Tony's time on the Feeling Funny course...

Feeling Funny – May / June 2015

I really enjoyed the comedy course, it was a great experience. I’ve been interested in comedy for as long as I can remember and I’d performed stand-up routines at a couple of charity talent events. At the beginning of the first session I had doubts such as “What if I don’t gel with the other participants?” and “What if nobody here finds my sense of humour funny?” however the atmosphere was so supportive and encouraging that my confidence grew. Perhaps one of the most positive things for me about the course was the way all of the participants encouraged each other, we all knew how daunting it was to perform in front of others and therefore could empathise with each performer’s feelings of nervousness.

Throughout the course we learnt the basics such as using the microphone and ideas for material. Over the course of the six weeks we were encouraged to write, practice and hone our routine with the help of Sam and all of the others on the course. This meant that by the night of the performance we were all well prepared with our best material.

I think that we were all nervous on the night of the performance but the support from each other and the audience helped me to overcome that. The performance was such a positive experience for me; one that I’ll never forget. When Sam reminded us to pause in between jokes to give the audience time to laugh I thought: “How do you know they’re going to laugh?”, but despite my doubts the response from the audience was fantastic.

I’m planning to put the skills I learnt during the course into practice through public speaking and acting and also remembering to keep a sense of humour at times. The Feeling Funny comedy course provided a really good avenue for men to discuss issues related to mental health which would probably be difficult to discuss in normal social situations. I can really recommend this course, it was well delivered and the course facilitators are excellent at building a supportive and enthusiastic atmosphere which encompasses lots of different styles of comedy and humour.