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My Stand-Up Journey 

By Jonathon Souter-Findlay  

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I've always loved performing, entertaining, and making people laugh. From putting on wee silly productions with my pals, at the age of 8yr, to perform in front of all our parents in the back garden. To playing lead characters in a couple of youth theatre productions at the age of 14 & 15...that was me, I was bit by the bug and knew that I belonged on stage. 

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At the age of 18, I left home to work a couple of seasons with Haven and Parkdean holidays as part of the ents team, which involved presenting gameshows, crowd interaction, performing in-house stage productions, and just generally acting silly. The dream happened...I was a professional dafty. Getting paid to act silly, and have fun on stage with the holiday makers. But unfortunately...I had to pack it in, due to health reasons.

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I still continued to dance, and teach dance after I left the parks...but again, I had to pack that in due to health reasons. At the age of 25, my dream was slipping away, and had to take on a general job to get them bills paid, and live and adult life. 

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Throughout my time of working in the ents industry, the odd comment of me doing stand-up was suggested to me...especially whenever I had a rant, but I never had the confidence, until I came across the ultra course with Viv Gee, to raise money for charity. And by golly...stand-up comedy wasn't what I though it was gonna be. But doing her course, and a few gigs after that, it made me realise, that it's not as hard as what I though it was gonna be. But trying to balance this with a regular job, and crappy health...it can be quite difficult.

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​So I'm not at where I want to be in comedy. As trying to do this while holding a job, with health issues up in the air, it's hard to do it full time. I genuinely admire those who are able to do so, as it's not easy. So, I keep my toes in th water, and keep myself up to scratch by doing at least one gig a month. But I hope, this time next year, I'll be able to do a lot more. I'm still enjoying it, but with the HUGE egos (I mean, we all have one! Some bigger than others. Every entertainer does) that are cutting about the scene, sometimes our inner saboteurs get to us.