Comedy Coaching
May 31, 2016 at 11:32 AM
A debate recently exploded on the Vancouver Stand-up Comedy forum on Facebook. Glen Foster an Ontario based comedian with decades of experience offered to help comics working on their SiriusXM Canada's Next Top Comic sets for money. He was instally mocked and derided for offering such a thing.
I stayed out of the debate and eventually Kathleen McGee jumped in to tell people they were behaving very immature. It went around and around and I actually decided to reach out to Glen. I am a firm believer that paying for some coaching in comedy just like any other skill can be a great way to accelerate your development. I have taken many of Janice Bannister's classes for exactly that reason. Of course you need to put in the work and get the stage time but I have seen many comics skip any form of lessons and take years to develop. Conversely other comics, myself included, were able to hit the ground running with a properly critiqued and developed set on their first time on stage.
There is no right answer here but for me with the limited time I get to hit up the open mics I find paying for some coaching every few months really helps. I don't know Glen but I'm willing to throw him $100 to see if he can help my SiriusXM set in some way.