Ask The Industry Podcast

James Alderson (@comedyjames) fell into a career in comedy after some personal circumstances made him want to give it a go. Two years later he's a full time professional club comic. I spoke to him about how he found a way of starting a career in comedy later than most and how he managed to start making money from it so quickly. James also founded and runs the South Coast Comedian of the Year award. We discussed this in detail including why a comedian would want to run a competition, what he gets out of it and the negative results of putting your head above water to try and help out fellow comedians.  I got him on the podcast to talk about - The Secret of being funny.The different types of applauseThe history of musical and variety comedy scene and how it has evolved into the circuit we know today.Is Stewart Lee still “alternative” now that he has a TV show and mainstream success.What it’s like to be a teacher of comedy at a university. “moments” in comedy and “comedy you can’t ex