The London Comedy Course

If only I had known about this review site before starting my comedy career I would not have wasted over £400 on a comedy course where everything I said or did I was told was funny, only in the real world once finished, got no laughs! Nine gigs later and on the advice of comics on the circuit I have now just done a 2 day course with The London Comedy Course for only £65 which within the first 20 mins showed up all the faults of the other course.
Best way to describe how good this course is would be to mention a respected comedy club in London called The Cavendish Arms in Stockwell, where most new acts play and there is a competition for the best act per night. I have been there twice and each time, the competition has been won by ex students from this course and their main yearly comp has also been won by an ex student.
Back to the comedy course and Harry, the tutor. When you meet him, everything you have read in other reviews on here is true. He is straight down the line, honest, blunt, well informed and he will push you to get the best out of you. He will praise you but unlike the other course I went on where you could do no wrong, here when something isn’t funny, you get told it isn’t but then you look at ways it can be or just told to dump it. There was six on the course and aimed at comics who had some previous experience and it was hard to be told that the five minutes you had been performing in the past was actually 1 minute of comedy and 4 minutes of talking. However, no matter how hard to take, it was the truth and a reality check. He knows the circuit inside out and here is something you should do, I didn’t with the first course. Check at what level in the comedy world the tutors are at. Harry is a proper headline circuit comic playing major comedy clubs such as Jongluers and a proven track record. I researched him on ‘You Tube’ put in ‘Harry Denford’ and on stage he is scary and very funny and plays a cockney geezer, but in real life it is like meeting another person, nothing like the stage Harry.
We lost a student at the first tea break whom had spent most of the first hour correcting Harry about what a new comic should be doing and then who went on to demonstrate that they couldn’t even hold a mic in the correct fashion which again in their opinion wasn’t important and a bit basic for someone out on the circuit who just wanted to restructure some material. None of us could actually hold a mic correctly and two of us who had been trained had never been shown this in the past and it was a real eye opener and only later did we realise that we were being taught the same lessons as they teach for beginners as it was going to be right back to the drawing board and get rid of bad habits and mistakes.
After two days, I had 3 minutes of funny material, which was tight and one routine which lasted previously for 2 minutes was now a 20 second joke. In fact it was the same and only joke in the previous 2 minute routine, It just took someone to tell me the truth and make me change the routine.
You don’t actually get to do the showcase with this course and I think I would have now liked to have paid the extra and done the Up The Creek showcase which is done with their beginners course.
The teaching method is effective and the courses they run are aimed at those wanting to take it up as a profession or be a semi pro. I would not advise this course for anyone who is doing it for a bit of fun or who just wants to ‘wing it’ as a massive reality check will hit you within minutes of stating this course.
Good points: —
The tutor
The structure
The classroom which has full lights and sound and is used as a comedy club
The honest feedback
The price
The location of the training centre
Bad points:
It is run as a professional comedy training centre not a social club, so no real getting to know the other students or tutor down the pub.
They have a MC Course which you can’t attend unless they say you are allowed on it, despite doing the beginners course.
There is always a waiting list to get on a course, either they should allow more students per course or extend the number of courses they run.

I’ve just (May 2012) finished the London Comedy Course it is brilliant. Harry Denford is an excellent
teacher, encouraging and supportive but also frank when he needs to be, which
is what you need if you’re going to deliver a good performance at the Showcase
at the end of your course. Everyone who took part was able to deliver a
coherent and funny set at the comedy club in the end, and that’s down to Harry’s
excellent coaching. One thing that sets this apart at the end of the course
you get an hour long one-​to-​one session with Harry to polish up your act, it
really makes a difference. The course is hosted in a small theatre in New Cross, which
replicates most comedy clubs complete with proper lighting, mic etc. so you
develop useful stage skills from day one. Harry is a professional comic and his
advice on how the comedy circuit works and how to launch yourself into comedy
as a career is really useful. So, if you want to study comedy, do this course; it’s good
value, good fun and very professional. The best recommendation though is that
just two days after the course ended most of the class are trying to get more
gigs, we’ve got the bug and Harry’s given us the skills and the knowledge to
enable us to take the next crucial steps.

Comprehensive course suited for total beginners and covering essentials like mic technique, writing (and rewriting!) material, and engaging the audience. Harry is wonderful. Brutally honest yet encouraging, with good tips on how to crack into the business. Though I was totally terrified by the idea of taking to the stage at the beginning of the six weeks, I felt completely prepared for my Up the Creek showcase. Course is good fun, with lots of opportunities to bond with classmates.

Just completed the intensive comedy course two days, twelve changes of underwear. The course is the equivalent of a rolercoaster ride through fire, on acid! Harry the tutor is the Voldermort of comedy scary, razor sharp and a master of his craft. All in all the two days rated 9.5 on the sphincter scale and was one of the best things I have done for a for a very long time. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone, whether you want to get into the game and learn from the best, if you want to push your boundaries and see what you are capable of, or if you just want to have a laugh and learn some new skills that can be applied in lots of different situations. So glad I did the course and so grateful to Harry for his honesty, passion and expertise.

Booked a three hour private session @ £25 per hour with them as already doing stand up and I have been gigging for about a year. I never did any of their full courses, but my experience was as good as the previous reviews. I just did the individual teaching session and even on the initial phone enquiry found them to be very professional and the lady asked a number of questions about type of comedy I was doing and where I was playing. She then told me the tutor would call me back and he did and again gave great advice over the phone, in fact it was better advice then I had from another ‘so called’ comedy tutor found on the net who charged me £30 to meet me in a coffee shop (their choice) and we just spoke for an hour, with no chance to actually perform any of my stuff or if I did, it would be to a packed Costa Coffee venue which I had no intention of doing and I came away with nothing. It actually cost me £35 when I added the cost of my coffee and one for that tutor!
The London Comedy Course is really in a different league, they have their own premises, have a simulated comedy club room with full stage, lights and sprung floor staging which I was the first student to try out. The classroom basically is set up as a little comedy club with a stage, mic, PA and chairs in four rows. The classroom is about 30ft by 20ft and they have three other rooms and a really nice venue which is 2 mins from New Cross BR. The AV’s are good with wifi, CD and IPod connections and DVD and TV and are happy to allow you to video parts of your session (bring a connector to connect to their TV monitor so you can see yourself while on stage). You can also use their computer and printer.
The first thing Harry the tutor did was give me a joke to perform in my own style to see what changes I would make to it and for him to start to form an opinion on my style. Odd as by letting me perform my set, he would also get the same result. I did it and suddenly accepted why he asked me to do the exercise as he asked me to treat it as a mini performance and include my greetings and my exits. From that simple task he had identified a number of problems which on reflection once pointed out were actually obvious mistakes I had been making. We spent next 5 minutes just looking at walking on and off stage and getting that right. He then let me do my set and identified that I over explain a joke, try and top a good gag with a gag which isn’t as strong and have a tendency to tell a joke instead of performing it. He also identified that I show no connection with the audience as there is nothing in my set about me and at no stage do I look anywhere apart from ahead. On the one occasion I did perform the joke in my set it was after first telling the joke, so the performance aspect would have been lost. I had been in the classroom for 15 minutes and already I had been given a full breakdown of my set and areas to work on.
Highly recommended and also although I booked three hours, he said after and hour and a half that I didn’t need the extra time so just charged me £30. I walked away with fresh ideas and a new structure and the changes actually work.

I did the course back in May 2010, then went on to do the advanced course which involves MC training, I am now running my own comedy club with great success! Highly recommended.

This is a great course. I went on it for self-​confidence and character building. I never in a million years thought I could do something like this, but Harry is a great tutor. Each week I’d be nervous as hell performing in front of my own crew and I’d wonder how I’d manage it in front of a full crowd.
With Harry’s training it was all possible. He said it would just work and it did. He suggested I change my material a bit and those changes really paid off in the showcase.
I would defo reccommend this course. You get to perform in a big crowd of all your mates and it is a buzz.
Respect goes out to Harry Denford.

I’ve just completed the course and did my showcase at Up The Creek last night! It was amazing. such a good group of people and I can’t believe that in 6 weeks I went from having no clue as to what I wanted to do or say to having a polished (just under!) 5 minute set!
The tutor is great and is really honest about what works and what doesn’t which I love… and the other students were really supportive!
Up The Creek is a great venue to do your first performance in!
I would highly recommend this course to anyone! Do it! Do it! Do it now!