Jonathan, London: What the MC Course Actually Did For His Comedy

Jonathan had been doing stand-up for eight months when he decided to take the MC course.

He was not sure an online course would work for something as live and reactive as MCing. He did it anyway.

What he found was not just a set of techniques. It was something he did not expect to find at all, and he explains it in the video below with more precision than most comedians manage after years on stage.

Watch it before reading any further.

Jonathan mentions something specific about preparation and spontaneity that most people getting into MCing get entirely backwards.

He also describes what happened on his first night after completing the course. The parts he had been most anxious about turned out to be the least of his problems.

If you want to see what the course material itself looks like, the video below is taken directly from How to Be a Brilliant Stand-Up Comedy MC. It covers one of the areas Jonathan found most useful.

How to Be a Brilliant Stand-Up Comedy MC is the online course for comedians with 50 or more gigs who want to run their own night, raise their MCing game, or simply get more out of every show they do.

It covers crowd work, heckler management, running order, spontaneous material and how to hold a room from first act to last.

If you are considering it and want a sense of how it sits alongside your stand-up, Comedy Progression and New Material Hell covers what that journey actually looks like over time.

And if the thing holding you back is the fear of an unpredictable room, How to Handle a Bad Stand-Up Gig is worth reading first.

People also ask

Is the MC course suitable for comedians who are relatively new to stand-up?
It is designed for comedians with 50 or more gigs, but Jonathan's experience shows that the course rewards anyone who approaches it seriously. What matters more than gig count is the willingness to work through the material and apply it. Jonathan had eight months of stand-up behind him and found the course immediately practical and applicable to his first MCd night.

What does the How to Be a Brilliant Stand-Up Comedy MC course cover?
The course covers the full range of skills required to run a live comedy night: crowd work, heckler management, building a running order, working in your own material, setting the tone and keeping the room on track from start to finish. It runs to over five hours across 16 sessions, each followed by a practical exercise.

How is MCing different from doing stand-up?
A stand-up delivers a prepared set. An MC runs the whole show, reacting to the room in real time, protecting the acts and keeping the energy right between every performer. The skills overlap but the mindset is different. Several comedians who have taken the course report that MCing accelerated their development as a stand-up in ways they did not anticipate.

Can I take the MC course if I am based outside the UK?
Yes. The course is entirely online and self-paced, so it is available to comedians anywhere in the world. Jonathan is based in London but the material applies to any live comedy environment regardless of location.