Vinny Mc Hale

Why comedy, well there is a bit of a story here so please bear with me and I shall endeavour. I always played around with the idea of being a stand up comedian. But as things would have it, I was born in Ireland and Stand up comedy is still a fairly new occupation to some and something very sinister to others. Like many others who were in a very similar situation to myself, the encouragement was never there and in many cases in my experience it still isn’t and never will be. It wasn’t until I moved to Manchester, Salford to be exact, that a lecturer called Mark Bishop suggested that I should consider taking the Stand Up Comedy module in my final year as a module. Grateful for the advice, I was of course very sceptical because when you come from where I come from you become very skilled at being very sceptical otherwise they’ll eat you alive. It wasn’t until I went to Manchesters famous Frog & Bucket Comedy Club on Oldham Street in Feb 2005 to the infamous Beat The Frog newcomer competition that I am became convinced that I too should at least try it. That September I started the famous stand up comedy module at University only to hate every waking minute of it. It wasn’t the idea of trying to make a room full of strangers laugh that put me off, but it was the restrictions on individuality and censorship that really fucking bugged me. I completed my studies but left dejected and returned to Ireland. However faced with a lengthy spell of unemployment. Fused with this and a need to occupy myself I decided to return to Stand up comedy. This time without a bitter lecturer/failed comic or an assessing panel judging what actually makes comedy. From now on I am doing things for myself.