Workshops
I have been facilitating stand-up comedy workshops since 2014 and enjoy delivering these in a variety of contexts. This could be within the intimate confines of an established women only peer support group, at both indoor and outdoor festival events open to anyone wishing to attend or as part of a larger more formally structured programme, such as a residential weekend, conference or training day.
While the workshops are a great way of introducing people to the art of creating comedy using actual life experience as inspiration for material, for those wanting something more in depth I have developed a short beginners course.
Courses
Over six sessions the beginners course explores several essential elements of stand-up including:
Liberating and applying the comedy persona
Exercises for generating material
Understanding and experimenting with different jokes styles
Preparing a 5 minute set of original material
Performing in front of a live audience
In the final session there would normally be a sharing of some kind to demonstrate what people have learnt.
While subject to individual requirements, broadly speaking there are two ways of structuring the course, scary and proper scary.
Scary
A series of informal drop in sessions with the option of a sharing amongst a group of peers in the last session.
Proper scary
A more formally structured programme that builds towards a more polished performance to an invited audience.
Since 2019 I have also been delivering short stand-up comedy courses within a more general adult education context.
What people say
“Kym Winstanley’s approach was excellent. Great exercises. She is a skilled facilitator.”
Mind in Camden My Story, Your Story, Whose Story? training day.
“The comedy class today gave me a different way to deal with negative emotions and situations; to turn the hate into love.”
Clean Break Emotional Health and Well Being event
“Your method of delivery is very useful at getting to the core issues that we all suffer from and enables us to be honest with our deeper issues.”
Learning, Transforming, Technique residential weekend at Create Ahh, West Wales.
“What a wonderful way to deal with my addictions, my emotions, my everyday life.”
Clean Break Emotional Health and Well Being event
“It was belly laughs! I realised how much untapped humour there is in all of us.”
Beginners Stand-up Comedy Course at Blackfriars Settlement.
“Fabulous workshop on stand-up comedy as a way of taking control over your own story.”
Experience Matters: Rethinking Lived Experience in Mental Health Communities, Research and Practice event at London South Bank University.