Genes in Jeans - My Go at Stand-Up Comedy

Wow, I did something crazy.

I had a go at stand-up comedy. Its something I've always wanted to have a go at, but I think you usually need some sort of credentials to get involved... in particular I think you need to have a track record of being funny. However this was a comedy night with a difference - this was Bright Club.

Now Bright Club has several regular sessions across the country and the basic premise is it's 'where comedy meets brains'. The bill is largely made up of academics, research students, scientists and more and the idea is to talk about something that the audience may never have heard about before and to make it amusing. This makes writing a set a little tricky as you can't really do a lot of observational humour but I am nothing if not a fan of a challenge.

I've never been known for my wit, despite my surname, so I spent the whole time writing my set terrified that it wouldn't be funny. I spoke a little about becoming a geneticist, a little about working on yeast and a little on my favourite topic of all, superheroes.

I debated the outfit for a long time, but I decided on my final joke and had to really build the outfit around that. In the end I figured I'd wear jeans, and it took my friend Fiona to point out that there was some humour in wearing jeans and talking about genes... oops.

Anywho, the genes were from Vivien of Holloway and are the 50s reproduction jeans (they are wonderful) and my blouse is from Dorothy Perkins via a charity shop.

The night itself was terrifying, I was performing last so there was a lot of pressure to get laughs. Thank goodness the audience were very happy and supportive. They even laughed at me!! YES! I was surprised how much I enjoyed the experience, unfortunately my set was meant to be 8 minutes, but I managed to over run quite a bit... oh dear.

Anywho, here is my set if you'd like to see:

I'd highly recommend giving stand-up a go to anyone and it really is a lot of fun trying to see the funny side in your area of expertise. I'd love to know what you think - please let me know if I made you laugh.