The blogs will cover a variety of people; some are people I have known throughout the year, while others I have only known for a matter of months. Some are close friends, while others are acquaintances - but ones that I hope will one day become a good friend.
For this first blog, I am going to talk about a fellow stand-up comedian on the circuit called Matthew Courtnell. I first met Matthew when we were gigging together in September 2013 at a We Are Funny Project new act/new material gig. Despite September 2013 being a number of years after my first ever gig (which was way back in 2010), the night in question was only my 15th gig; this was due to a mixture of circumstances, financial problems, and - most crucially - self-confidence issues. It is fair to say that I hadn't really got going in terms of regular gigging. However, this night helped kick the latter issue in the butt.
It was the first time I left the stage thinking "fuck me, I just had a great gig". While for most comedians their 15th gig would be within less than 2 months of their first gig, the fact that this gig came so long after I first stepped on stage as a shy, terrified 18 year-old back in 2010 made it mean so much more to me. It was an incredible feeling, having acts come up to me during the interval saying "really great set, man"; a feeling that was only bettered when I was named as the best new act of the night after a crowd vote, winning that night's "I Am Funny Award". I can still remember the fact that I couldn't stop smiling for minutes afterwards, and that my face was all tingly because I was so utterly delighted. As someone who has always been quiet, shy, with low self-esteem, to receive the first bit of validation of my potential in the stand-up comedy world really flipped my perspective of what I could achieve.
It wasn't just about being crowned the best act of the night, though. What made me just as happy was talking to Matthew after the gig, and him saying to me "I was cheering so loud for you". The fact that someone enjoyed my weird, awkward style of comedy so much was completely new to me, but it felt bloody lovely. What made it even more lovely was the fact that I respected Matthew as a performer and writer after seeing him gig for the first time that evening. Of the many reasons that I really like Matthew is that we have a fair few similarities; we're both quite socially awkward, we both have some pro-feminist material, we're both naturally quite low-key, low-status acts. He has better hair, though.
But enough about when I met Matthew in 2013; why am I choosing him as my first choice to be featured in my Christmas Goodwill 2014 list? Well, in May 2014, he got in touch with me, and asked if I'd like a spot at his new comedy night he was running. This was the first ever time that someone had ever invited me to be on a bill at a gig. For those who don't know, getting gigs while starting up as a stand-up comedian involves sending out a ton of e-mails to promoters, basically begging for stage-time with no evidence that shows them whether you're funny or not. To have someone say to me "hey, I want you on my gig" was another massive confidence boost, which helped me reach a level of confidence that enabled me to do more gigs in 2014 than I'd done in the previous 3 years combined by far.
More than being someone who helped me believe in myself as a comedian, Matthew Courtnell is a really nice guy. However, I don't want people to think that impacts my view of him as a stand-up; there can be really nice people who are poor stand-ups, or horrible people that are great stand-ups. With that in mind, I'd like to clarify that I think he is a great stand-up. He has some lovely pieces of writing, as well as being an interesting, compelling performer. What sums up my belief in him as a writer and performer is that he was the very first act I approached when I was looking for a 10 minute spot for my comedy night I was organising in October.
Talking to him in late-November, I think he's at a similar stage to me, in that we both are experimenting with different personas/voices on stage as it stands; what I do believe, though, is that once he's nailed down what he wants to do, he'll be a fantastic act.
Here is a video of a set by him below. If you fancy following him on Twitter, his handle is CourtComedy - though his last tweet was way back during the Edinburgh Festival. I like to imagine his timeline was frozen by the weather...
So there we have it. I thought this blog series would be a nice way of me saying "thanks" to some awesome people who have played a part in my 2014, though only now have I realised it might make some people feel a bit uncomfortable...I am hoping it will make those featured feel "aww, I'm a good person who had a positive impact this year" more than anything, though. It's nice to celebrate people for just being nice people, I think.
Thanks for reading. I am going to try and do another of these tomorrow.
Tom.
Winter Goodwill 2014 Home
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