Mental health nurse turned comedy genius and WORD! Associate Artist, Rob Gee will be performing as the headline act at the WORD! Comedy Special on Tuesday evening, Feb 15th 2022 - see here to book: https://bit.ly/34zw6OD Read on to find out about his inspirations, top tips for overcoming pre-show nerves and much more.
Abi: Can you tell us about how you got started in comedy?
Rob: I got into poetry through punk rock: when I was 16 I fronted a band and the chat between the songs kept getting longer… I got into comedy through doing the poetry: because a lot of the poems were funny, a comedy agent paired me up with a musician and I spent five years doing the clubs as half a singing double act. It was so much fun onstage. We split up 10+ years ago, so now I’m a poet again, but that’s no reason not to entertain people.
Abi: Where do you find inspiration for your writing?
Rob: People. I tried writing about nature once and it was crap.
Abi: Do you have a favourite show that you have performed at?
Rob: I’ve done over 3,000 shows, so I could go on all day! My favourites tend to be the ones that should have failed but somehow worked. I think my favourite in recent years was performing a run of shows in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, shortly before the lockdown – not all of them could understand my accent, but they liked it anyway!
Abi: You’ve performed across the globe, how do you overcome and nervousness before going on stage?
Rob: I don’t really get nervous anymore, unless I’m starting a long tour with a brand new show and there’s a bunch of reviewers in. You become very aware that the opinion of one or two random strangers will decide whether you make or lose thousands of pounds. So that tends to get the old fight/flight response going - there’s certainly a heightened level of functioning but it all feels healthy! In terms of handy hints for overcoming stage fright, the best advice to give is never to go on stage with anything you’re not proud of. Then, if they do hate it, you at least know they’re wrong!
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Rob will headline WORD!s Comedy Special this Tuesday, Feb 15th, 8.30pm @ Wygston House.
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