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!
Edinburgh. There has never been a place where the word summer means so many different things…
Well this is my third time at the Edinburgh Festival, the first was to discover what the world’s biggest arts festival was like and what had I let myself in for when I accepted Jim Lawless’s bet in 2008.
The second time, in August 2009 I performed for 21 nights and spent over 144 hours flyering to complete strangers.
And now in August 2010 I’m back. I’ve been on the Royal Mile 10 minutes and I have 9 flyers in my hand, for Apocolyptic sketch comedy to “Piramania” a musical about pirates (obviously).
Unbelievably in the 3 years one thing has remained constant – the Mexican / Indian nose flute group are still here, still doing hits from Braveheart!
One thing that has changed is that 1 of my comedy friends, Imran Yusuf has been nominated as best newcomer by the Foster Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier).
I met him in November 2008 at the Amused Moose Comedy course information evening. He did a brilliant act. Afterward he had told me he had done the course a few years before, but life had got in the way and he hadn’t done much for a couple of years, but now he was back.
Over the last two years I’ve seen Imran at lots of comedy nights and competitions as well as seeing him in Edinburgh last year where he was sharing the stage with 2 other comics at the Free Fringe. In my mind Imran completely encompasses key 7 – “be a compass not a weathervane”. Since he started out 7 years ago he was blown off course a bit but look at him now, a Newcomer of the Year nomination. No one deserves it more and I look forward to seeing him on TV soon!
So next time life gets in the way of your goal remember Imran…
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.
