drafts to laughs
my stand-up journal
I film the gigs, the prep and the things I notice along the way
the journal
22 Oct 2026
Most open mics seat the audience cabaret-style: tables scattered round the room, half the room facing each other instead of the stage. Here's why that costs you laughs, why theatre-style rows work so well at pro gigs, and the seating structure I think beats both: the Bear Pit (named with my mate and fellow comic Chris Norton Walker). Have you ever played a Bear Pit room? Tell me in the comments.
more from the journal
from the tape
The gigs, the drafts that got cut, and the things I only noticed watching it back.
from the video · your jokes aren't the problem
Pick a room, then tell a joke and watch where the laugh goes.
This is obviously all speculation. A toy, not science. Tell me in the comments if your rooms work differently.
what this is
They're not tutorials. Some videos follow a gig from the promoter's email to watching the tape back. Some are a thought I can't shake, like whether the seating is costing you laughs. Some are me pausing a clip of a comedian I love to work out what they just did.
It's my take at the time, so it's open for argument in the comments. On camera it's just me, keyed into a world of drafting paper, where the notes and the diagrams draw themselves around me as I talk.
it happensA gig, a competition, a room that felt off, or a clip of someone doing it better than me.
i notice itI watch it back and say out loud what I spotted: what worked, what didn't, and the habits I didn't know I had.
over to youIt's my take, not a lesson. Half of it is speculation, so the comments are where it gets argued out.
coming soon
It isn't open yet. When it is, it'll be the way to back the journal, and the way in to the thing I've been building to help me write.
Until then, the best way to follow along is subscribing on YouTube.
for members · coming soon
A writing gym you do out loud. A sixty-second warm-up, then a riff where your words build a map as you go. At the end it reads the session back to you, marked up like a draft, and you keep the lines you want in a notebook.
It never writes your jokes. That bit's still your job.
try the warm-up · sixty seconds on
the family group chat
Think it through. When it hits zero, say it out loud.
contact
A question about a video, a gig you think I should see, or a story from your own. Send it over.
or email dylan@dylanjkershaw.co.uk
