Today in Presenting, Pitching & Public Speaking Podcast, Toni interviews Paul Smith. After a meteoric rise to fame within the world of comedy, Paul is now the resident host and compere at Hot Water Comedy club in Liverpool, and in today’s episode, Paul shares with Toni, in his own humble way how he went from not really wanting to be a famous comedian to having over 170,000 followers on Facebook and heading up one of the UK’s hottest comedy tours.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Did you always want to be a comedian? No.

When did you found out you’re funny? About 6 months ago.

How long have you been doing this? He has been doing this for 12 years.

How difficult was it? Knowing that you were so kind of so far into it…? How hard was it to push through and carry on? Very hard. Looking back in retrospect, it was a good thing. About a year in, he got really lucky. Lucky because he got an opportunity to be on BBC. It takes a lot of time to become a good comedian. Other people rush. He took a whole year off.

How did he get back? He took it back to basics. He went to the gym. He got booked and forgot to cancel it. He needed to do the gig. He got drunk. He did the gig. He was placed on last. He did it, and it worked. There was no pressure on it. He got 4 more and host more of it. It keeps coming up.

How do you kind of create your content? Cause you are renowned for spending the time just talking to the audience. He never writes anything. It does not work for him. But he does have material though. The way he thinks to best describe it is we all kind of do stand up from time to time. Small talk, stock things and those stories have been exaggerated. To the point that that exaggeration has become more real than the reality. That’s all stand up is really.

Do you believe anyone is born a naturally funny person? Paul thinks there are different types of humour. He thinks a lot of people who are funny in life aren’t funny on stage. If you get Paul in a group of people, he is not the funniest person. You need to make sure that everybody is engaged. Paul is very in tuned with the room. He can feel it. When Paul feels down and angry, he’ll find a music that matches what he feels now. It works for him. He finds it very useful.

Do you have a set routine before you go on stage? He does not particularly. But he has a stupid superstition. Like how many magpies he sees.

 

• How do you deal with hecklers?  Paul thinks the best way to deal with hecklers is you have got to have authority in the room. You have got to give the rules, and you have got to keep them in check. If you are going to go out and banter with the crowd, “if you are going to treat them like a c**t, let them be a c**t first” – Chris Cairns. If you try and banter and they say something funny, do not try and beat it. Just go with. The point is having the people laughing. If there is somebody is being a prick, it is not hard to beat them. Most of the time, you are going to be fine.

• Every time you go on stage, do you still get nervous? Yes, every single gig Paul gets nervous still.

• Best piece of advice. Comedy. In order to be a healthy comedian, you can’t beat yourself up about a bad gig after 9 am the next morning. And you can’t congratulate yourself it was a good gig after 9 am the next morning. Life Advice. Eat Kale.

• Worst piece of advice. Become an accountant. Comedy. Try and really just follow the industry and hope that they pick you out as one of the people they choose to be successful. It gives other people power over what you want.

• The best advice he can give. Do not rush. Just try to enjoy it.

• If you are not a comedian, what else would you do? A primary school teacher or a barber.

 

BEST MOMENTS

• “300 people is better than 3.”
• “You can feel people in the room.”
• “You can get genuine feedback even when you can’t see them. There’s some subconscious communication there. You can feel the tension. You can feel if they like you. You can feel if they’re attentive. You can feel if they’re slipping away, part of the room slipping away the more you do it. So, you’ll know to direct yourself towards them.”
• “I would use things that happened in my life. So I try and find something, so I mean, it's a bit of a magic trick…”
• “You’re brain is only capable of understanding a certain set of information at once. So, we’re all in this kind of trans focus state. The brain is like 120 bits per second, which like 2 conversations.”
• “Pity is the worst emotion that you can get in a crowd. Hate is much better than pity. You can win a hate back. And get a laugh from hate.”
• “Try and be happy is the main thing. If you so focus on your career that you’re forgetting to be happy, then you’re probably doing it wrong. And you’re probably never gonna get what you want because as I said earlier on, I think the thing that allows me to be good is the fact that there’s no pressure. I just came back and I do it because I enjoy it.”
• Standup comedy is not for everybody. You may be good at comedy in real life but it would not be the case on stage.

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Ted Talk: search “The Flow State”
• Chris Cairns
• Paul Smith Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/PaulSmithComedy/
  
  

ABOUT THE HOST
Toni Gargan is a Double World Record-holding Public Speaker, Mentor, Entrepreneur, and Professional Property Investor. She acts as the Director at Owen Oliver Property, a family-run property investment company helping others gain passive income through investing.

Aside from building her amazing property portfolio, she’s also a full-time mentor for property investors through Progress Property and Unlimited Success. Toni has since then discovered her true passion – helping others by training and mentoring through public speaking.

She now hosts her own show, Presenting, Pitching & Public Speaking Podcast, which aims to help you be confident, improve your speaking & communication skills and present better for you, your team, and your business.

CONTACT METHOD

• Toni’s LinkedIn

Toni’s Twitter

GUEST BIO
After a meteoric rise to fame within the world of comedy, Paul Smith is resident host and compere at Hot Water Comedy club, Liverpool. His quick wit and affable nature make him popular with any crowd, and he is currently touring the UK with his ‘Hiya Mate’ tour. Paul’s tour is one of the biggest selling UK comedy tours of 2018.