I think between 1983 and 1993 I was big into martial art movies, or kung fu films as we knew them then, and Bruce Lee. ’83 was the year I first watched Enter the Dragon. A bit too young in retrospect. This led to me taking up Shotokan Karate for three years, but it wasn’t…
Category: Dear Madam
The Summer I Worked in a Video Shop and Decided to Make Films
I think it was 1995. I’d graduated secondary school, and took a year out before I went to drama school. Didn’t get the predicted grades I wanted to go to Manchester University which was my first choice. My comedy heroes Ben Elton, Rick Mayall, and Adrian Edmondson My friend Simon, who worked in our local…
That One Time 49 People Thought I Was Having a Breakdown
In 2005, I was experimenting with character monologues instead of just stand-up. I wanted to draw more from my background in theatre. My solo show Please Stop Trying To Kill Me, Dad was more along the lines of stand-up theatre or stand-up storytelling. I had taken it to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2004 and was…
The Children’s Entertainer
Between 2004 and 2005, I worked as a children’s entertainer. A friend of a friend was working for a company, mostly performing magic for kids. I got recommended to try out for the company. I auditioned, got in, and was invited to do an all-day training session. Halfway through, they announced that one of their…
Please Stop Trying To Kill Me, Dad: Origin
In September 2001, I watched a one-woman show by London-based performer/theatremaker Peta Lily. The stand-up theatre show, Topless, was about ‘life and death and love and hate and sex and sticking plaster and breasts.’ It was fantastic, very funny. I thought to myself, “this! This is the sort of work I want to be doing….