In August 2008 Marc Hogan was bet £1 that he couldn’t become a stand up comic in less than 12 months and perform a one man comedy show at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in August 2009 for 21 nights. He won the bet!
After accepting the bet from fellow speaker Jim Lawless I had less than 12 months to become funny. Apparently most comedians perform for between 3 to 10 years before they’ll attempt a 1 hour solo show at Edinburgh. Not even Sir Ranulph Fiennes has had to face a comedy audience baying for his blood when he attempted a challenge. (Although admittedly I was unlikely be attacked by an angry polar bear.)
In May 2009 after 8 months of blood sweat and tears I performed my very first one hour show at another comedy festival. I’m not going to lie to you, it was pretty scary, in fact it was more terrifying than trying to stop a Toyota, but I survived it.
Or I thought I did. Apparently when you are working on a show you should call it “a work in progress”. Professional reviewers don’t review “works in progress”, but I didn’t know this. So I was a little distraught when I read my first review a day after the show.
It was scathing. My heart almost broke as I read it. Imagine your worst ever annual performance assessment from your manager – and triple it!
“That’s it!” I told my wife, Kirsty, “This is just too hard.” I had put everything on the line to take on this challenge, my career, my reputation (not to mention the thousands of pounds it costs to put on a show at Edinburgh).
I was very close to packing it all in until Kirsty emailed me this quote from Ambrose Hollingworth:
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than one’s fear. The timid presume it is lack of fear that allows the brave to act when the timid do not. But to take action when one is not afraid is easy. To refrain when afraid is also easy. To take action regardless of fear is brave.”
It stopped me in my tracks.
Was I going to let one man’s opinion derail 8 month’s work? Was I going to let one man who had never actually performed comedy on stage decide whether I should perform at Edinburgh or not?
Or could I learn from the experience? I swallowed my pride and emailed the reviewer. He gave me some ideas about how I could improve my show, and I went away and I worked…
Was I scared? …Yes, but if I managed to put on the show it could change my life.
Now 6 months after performing my Edinburgh shows I still look back on those 21 nights and smile. Yes, there were a few more tears and tantrums along the way, but I managed to do something really difficult that earned the respect of my fellow comics, and has changed my life in ways I cannot describe. Perhaps most importantly I won that pound!
Now I spend my time sharing my story with business audiences. I tell them about the 7 key things that I learned on my journey and how they can apply them in their lives to help achieve their own goals.
Often after my talks audience members will tell me their stories. How they have been so afraid of failure that they have not tried something new, even when the benefits were clear. Or how they haven’t suggested a new idea to their boss in case he told them that they were stupid. Then they tell me that after listening to my story and learning about my 7 keys they were going to take action even though they were afraid.
Just remember all it takes is courage… my question to you is, what have you been putting off?
Click here to watch Marc’s showreel. If you would like to find out more about Marc, visit www.marchoganlive.com or to book him for a speaking event please contact your favourite speaker bureau.
