Laughologist, Victoria Maitland, went to St. James’ Senior School to join them for their activity week in June and spent 4 hours helping students hone their stand-up skills with our improvisation and comedy workshop.

The workshop was divided into three sections, starting with a firm grounding in what makes us laugh, why things are funny, and looking at specific comedians to investigate their routines and look at what they are doing to create such a response.

Then the students enjoyed loosening up with some improvisation games with a key focus on building energy and taking our attention off ourselves and onto other people … or the soon-to-be audience

Students really embraced this section and demonstrated their ability to think on their feet and try different tactics to achieve their objectives in the games.

Finally, students took some time honing comedy material in groups. By looking at personal experiences, it was easy to share the humour through the emotional memory of what had happened.

By uniting the study, the energy, and the experiences of funny situations, students were able to perform a carefully put-together piece of comedy genius in groups or alone.

For more information about our Stand and Deliver session for your school, contact Doug - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - he’s no stand-up comedian, but he’s a really nice guy.