation skills for work or just to play and have fun for a couple of hours every weekend!

Most workshops will take place in a new venue - the ThoughtWorks space in Federation House, Balloon St, Manchester. We are delighted that this space is fully wheelchair accessible. This is a new workshop space for us in the heart of the city and we're very exciting to bring our classes to this new environment.

ComedySportz Manchester (CSzUK) is part of CSz Worldwide, one of the largest improv comedy and performance schools in the world. Facilitators are fully accredited by CSz Worldwide and have over a decade's teaching experience. Join Manchester's longest running improv and comedy classes today.

Improv Classes ManchesterBook Now!

You can pay in full now or pay a small non-refundable deposit to secure your place and pay the rest later. If you would like to make alternative payment plans we will try to accommodate you where possible.

Visit our workshops page today to find out more and book a space on one of our courses!

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All Upcoming Workshops

 

Intensive Workshops - Don't Miss Out!

There are just a few spaces left on our intensive workshops this May/June so don't miss out on your chance to sign up to Manchester's longest running  comedy classes this Summer!

Whether you're looking to learn new skills, brush up on some old ones or just want to spend a fun weekend rediscovering your playful side there is something for everyone with our fun, friendly and affordable range of courses.

Musical Improv Workshop Manchester

2 Day Intensive Workshops

Foundation Improv (Full Price - Deposit)

Learn the core skills of Improv comedy with ComedySportz including Yes, And, Listening, Objects and Storytelling.

Beginning Stand Up (Full Price - Deposit)

We'll help you hone your comedic voice with this short course covering everything from material generation to mic technique.

Sketch Writing (Full Price - Deposit)

Craft your sketches in this two day course covering everything from the perfect premise to the killer punchline.

Longform Improv (Full Price - Deposit)

This short introduction to longform improv will explore popular formats and edits. A deeper dive into creating whole improvised worlds and narratives.

Musical Improv (Full Price - Deposit)

Find the key to unlock the skills needed for improvised songs and rhyme. You don't need a great singing voice to take part just a strong desire to have some fun!

1 Day Intensive Workshops

Character Improv (Full Price - Deposit)

Do all of your improv characters feel a little flat? Explore ways to bring new life to your on stage creations.

Presentation Skills (Full Price - Deposit)

Discover ways to engage your audience by employing performance skills to enliven your work presentations and brush up on your networking with confidence.

Stand Up "Your Next 5 Minutes" (Full Price - Deposit)

Completed one of our courses or looking to hone your new material? Stuck in a rut and want to put a bit of spark back into your jokes? Then this stand up comedy class is for you!

 

All prices include a non-refundable deposit (£30 for 2 Day classes, £10 for 1 Day classes). You can pay in full now or pay your deposit to secure your space and pay the rest later.

If you've taken one of our (or similar) improv comedy classes before we will also be running a six week intermediate improv course. This will run at the same time as our intensives so there are discounts for anyone who signs up to multiple courses - get in touch today to find out more.

Our courses and workshops are accredited by CSz Worldwide - one of the world's largest schools for shows and comedy classes.

comedy classes manchester improv stand up sketch

Feedback from our latest 8 week stand up course.

Want to know more about our courses? You can also come along to our Intermediate Workshops Showcase on Sunday 28th April at The Kings Arms (starts 7.30pm) which will be followed by a short improv jam and an opportunity to talk to course facilitators about our comedy classes.

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