@ Centre for Science & Art, STROUD (Gloucestershire) A Creative Community Comedy Workshop In this stimulating and entertaining 3 hour session, you will learn stand-up tricks and techniques, have a laugh and emerge a more confident speaker too! In this supportive, enjoyable session, we strip away the fear of standing up in front of people at the microphone, and focus on the craft of comedy and finding your natural funniness and bringing it out. And discover that the big trick of stand-up is it’s all about preparation but making it all look casual and unprepared. (Which works for all kinds of other speaking too). Who is this for? Nervous absolute beginners very welcome (and more confident ones too)! You don’t need to be loud and charismatic to be good at stand-up; you just need to find your authentic voice and perspective. As I find over and over again in classes, there are many ways of finding a playful comic voice. You can be quiet and dull, or dry and serious and that can be why you’re funny! Alternatively, you might already have done a course or be doing open-spots and you want to sharpen your skills and generate new ideas. Or you might simply be after an inspiring new way to explore public speaking. This is a safe, friendly and non-judgemental space —our goal is to have fun, build confidence, and demystify the art of getting on stage making people laugh. Plus you can bring a friend for a reduced fee for you both! What we will cover: Finding Your Voice: Explore your unique way of being playful and funny in front of an audience. Telling stories: Turn your experiences, everyday frustrations and observations into comic tales. Joke Writing 101: In a hilarious group exercise, discover how to write and deliver jokes in a relaxed self-deprecating way that leads to laughs. Stagecraft & Confidence: Techniques to grab the audience and keep their attention, whether you’re on stage doing comedy, or delivering a talk or presentation. By the end of the session... You will feel much more confident about getting up to speak to people, whether in comedy or a work or social event. And you’ll leave with new skills and a notebook (physical or electronic) full of ideas and with a spring in your step that only a shared live comedy experience can provide.

10.45am-3.45pm, Saturday 28th February 2026 @ Theatre Deli, Leadenhall Street, London EC3A 4AF This is the workshop for you if you're a stand-up comedian wanting to sharpen your storytelling, or if you're a speaker or presenter looking to add killer storytelling skills to your speaking. Learn how to apply strategic embellishment, act-outs, present tense narration, meta comedy and a clear comic structure to create consistent laughter throughout a story. We will also explore your distinct comedic persona. We'll work with status and archetypes to see how your own persona informs your storytelling. You could also be the “straight person” navigating the absurdities of the situation, or alternatively you could be "the idiot in the story"! You're very welcome to bring along a story you currently tell (in stand-up or elsewhere, for example in a presentation or socially) to devlop it in the session. You will also work on a brand new story, alongside doing quick-fire exercises to develop comical stories on the spot. This workshop is highly practical with lots of guaranteed time on the microphone at the front of the class. If that sounds daunting, don't worry! My sessions are famously friendly and supportive, whilst also imparting lots of practical tips and insights. You will leave a better storyteller with technqiues and tips to sharpen your future storytelling. You will also take away your enhanced stories we have worked on in the session.

Are you a stand-up comedian looking to discover your authentic comedic voice? To find your persona, that on stage version of you, that underpins your material and guides your writing? Well, that takes time... but you can speed things up with this two part Zoom session! Whether you've just started out or have plenty of gigs under your belt, understanding and embracing your on-stage persona focuses your writing and performance and enables the audience to immediately get you. Join me in these engaging and interactive online Zoom sessions. This isn't about taking on a character that is removed from your identity; it's about magnifying and focusing the comedic potential already within you. By the end of the sessions, you'll have a clearer understanding of your unique on-stage presence and actionable insights to refine your stand-up, making every performance genuinely yours. Aspects of your persona you will receive feedback on, include insights into your attitudes, status and archetypes. We'll also look at: Honing Your Delivery: Learn how to leverage your natural rhythm, tone, and physicality to amplify your persona and land your jokes with impact. Connecting with Your Audience: Understand how a well-defined persona builds rapport, fosters trust, and allows your audience to truly "get" you. Crucially we’ll explore how you can develop an opening that tells the audience how you are. Join us to find your authentic stage voice. Be funnier, clearer, and more impactful.

Script Spark: Comedy Scriptwriting Support Group 5 x 2 hour sessions on Zoom (videos of sessions shared after the class plus detailed notes) 7pm-9pm UK time 8pm-10pm European time 11am-1pm Pacific time (PDT) 2pm-4pm Eastern time (EDT) On the course you get: • Inspiring Feedback: Gain invaluable insights into your comedic writing through live readings of your scenes and excerpts. The creative and thoughtful feedback provided by your peers and myself, offers diverse perspectives to refine your comedic writing, dialogue, and characterisations. • Narrative Clarity: Delve into the foundational elements of your script, exploring narrative structure, plot development, character arcs, and thematic resonance. Engaging in discussions about the overall vision for your project helps to ensure that individual scenes contribute effectively to the larger comedic narrative you are creating. This collaborative exploration can illuminate potential plot holes, strengthen comedic throughlines, and solidify the unique comic voice of your script.  • Funniness!: Develop and sharpen the comedy of your script.  Each week, we will look closely at your writing to look at where and how they can be enhanced with key edits and rewrites, drawing out principles you can apply to future scenes too. Setting your writing objectives each week, fosters a sense of accountability and ensures consistent forward movement on your script. Sharing your progress and your struggles with fellow writers creates a supportive group that encourages you to stay on track. Plus you can request topics for coaching and discussion: • Identify specific areas of your comedic writing where you seek improvement, such as crafting effective comic lines, writing comedic dialogue, developing memorable characters, or mastering the intricacies of a comedy narrative - and I'll do some coaching on the subject! • Navigating the Next Stage: Script Spark extends beyond the writing process itself, offering guidance and support as you consider the next steps for your completed or near-completed scripts, whether it's competitions, pitching to producers, or embarking on the journey of self-production.

10.45am-3.45pm @ Theatre Deli 107 Leadenhall St, London EC3A 4AF Transform your stand-up crowd work. This is a unique opportunity to learn from one of the best stand-ups at working an audience in the business and to receive direction and tips from one of the country’s top comedy coaches and live comedy directors. This live, intensive session is designed for new or established comedians who want to connect with their audience and elevate their crowd work, to enhance their gigs as well as creating clippable stand-up content for social media. This is a highly practical session. Playful and inspiring practical exercises will get you exploring aspects of audience interaction, meaning there will be lots of opportunities to get up onto the microphone in front of the group to practice your crowd work. • In the session you’ll receive feedback and a whole host of tips from Geoff Whiting, who will share experiences from his decades of doing crowd work with literally thousands of audiences. • And you’ll also receive tips and strategies from leading stand-up coach and director Chris Head. The session will sharpen your skills, build your confidence and equip you with new crowd work techniques and strategies. You'll learn about: • Reading the Room: Techniques for assessing who to pick to talk to. • Engaging the Audience: Creating spontaneous interactions, genuine connections and making every show unique. • Persona games: Identify comic approaches that you take with audience members that work with your persona. • Handling Hecklers: Strategies for handling heckling and defusing tense situations. • Building Confidence: Feel more comfortable and capable when interacting with audience members. About the session leaders Chris Head: A respected coach, director and author in the UK comedy scene, Chris has a wealth of knowledge and a proven ability in teaching comedians how to develop their material and performance. Geoff Whiting: Geoff has a host of practical and inspiring insight into how to engage and interact with audiences. A seasoned comedian with years of experience in stand-up and compering, Geoff is known for his mastery of crowd work and has performed in every major club and festival in the country and all over the world, honing his crowd work skills to perfection. Don't miss out on this chance to enhance your crowd work skills and become a more confident and engaging comedian.

7pm-9pm UK time 8pm-10pm European time 11am-1pm Pacific time (PST) 2pm-4pm Eastern time (EST) This Essential Tools Zoom course will equip you with the essential tools for writing sitcom and comedy drama. You might have: - an idea in mind already that you want to develop and write, - a draft of a script that you want to rewrite and enhance - or even no specific idea at this point. (If this is the case, the course will definitely give you ideas!). As well as providing you with a complete set of essential tools, on the course you will write a lot of funny scenes with your characters without worrying initially about where they’ll slot into a story. You'll simply be working with that week's tools. This freedom will allow you to make discoveries of scenes and situation that will be highly useful to your script and will take your characters places you’d never considered. If however you have a much clearer idea of where your script is going from the outset, you can use the tools in the places that are most relevant for your developing story. "Really liked the combination of very well chosen comedy clips, practical exercises and discussion. The sessions flew by, and having weekly homework kept me focused, gave me structure and kept me writing." JH "This course was so useful for guiding me through the process of developing a comedy script for television. Each week we were set different homeworks that got me into the rhythm of writing much more regularly. Chris has a great manner and clearly many years of invaluable experience in the industry. The fact that it was online made it much more accessible, as we were able to all be in different cities, countries even and share our ideas. I highly recommend this for anyone serious about developing a treatment and script for TV. " JM

7pm-9pm UK time 8pm-10pm European time 11am-1pm Pacific time (PDT) 2pm-4pm Eastern time (EDT) This course is the ideal follow on course to my Essential Tools of Sitcom/ Comedy Drama course - and you can also start here if your characters and world are pretty much ready to go. This course takes you through the process of completing your pilot script - in six weeks! The course follows the classic script structure of: TURNING POINT/ MIDPOINT/ CRUNCH POINT. In Act 1 of your script you want to hit a 'turning point' for your protagonist In the middle of the script is the 'midpoint' and at the end of your Act 2 you reach a 'crunch point'. Then you're into Act 3 and into the home straight. And these beats of the story create a series of steps that the course follows, enabling you to get your script written in 6 weeks (5 sessions - then a week after the last session to get it finished!) Each week features example clips from sitcoms and comedy drama shows, writing tips and insights as well as discussion and analysis of your work. A video of the live class will be shared in case of absence or to refer back to. And you will share your work in a Circle group where there will be discussion and feedback.

5 x 2 hour sessions on Zoom 7pm-9pm UK time/ 8pm-10pm European time 11am-1pm Pacific time (PDT) 2pm-4pm Eastern time (EDT) £135 (repeat fee £125) "Amazing. Just gotta say again. The class is fricken excellent. Definitely the best stand-up class I have been to." MS* * an act who has been going for 10 years "The highlight of my week! Trying out different techniques each week is really helpful and Chris’ feedback is very constructive." CR* * a newer act Learn more about your persona, develop your performance and get loads of new comedy tools and perspectives on my online stand-up course for gigging acts. You'll be part of a group with a great bunch of stand-ups working with me, UK comedy director and author of "A Director's Guide to the Art of Stand-up", talking comedy and getting inspiration. I've run it with comics from all over the world and IT WORKS. Everyone ends up with new stuff and loads of ideas. For stand-ups who are already gigging (or are returning to gigging after a break), this course will inspire you to write new material, give you comedy tools you will use again and again, as well as punch up your existing material. I’ve these run stand-up writing sessions with all sort of comics, including several who have many years of gigging under their belt, and of course the beauty is we don’t all have to be in the same room in the same town so I’ve had some truly international groups where UK comics are mixed with acts from Ireland, Germany, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, New Jersey and more. We analyse and discuss stand-up clips nominated by you - including clips of your own gigs. I give you writing techniques and inspiration and every week we take a close look at some new material that group members have written, discussing how to get more out of it.