Before. During. After.

Dominic and Sam have a lovely chat about a range of topics, including the crucial role of clarity in communication, how the audience is the best editor, why people don't want or like perfection in performance and how talking beats reading to a room every day of the week.

Russell Hicks is a US comic now based in the UK who has a very unique style. His sets mainly involve riffing in a room with what and who he sees in front of him. Here's a short clip if you're unfamiliar with his work https://vimeo.com/944374484?share=copy&fl=cl&fe=ci

Sam and Russ discuss how he preps for shows with little pre-written material, how being empathetic to your audience helps your cut through, getting comfortable with discomfort and the craziest gigs he's ever done (and they do get pretty crazy.)

Enjoy.

In this episode Lenny and Sam discuss reframing nerves when you perform, the importance of authenticity, the craft of joke writing, stage persona and how pacing a performance affects your impact.   

Matt and Sam have a lovely chat about a range of topics, including how Matt found his comedy voice, how he handles hecklers, not 2nd guessing audience opinion and a great tip to help you listen to your own voice without dreading it.

Nathan and Sam discuss how he prepared for the biggest comedy TV show in the country, how he takes comfort in failure, the future of online comedy, working with comedy greats and the weirdest gigs he's ever done.

Nathan and Sam have a wide ranging chat, including topics such as his marathon run of Edinburgh Fringes, how he comes up with ideas for all of those different hour long shows, his pre-performance routines, overcoming doubt and how he draws on experience and pain. 

Pat and Sam have a lovely chat, that includes playing rowdy rooms, pre-show mantras, crowd control, finding your voice as a speaker, quantifying failure and much more.

Enjoy.

Ben and Sam get into an in depth look at performance processes this week. Amongst other things they cover the level of preparation and detail comics go into, how you have to be in charge when doing stand-up and the distinction between being likeable and being nice.

Jenny and Sam have a lovely chat about creative inspiration, the effect room set-ups have on shows, picking yourself up after a bad show and the strangest gigs they've ever done.

Will Hannigan is a Canadian comic now living in London.

Will and Sam take a deep dive into nerves; how Will frames and combats them to achieve his goals in comedy.