Worth It?
Real experiences with paid courses
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Become a memberWould you pay more for a stand-up course if the class was much smaller?
I keep coming back to class size when I look at courses. A cheaper course with sixteen people sounds fine until I work out how much actual time that might leave for everyone to try material and get useful feedback. If two courses covered similar ground, would you pay noticeably more for a smaller group, or is the tutor and amount of stage time a better thing to judge? I’m trying to work out which bits of a course are genuinely worth paying for rather than just nice wording on the page.
What would make course feedback actually worth paying for?
I keep thinking the valuable bit of a course should be the feedback you couldn’t easily give yourself. But “good feedback” can mean anything from line-by-line notes to one big observation about how you perform. If you were paying for stand-up training, what would you want the tutor to actually do with your material — diagnose why a bit isn’t landing, suggest exercises, challenge the premise, give performance notes, something else? And what would feel too prescriptive?
When is a comedy course actually worth paying for?
I keep seeing courses at wildly different prices, and the syllabus alone doesn’t really tell me whether the money buys anything I couldn’t get from writing and gigging more. What would make you think a paid course is genuinely worth it — detailed feedback, a small group, lots of stage time, a showcase, ongoing support, something else? And what would make you walk away even if the tutor looked good?
Is a £400 comedy course worth it or a waste of money?
Been offered a place on a 6-week stand-up course for £400. I've been doing open mics for 3 months already. Is it worth it at this stage or should I just keep gigging?