Saturday 8th February | 11:00 – 15:00
Please note: This event is an external hire. For questions not relating to the venue, please get in touch with Ben Van der Velde.
Whether you’re an open mic comic wanting to learn the basics of compering or a more seasoned pro keen to extend your skill set, join accomplished compere Ben Van der Velde for this four hour workshop focusing on the skills of hosting and crowd work.
In this workshop you’ll cover:
* How to unlock your creativity and natural improvisational skills
* Persona and status
* How to get at least 5 laughs from each audience member
* Asking better questions to mine better information and create better riffs
* Endowing audience members to create fantasy worlds to play with
* Performing one man scenes
* How to create a story of the night by weaving together different audience interaction
We’ll also look at useful shortcuts for effective crowdwork, how to deal with hecklers and how to host non-comedy events. All abilities/levels of experience welcome.
“Before Ben’s enjoyable and productive workshop, I didn’t feel very confident talking to the audience. Within six months of doing the workshop I was offered my first TV hosting job and I felt prepared and excited for it.” William Stone
“The workshop was brilliant! The four hours flew by. Ben is very generous and has a really positive “can do” attitude towards comedy. I left feeling a lot stronger as a comic.” Aideen McQueen
“I have been doing stand up for two decades but Ben’s workshop taught me things I still hadn’t learned. He’s encouraged me to bust out of my scripted straitjacket and be more playful on stage. Would recommend this workshop to any comic no matter what their level.” Andy White
