Julia Sutherland - WRITING IS HARD.

 I love performing comedy. Love it. I love making people laugh, and that great feeling on stage when you feel like you’re connecting with the audience, like you really ‘get’ each other. It’s awesome. I totally love it.


However, I hate writing comedy. I hate it. I find it utterly torturous and difficult.  It’s not something which has ever come naturally to me, and it’s probably my biggest challenge, in terms of cracking it in this game.


For me, most new material will come in tiny little chunks... and never when I’ve sat down in front of my computer with the express purpose of writing new material.  It comes when I’m trying to get to sleep... when I’m half cut after a gig, in a taxi, on the way home... when I’m pushing a buggy down the street, taking my son to nursery ... or at any other generally inconvenient time, when I don’t have a bit of paper, or a hand free to type frantically into the notes of my iphone.


My inner voice is more harsh than any comedy critic could ever be, and I really struggle to silence it enough to just try something completely new out on stage.

But the fact of the matter is that you won’t ever really know if something you think is funny, is also funny to other people, until you say it out loud on stage. And it’ll almost certainly take you a few attempts at saying it out loud on stage, until you find the right words, the right order, the right rhythm.

This time last year, I had an experience in Glasgow which made me chuckle - just as I was preparing for the Glasgow Comedy Festival, in my usual panicked, last-minute style, with my laptop on my knees in a well known chain of coffee shops.

Two guys came up and asked if they could sit down on the seats beside me – and before long were asking me what I was doing on my computer. I told them I was trying to write material, and they expressed surprise that I was a comedian (I am a woman, after all).  It seemed only polite to ask the talker of the two what HE did for a living, and he proudly told me that, by trade, he was a shoplifter.  He went on to brag that he’d only been lifted ‘the once’ in the 50 years he’d been thieving (Harrods, if you’re curious – top security there, and no mistake!) and that he made ‘an honest living’ out of it. 

I didn't really know where to take the conversation at this point, apart from enquiring as to whether his kids had joined the family business (“Oh no hen, ma daughter’s a lap dancer – an' a good wan too!") and tried to get back to writing on my laptop.  After a few minutes, he got up asked his pal if he wanted a drink – and me if I wanted anything to eat... I politely declined, but he returned a few minutes later with a couple of bottles of water and a fruit salad for me. I jokingly asked “Did you pay for this??” to which he, of course, replied – “Oh no, hen, don’t be daft!”. 

He was genuinely an absolute charmer - and that's one of the things I love about this city - all the beautifully flawed characters you come across. You just need to remember to keep your eyes on your wallet...

Right, so, I’m going to stare blankly at my computer screen for another painful hour or two now, desperately trying to coax some semblance of comedy out of a scribbled collection of words on the back of a bus ticket.  I’m probably not really selling myself here, but please do come and see my show on the 16^th March at Cottiers theatre, at 8pm. Pretty please. Thank you.

Hopefully I will have written it by then...

SHOW TITLE: Julia Sutherland & Friends

VENUE: Cottiers Theatre

DATE: Friday 16^th March

TIME: 8pm

BOOKING LINK: Buy online from TicketSOUP HERE.

BOX OFFICE: 0844 395 4005