My name is Chris, and I’m a comedian.
Except I’m not, really.
I’m the Producer of, and performer with The Oxford Imps, one of the UK’s premier Improv Troupes who have sold out 2 runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, and turn a very handsome profit during these runs, playing to over 2,500 people.
I’m a sketch writer and performer with a troupe called Little Dark, and while only recently starting up, we’ve already had a run of shows that got great reviews and are being booked to perform at University Balls and comedy festivals.
I’m an improviser with Racing Minds, a 5 person long-form improv troupe who, this Fringe, will be performing in the biggest venue at Laughing Horse’s Free Fringe, to a potential audience of 150 people a day, with 3 other amazing improvisers and a hugely talented musician.
I also do stand-up. That is what this site is about.
It is here, in stand-up, that the confusion lies. For my level of experience, I like to think that I’m good – I’ve done about 25 gigs, and I’ve been going since October 2009. In the grand scheme of things however, I am awful – I lack experience, commitment and dedication. My delivery is poor, my persona non-descript and my jokes are mostly weak.
This isn’t to say that I am a bad comedian – I have won gong shows, talent contests and have made crowds of 300+ people laugh themselves silly. I have performed alongside, and recieved compliments from comedians much better and more experienced than me, and been congratulated by MCs, promoters and audience members. But there’s a recurring theme – I need to perform more and more if I ever wish to get better. And I do wish to get better – ever so badly. I’d love to do this as a job, I’d love to make people laugh for a living, I’d love to get up on stage every night in front of a load of complete strangers and lift the lid off the place, make them ejaculate their epiglotti through their mouths and leave them gasping for air…but this is a long way off.
The title of this blog is Natural Comedian. That I am not. But, in a strange contradictory way, it is what I want to become; and this is a step towards that. Hopefully, this site will provide me with the focus, determination, and most of all, daily writing habit that is necessary to be a comedian; plus, it should be fun.
Do enjoy it, and feel free to contact me and say hello, I don’t bite (not very hard anyway, I have braces).
