11 Nov
04:15
Mic Technique for Christmas Party Comedy Gigs
“I walk in, they hand me a wireless mic immediately,” the comedian Ed Night wrote in his own worst-gig account on Chortle. The booking was…
Section
Stand Up Comedy Tips
Practical advice and step-by-step guides for comedians, including performance tips, booking strategies, audience engagement, and career development in stand-up comedy.
The running order
9 Nov
03:24
Do You Have a Debut Edinburgh Hour? How Comedians Actually Find Out
Paul Hilleard writes in Chortle’s correspondents section about building his debut hour. He got the whole problem into one sentence: “Nearly a year before the…
1 Nov
08:00
The Christmas Party Gig: What to Ask Before You Say Yes
Morgan Rees was compering a show in Buckinghamshire that, as he put it in his December 2024 Substack post, was “being held in an active…
29 Sep
01:57
Build a comedy competition set that survives the five-minute rule
The line on the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year listing is not phrased as a suggestion. “All contestants must stick to 5…
21 Sep
16:48
How to Turn Your Edinburgh Fringe Show Into a Targeted Tour Pitch
Is your Fringe show ready to tour? A Fringe show is ready to tour when you can show that an audience may want it and…
13 Sep
08:52
How to survive bombing on stage and be OK by 11am
Every working comic has a version of the drive home. The one Luke McGibbon wrote up for Chortle in March 2025 has the detail that…
5 Sep
07:38
How to do crowd work without wrecking your own set
Jeff Arcuri’s crowd work started because he ran out of jokes at sea. “It really started when I started doing cruise ships,” he told A…
1 Sep
06:29
How to write a clean comedy set that still gets laughs
Jim Gaffigan once explained his whole approach using a box of doughnuts. “It’s not really necessary to curse when you’re discussing doughnuts,” he told the…
26 Aug
19:48
How to film a comedy clip that bookers actually watch
“We love hosts, but not in your clip.” That line is sitting in a festival submission guide written by Ariel Julie. It exists because so…
26 Aug
08:42
How to handle a heckler without losing the rest of the room
Sally Holloway spent over a decade on the circuit braced for one particular shout out of the dark. When she added it up for Chortle…
