Writer's Block

Friday night saw me gigging at the Tournament in Earls Court in a Laughing Horse New Act of the Year 2009 quarter final. Introducing a competitive element to stand up normally results in the experience being less enjoyable. Horrible as it is, you can't help wanting all the other acts to be less funny than you. Mentally it brings out the worst in me in a sense. Unfortunately, when you're getting started they are one of the primary methods of getting stage time and they appeal as a means of selling yourself. 'Comedian X is a Laughing Horse New Act of the Year 2009 Finalist' sounds considerably better than 'Comedian X has been stubbornly dragging themselves around the open mic circuit for months on end'. Getting through to the next round can often just be a matter of luck, particularly in competitions decided on audience vote such as LH. After all, humour is utterly subjective. I had the fortune to get through to the semi finals, even though I was far from my best...

I've had three gigs in recent weeks, not a great number but I'm allegedly taking time out to focus on finishing my degree. The first was the London heat of the Chortle Student Comedy Award 2009 at UCL. The Chortle crowds are always really nice and I was expecting an enjoyable evening. I was nervous beforehand because I felt the need to deliver a completely different set to my last appearance in the competition . I very rarely do completely new sets because it's generally against comedy protocol, it's better to gradually mix new material in with the old until you've got something that can stand on its own. My nervousness was apparent onstage unfortunately, but I think I was decent enough and now have something to work with in the next batch of gigs. Anyway, you can judge for yourself here . Next came The Comedy Circus, a cabaret event of sorts in aid of Comic Relief at the Bournemouth Pier Theatre. They managed to get more than a hundred people in on a night where R...

I turned 21 on Saturday. I spent my birthday in the Northeast with my dad watching Sunderland v.s Tottenham, something that had been planned for ages as he's a massive Sunderland fan and he's successfully dragged me along for the ride over the years. The game ended 1-1 , predictably with the disappointment of a last minute Robbie Keane equalizer. Before the game, we had a brief tour of the stadium which at one point involved me standing in Sunderland's dressing room with their manager and captain. As has become the custom over the years in rooms predominantly containing strangers, I said nothing. Anyway, above is a photo of my dad and I sitting in the home dugout at the Stadium of Light. Savour it, pictures of me in suits are fairly thin on the ground. My mum rang me up later on and asked me if it felt like I was 21. I told her no, which was true, although I didn't particularly want to acknowledge it anyway. The idea that I should be a fully fledged adult now is depress...

Hello. I am Richard Stainbank, final year Modern History and Politics undergraduate at Royal Holloway and occasional stand up comedian. Welcome to my new and unimaginatively titled blog. My last attempt at blogging concluded three years ago with a longwinded description of a mental breakdown sparked by the microwave in my kitchen exploding in a preposterous amount of green smoke. I considered that to be bowing out at the top. But I'm back. Mainly because I want to try and write more regularly in the hope that this might have a positive knock on effect for my stand up, where in trying to construct material, I often encounter writer's block. Hence the title, as you probably could have guessed. I'm partly inspired by Richard Herring's excellent blog, Warming Up . Unlike him, I suspect I don't have enough to say (nor the motivation) to write daily for the next five years. Anyway, this is pretty much going to be a life blog. Expect comedy stuff and gig reports. Nonsense ...