Well, I'm not sure what algorithms you've been seeing these past few days, but aren't you a lovely bunch! 🥰
A thread ... enjoy!
First of all, thank you to everyone who's reached out recently asking how you can support creative #freelancers like me with everything we've been doing in Lockdown. It will come as no surprise to hear it's been a crap year, but there have been moments of light that have helped.
Naturally live comedy is currently not an option, so pretty much everything went online. Somehow, most of my work now seems to be for children (but more on that shortly). In the meantime, @HYOC2020 have some great ways to support those in the cultural & creative world.
But surprisingly for me, having spent years gigging on the adult UK comedy circuit, most of the content I've created has been for children struggling through #lockdown & #homeschooling.
It's these projects, and the money raised for @FareShareUK, of which I'm most proud.
After more than 20 years @EquityUK membership, it looks like I need to leave my Union for putting their antisemitic international position ahead of their domestic membership. As they have something of a monopoly in this field, this will leave me vulnerable as a performer.
This isn't about @EquityUK taking a position on the horrific situation on Israel/Gaza, they are free to believe whatever they want. Although for some reason they have chosen to do so whilst simultaneously ignoring many other significantly worse conflicts around the world.
But for @EquityUK to use my subs and the subs of thousands of members without consultation beyond the Council, opting to fund one-side of an incredibly complex two-sided situation, comes with a more sinister agenda that can only be ignored and brushed aside for so long.
I miss not knowing how a gig will go beforehands and then standing on stage telling jokes to a room that will judge a punchline in the moment & not based on any knowledge of how it’s been received before. I miss reading the room and editing as I go to get the best of a set.
I miss the awkward conversations with audience at gigs. The praise when things go well and avoidance of eye contact when you’ve died. I even miss hearing their jokes and being told “here, you can have that one for your skit!”
I've been slowly updating and adding new content to my YouTube comedy channel. It would be great to get a few more subscribers on there to help unlock some of the features only available to the super popular.
Before I started comedy I taught #SexEducation, going into schools teaching about relationships, boundaries, puberty, that kind of thing.
When I say "going into schools", I was invited. I didn't just stand in the playground with a banana & a condom talking to kids about sex!
Hearing this, someone recently asked, "if you catch #CoronaVirus from a lover does that make it an STI?"
I said "no". Banging your head during sex wouldn’t mean a headache was an STI...actually in some relationships a headache could really be considered a form of contraception!
Thinking about this encounter, I was reminded of stuff the kids would ask.
In the spirit of “there’s no such things as a stupid question” we'd encourage them to ask anything, and to keep it anonymous they'd write it on a scrap of paper so no-one knew who asked the question.
Jew-O-Rama is a Jewish compilation show I run with @levenecomedy featuring the best Jewish and Jew "ish" comedians at the Fringe. We started last Saturday and so far we've had some fantastic acts and have played to really decent audience numbers.