Michael Casey Bed(c)

Michael Casey Bed©

By Michael Casey

I was just reading in the DT that a Uni is going to start a comedy course, a degree in being funny. Today’s title refers to a teaching degree but I’ve  typed it in wrong to make a point, would you take the teacher seriously if Bed was after their name instead of BEd?

Yes you can teach the business side of comedy, comedians are the new millionaires after all, and some new comedians are just not funny, but they still make loads of money to steal one comedian’s catchphrase. Eric Morcambe used to say if it was funny then it was funny, don’t analyse it. There are some genuine funny people who’ll crack everybody else up with a look, a phrase, a voice, just about anything. If anybody else did the same it just would not work. Frank Carson used to say “It’s the way I tell them” and he was right, Roger Burton our old driver nearly crashed the van as he took Frank to the airport, because Frank was so funny and Roger was crying with laughter. Jim the other driver could say something and he would get away with it, and evoke gales of laughter because he was funny.  I was part of that playground too at CPNEC, it was such a fun play the three of us together, not forgetting Phil, my phone a friend Phil.

If you try and catch up with a laugh it’s too late, timing really is everything, and you either have it or you don’t. I went on  a Presenting Course in 1998 because I hoped it’d help with my comic writing, it did help me learn to present and ultimately to teach. I try and practice my comic timing while I’m in the queue in Iceland or Aldi, I listen to what’s happening at the front of the queue and then see if I can make the checkout girl laugh, most days I can. Three years of banter with the lads at CPNEC does help you a lot.

Now writing comedy is another thing entirely, you may be able to write but performing is another kettle of fish, and if you get it wrong it really does stink as much as a kettle of fish. I mentioned teaching, I have used my writing skills to make students laugh and to teach  at the same time. I prefer the writing side but I have performed as well, some say I was good, but I laugh too much instead of being the straight actor. You have to have discipline while you act, you know the funny line is coming you must not kill it, it has to come out and be enjoyed.  Some people kill the punch line by interrupting the story, that’s always a bad thing, let the storyteller tell the story.

My friend Andrew was a brave man, he had severe problems with his legs and used crutches, he worked our switchboard, now he knew how to deliver a line. If we had a quiet period in the mid afternoon and I wasn’t sent elsewhere to help out at the hotel then we’d share a joke or two. I’d feed him a line and wait, he’d pause and look back at me  from his position at the switchboard then deliver a perfect put down, his lips pursed and his glasses perched on his nose. I was the ball machine and he was the ace returning grand slam player. It was fun, I’d be the straight man and he’d be the slammer. Working the Concierge desk in the evening I had a chance to practice my lines with every new guest that appeared. Perfect place to practice.   I also spent 3 years at a law firm, I practiced words of a different kind there.

But what of words? Words are like sweets, like drops of rain, a kiss and much much more. Comedy is strange, what makes me laugh may not make you laugh. An In joke, Inns of Court jokes jokes appeal on different levels to different people. Every job, every profession has its own jokes, the knack is to write so that you can touch base with as many different people as possible, use special language and draw people in to different strands of life, of laughter. In a way laughter is about pain because we are laughing at others misfortune.

Every joke or story has degrees of laughter and pain attached, it’s though laughter we can live through pain. I wrote about my bad back maybe 3 years ago, Crawling Like a Worm in the Dirt I called the piece, it’s funny because we can picture the scene. A  good writer is drawing pictures in the readers’ minds, creating cartoons. Now will a Degree be able to teach all of what I’ve spoken of? I’ve spent 45 years to get where I am now, 20 years listening to BBC Radio4 and 25 years holding a pen. Humour varies from area to area and from country to country, from person to person, one man’s meat really is another man’s poison. I think it’s time for Michael Casey to go to B E D.