Jon Leverson talks about working in comedy
Reading B1
Jon Leverson talks about working in comedy
At school I was always the one with the funny comment, the class clown who never took things too seriously. I enjoyed making my friends laugh, and to be honest, I seemed to be quite good at it. This was why, at university, I decided to join a comedy club, a small group of people who wanted to practise their joke-telling in front of a live audience. Once a week I would go on stage in front of a small group of people and tell my jokes. This was my introduction to becoming a comedian.
Over the past few years I’ve continued with my hobby. Instead of jokes I like to talk about things that I experience in life that I find amusing. I’m a dad to a young son and a lot of my act is about some of the funny things he does or about being a father. The events I perform at only attract small audiences, but you get a lot of support and people do at least try to laugh, even if they don’t like your act.
I work in an office 9-5 and I perform at the weekend. But don’t think for one minute that it’s just a few hours· work. Thinking of ideas is difficult. And you need to test these ideas and see what makes people laugh and what doesn’t. You then throw some things out completely or change them a bit and try again the next week. In addition to the content it’s about finding your style -what makes you special – and that only comes with practice.
Some people say doing what I do must be quite scary. I’m not sure about scary, but it’s certainly true that standing in front of an audience and trying to make them laugh is quite a challenge. But it’s worth it when you ‘re successful. It’s great to make people feel happy and to know that all the time you’ve spent in preparation has worked. This will always be a hobby rather than a career for me, but one that will hopefully give me a great deal of pleasure for years to come.