Who's doing the July Chortle sessions? | Friday Night Dinner's Robert Popper and more...

Who's doing the July Chortle sessions?

Friday Night Dinner's Robert Popper and more...

Chortle can today announce the line-up for our next industry sessions at London’s Museum of Comedy.

Our next evening – on July 2 – will comprise two events: a masterclass from Friday Night Dinner creator Robert Popper and a session about potentially lucrative sidelines, such as corporate and voiceover work and video streaming,  that available to comedians.

Popper’s session will offer invaluable advice on how to get into the world of TV comedy, including writing tips and insight from the perspective of his former job as a TV commissioner.

While the second will open a window on worlds that might seem closed to comedians working the circuit, but offer valuable opportunities for some performers.

There will, of course, be opportunities to ask your own questions of all those involved.

Click here for tickets.

 The programme, in more detail, is: 

7pm Robert Popper masterclass

Join Robert Popper for a masterclass, sharing what he’s learned from a long and varied comedy career that spans writing, producing, commissioning script editing, performing and more.

He’s best known for creating Friday Night Dinner, which has just been renewed for a sixth series, making it Channel 4’s longest-running current comedy. Previously he and Peter Serafinowicz created and starred in a the BBC 2 spoof science comedy Look Around You.

He has produced Peep Show; written on shows including South Park and Stath Lets Flats; script-edited The Inbetweeners and The IT Crowd and starred alongside Steve Coogan in Sky TV’s Alan Partridge On Open Books

As a commissioning editor for comedy at Channel 4, he commissioned Bo’ Selecta!, helped develop The IT Crowd and oversaw two series of Black Books and one of Spaced. In 2008, he set up his own production company, Popper Pictures.

Under his pseudonym, Robin Cooper, he also wrote The Timewaster Letters books, which have sold more than 300,000 copies.

8.30pm Lucrative sidelines?

Away from the circuit, comedians can find often lucrative work in the world of corporate booking and voiceovers – or monetise their stand-up shows by making them available online. Here we speak to three gatekeepers of these worlds to gain valuable insight into what it takes to work in this field, what sort of performers they are looking for, and how these areas of business work day-to-day.

Hannah Oldman: An artists and speakers’ agent at JLA, the UK's biggest specialist agency for keynote, motivational and after dinner speakers, conference presenters, awards hosts and cabaret for corporate, industry and public sector events.

Jane Savage: An agent at Soho-based Calpyso Voices who has been representing actors and comedians for commercials, cartoons, documentaries and corporate work for more than 30 years, with a list of clients that includes Sanjeev Bhaskar, Simon Day, Kerry Godliman, Rhys Thomas, Lucy Montgomery, Norman Lovett and Tom Rosenthal.

Daniel Berg: CEO and co-founder of video subscription service NextUp, which releases two stand-up specials every week on a revenue-share basis with the comedians. Daniel is also a comedy producer and BAFTA-winning writer whose worked with brands such as Paddy Power and Alize as well as broadcasters including E4, Comedy Central and Cartoon Network.

Published: 14 Jun 2019

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