comedy feature
Think You’re Funny Now?
Fringe veteran Jojo Sutherland on teaching people to stand-up.
"Anyone can tell a joke down to pub, but there’s a big difference between being funny and thinking you’re funny, it takes hard work. Actors tell me all the time that they couldn’t do what I do. You have to be serious about comedy.” Jojo Sutherland should know; she is running comedy courses for those who think they’re funny enough to stand on a stage. But she’s not just working with aspiring comedians: “there are eight people on this course, four want to go into stand-up. People come to achieve different things, one to hone his best man speech, another is in corporate training and wants to make speeches more interesting.”
The idea of corporate speakers attempting comedy strikes fear in my heart, and Jojo believes “people have the potential to be funny, but some things like timing can’t be taught. Most is down to natural ability, I teach people how to develop it; where to get inspiration, dealing with heckling, but you can’t do it unless you have the instinct for when to pause or how to use certain inflections”.
For anyone thinking about stand-up, the idea of being heckled is the most terrifying. So, how do you prepare someone for that? “Well, usually the people heckling are drunken arseholes, but personally it happens very rarely. Ninety-five percent of comedy is confidence, it’s persona that deters heckling. There are stock comebacks you can pull out of the bag, but they’re ones we’ve all heard, ‘your mum…’ jokes essentially. I always tell people to try and think of something a little more original. Sometimes just a glare can do it, again it’s all about the confidence.”
Then again, if it’s all about innate ability it must be rare to find real talent on the courses, right? Wrong. Jojo tells me she’s already seen potential, “one of the girls has the determination that you need for this job. She has a gig tomorrow and says even if she breaks her leg she’ll be doing it, that’s the attitude I have, that’s the attitude I like.Though if they decide not to go into stand-up I threaten to use any great material!”
There are three women on Jojo’s current course, but that’s unusual. “I hate the attitude that we’ve got to be gentle with female comics. It’s like with ‘Mad Cows’ [Jojo’s female stand-up show] we’re doing an hour of great comedy, it just so happens that we’re women.” But this is the Fringe, and we’ve all seen awful comedy, is there space for more people on the circuit? “I love the Fringe, I’ve been doing it for 25 years, I feel it’s one of my children. And there’s plenty of space for good comedy, but I have to be brutally honest. The worst are people who think they’re funny and aren’t, but you have to tell them, if you’re working in a bar you won’t employ someone on who isn’t working hard enough. This is my profession and I am passionate about it, I work it, I live it, I breathe it.”
Jojo adores what she does, and I’m tired just thinking about her relentless Fringe diary. It looks like comedy isn’t for me. Still, what are Jojo’s tips for those who do think they could hack it? ‘To enjoy yourself, and remember that it’s not about the audience, you can’t please everyone. It’s inherently selfish, but personally I want to make some sort of mark, I don’t want to waste a minute. Nae fucking about.” OK Jojo. Nae fucking about.
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Jojo had three shows at Fringe 2008 all at Laughing Horse @ Espionage, plus ran the 'About Comedy: Stand-Up Comedy Courses' at Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football Club.
published: Oct-2008
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