Sam Freeman

Storytelling | Theatre | Arts Marketing

Category: Comedy

  • A final(ish) gig report.

    A final(ish) gig report.

    On Friday I did, what will be, my last gig for probably the next 6 – 8 months. I’m taking a break while I get sorted in a new job and have also been struggling with my confidence to apply for gigs so it felt like a break might be good to reinvigorate me too.…

  • A set of pure, unadulterated terror

    A set of pure, unadulterated terror

    This week I had 2 gigs which for me is a lot. I don’t do as many as I used to, I get bored of my material incredibly quickly which is problematic as it’s incredibly unmotivating for doing gigs. A good example might be the storytelling set(s), I know that they work every time, but…

  • Watching & Dreaming (2)

    To read part one of this story, click here The dog woman was eyeing him like a security guard in a second rate jewellers, combining a look of disgust and dismay combined with a very real threat. Perhaps it was slightly unfortunate that she’d taken such an interest in his behaviour and general aptitude to use…

  • Watching & Dreaming (1)

    This story starts, somewhat unexpectedly, at a car boot sale. Car boot sales are not, you see, likely places for stories to begin. Quite the contrary, car boot sales are where stories go to end, where the unwanted entrails and detritus of life are paraded in a muddy field as drizzle and a light fog…

  • Gig Report – Liverpool Lantern Theatre

    Gig Report – Liverpool Lantern Theatre

    So today was the big day, the first work-in-progress performance of the show I’ve been working on for the last 4 months at the lovely Lantern Theatre. I was feeling pretty nervous about it in the preceding week. Firstly the show was only really finished on Friday and I was aware that the ending and…

  • The “oh shit” moment

    The “oh shit” moment

    I think with every artform, but perhaps particularly performance, there comes a moment, a second where the idea of being on stage, in front of people, doing a thing, moves from being a concept, a vague thing in a misty future to something increasingly concrete and real. It’s that moment where you think, “oh shit,…

  • Gig Report: Warrington Albion

    Gig Report: Warrington Albion

    I’ve not written about any gigs for a while so I thought it’d be probably worthwhile writing something up, not least to force me to adequately assess my comedy life / life and decide what to do. Also because i genuinely think your lives are probably empty enough to want to read this. Only kidding.…

  • A Scratch Night

    A Scratch Night

    I’ve always had a bit of a weird relationship with theatre I think. When I was first getting into it I wanted, like many, to be an actor, to claim the limelight and let it wrap around me smothering my insecurities. Unfortunately it didn’t quite work like that, turned out that I couldn’t learn lines…

  • Writing an Edinburgh Show (Part 2)

    Writing an Edinburgh Show (Part 2)

    So I’ve started writing my Edinburgh show and it’s slow progress so far. Essentially the idea is that i’m going to tell two stories, one about a fictional couple who exist only in the written book world and another which is mine. They start quite separate and then start to cross over, become interdependent until,…

  • Writing an Edinburgh Show (Part 1)

    Writing an Edinburgh Show (Part 1)

    I’ve been noticeably unproductive over the past 7 months, I think since I finished working on Gaffer and the uncertainty about my directing career and what to do next, so at Christmas I realised that I needed to jump back on the metaphorical horse. There’s a few play’s I’d love to direct but finances and finding…

  • Storytelling: The Station

    My latest story – very roughly recorded at 81 Renshaw Street in October – have a listen, see what you think, comment below 🙂 Alternatively click here to download!

  • Comedy deaths, Man Utd and the pit of despair.

    I’ve found that recently I’ve become, metaphorically, in my comedy career, Man Utd. It was all going so well a few months back, I was in a weird comedy zone where everything just seemed to work and was easy, I didn’t feel under pressure at gigs and was performing and felt really happy on stage.…

  • The life formerly known as Sam Freeman’s.

    Life has had a change for me in the last couple of months. Firstly I’ve finished directing a show and have returned to my relative normality going out every few evenings to do a gig or two and returning at 1am either bitter and angry that I didn’t do very well or bitter and angry…

  • The TEN types of open acts…

    The TEN types of open acts…

    I wanted to share my views on the different types of people I’ve experienced as an open act doing comedy this past year and a half… This is just my personal experience, so please don’t be offended if yours has not been the same. So here goes, STRAP IN. The dedicated dreamer who’s taken a…

  • Gig #59 – The one where I tried to start incest in the audience.

    So Sam, how was the gig tonight? Well, to be honest both strange and good. Strange and good? Come on, don’t be coy, tell all. Okay, so I did the storytelling set tonight. The one that’s artistically very clever but ultimately a bit of a lazy cop out?

  • Giggidy, Giddidy, Gee…

    Sometimes you do a gig, a gig you expected to be amazing, a gig you thought would lift you on to a higher emotion, artistic and comedic level, where you prepared new material that was crafted, analysed, road tested and developed to near perfection, and then you perform it to an audience who you think…

  • 50 Gigs In

    It’s 10 past midnight and I can’t sleep. This I suspect may be for one of two reasons. The first is that I woke up at midday today and as a consequence my body thinks that it’s 9pm, the second is that it is from the adrenaline of doing my fifty third (I think) gig.

  • Who am I? Being a brand

    “Who am I?”  I’ve had a few conversations with both new comedians and theatre companies recently about marketing themselves to increase bookings and profile.