Author: Sam Freeman
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Fourteen things I learnt at university (circa 7 years ago)
I realized this week that I am closing in on 8 years since I left university. Not a massive milestone but one that was highlighted to me on my friend Neal’s stag weekend. As we were stood there in the rain, vomit coating the bottom of our trousers, me drenched and shitfaced laughing at the…
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An open letter to my 16 year old self.
Dear Sam, This must be a bit strange getting a letter from your future self – I imagine you’re wondering about all the cool shit you’ll be getting up to in the next 12 years. Maybe you’re imagining I’ve just got back from my high flying executive job going from my office at the World…
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A prolonged silence…
It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog post. It’s not that I haven’t tried, I have, god I’ve tried. I’ve pulled my laptop towards me in a semi-seductive manner and whispered into its USB port, “now… it’s blogging time.” . I’ve then switched on iplayer, just for a second, to check, well, check…
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An Edinburgh Hour – Part 2
Hello and welcome back. This is my attempt to put some rough ideas down for new material and potentially a new show. It’s really really VERY rough stuff… The finished article will be slicker, more coherent, funnier, more poignant and generally just less shit. But if you don’t hate this then do stay tuned. So far the…
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An Edinburgh Hour…
Last week I got a bad review. A very bad review. I know what you’re thinking, “I bet it wasn’t that bad“, “i bet you startled them with you linguistic ability, surprised them with wit and poignancy“, maybe, just maybe you’re thinking, “I bet he’s being modest and at worst it is a mixed review“.…
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Arts Marketing: Now What? (Part 1)
I’ve not written a post about arts marketing for a while so, as I find myself on box office in a quiet moment I thought I’d pop down some thoughts I’ve been having recently. If you work in marketing you may disagree with them – then again I could be about to provide a moment…
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Kitson and Kirk
This week has been pretty good so far. I say pretty good, I mean on the one hand I’ve enjoyed it, I’ve had some great experiences and seen some great work, but at the same time and perhaps paradoxically as a direct result of those very same great experiences I have felt an overwhelming sense…
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When will I be on Live at the Apollo?
Recently I had two gigs back-to-back that weren’t terrible. Hardly a ringing endorsement, but when I told a mate i’d had two average gigs he asked me when I’d be on Live at the Apollo. Now this is terrible for a few reasons, firstly it suggests that my ambition rests with being on TV rather than…
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Gigs #20 & #21 – A tale of two gigs
I’ve decided to roll gigs #20 & #21 together as they are good examples of how life doesn’t always work in your favour and sometimes you have to search for positives. Gig #20 was a competition, my first, for Bottletop Comedian Of The Year, Heat One. The gig went really well, I had chance to…
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Gig #19 – The Holly Bush, Dudley
I’ve not blogged for a couple of gigs and had no real intention of doing many more, however, after talking to a few comics at gigs who seem to read the shit I write on here I thought I’d continue. In a weird way I am taking pride from writing this pretentious drivel and knowing…
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Gig #17 – Bramall, Stockport
As a comedian (and for reference I still feel very uncomfortable using that term to describe myself) you get to perform in a variety of towns and cities. You also get to play in an array of spaces – from the back room of a pub to the well-prepared, well-run comedy club, from a student…
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Inspiration and tiny steps
I’ve noticed that recently my blog posts have gone from witty, hilarious anecdotal, nuanced pieces and become rather predictable – while keeping gig notes is, for me, really useful, I appreciate that outside the comedy community is can be quite dull. It’s been remarkable how people go from “please tell me more about doing stand-up”…
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Gig #15 – Vinyl, Liverpool (Compere)
Usually when I have a gig in the evening I spend the entire day worried, feel sick and have the urge to flee, extremely quickly. So it works to my benefit not to know about a gig until late so when Binty let me cover him as compere for the Pros and Coms gig down…
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Writing songs about Panda’s
I was bored this evening so decided to write a song. It’s below so you can have a listen but it’s 2 part harmonies, bass, piano and guitar, recorded and the video made in an evening. So yeah, let me know what you think!
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Gig #14 – Comedy Balloon, Manchester
To be honest I wasn’t sure how to write this gig up – it was, to steal a terrible phrase used regularly on Match of the Day, a game of two halves. I’m going to start with the dull stuff. I opened the gig and it was fun, a quiet and quite difficult room I…
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Getting out of a rut
(This is just my ideas and what’s currently going round in my head, you may disagree, but please let me know your thoughts) Sometimes it can feel like I’m getting in a rut with theatre marketing. There, I’ve admitted it, I’ve said what arts marketeers should never say and I fully expect to be spurned…
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Fear Of Flying – 4
They sat in silence for nearly two hours, the only sounds the slamming doors in other parts of the police station and the faint hum of the air conditioning. Simon pondered that it seemed ironic that in the middle of winter the air conditioning was still on and that surely opening a window would have…