Fresh off the back of my comedy course experience the other week, last week I spent the evenings enthusiastically looking for gigs. 

Okay, I am a newbie and not in central London, but how hard can it be.  Time to get a little practice and build some experience before throwing myself to the wolves at an industry event, I thought.

It was at first a little disappointing.  Outside of London the circuit is a little different, smaller gigs, open mics for new material or new performers seemed pretty thin on the ground.  Most of the gigs I could find were more established acts, those that were more bankable for smaller venues it seemed.

For a few days, it felt as though geography might be a limiting factor, thwarting this shot at stardom, the bright lights and comradery of the stage, and opportunity to experience more of the motorway service station network.

I grumpily persevered however, and something changed.  Following a few leads via Facebook, slowly, organically, I started to notice more and more comedy nights in my local area, often in the small venues in the pub, or community spaces. I went for a coffee at a local cafe and noticed they also had one too. They were everywhere.

Far from being dead, there is in fact, a quiet, but thriving, comedy circuit operating most nights of the week.  I was just never aware of it.  It seems I just had to tune myself to the right frequency to find it.

Now this reminded me of the red car effect (or more accurately the frequency illusion or Baader–Meinhof phenomenon).  

This is the effect where once you buy a new (red) car. Being pleased with your choice, the choice of a sophisticated and discerning customer of course, you head out onto the road…. only to then start to notice all the other (red) cars on the street… “everyone is buying red cars now, I can’t believe it”.

Of course nothing has changed in the world itself, we are just more aware of it. It is a mix of selective attention and confirmation bias. 

In my case comedy hadn’t suddenly become popular across the country in a single week I just tuned to the right frequency and started noticing it.

Back at the day job, in the office, this got me thinking this week, this is a similar effect here.

• Once you become aware of a problem, you start seeing it everywhere. 
• Once you notice an opportunity, similar opportunities start to surface.

So, by choosing what I pay attention too… I can potentially find more of it! 

It is not just there this this psycological bias, but by knowing about it and what the effect is, we can potentially use this, direct this, for our own benefit. There is something powerful here.

Obviously this needs a bit of active work and engagement to fully tune in and activate.  But, choosing is a choice… so here is the thought for the week.

What should I/you/we choose to find more of this week?

Problem’s, no… opportunities, yes… a comedy gig, hopefully… biscuits, definitely.

Have a good week everyone.

This last week I spent time on Dec Munro‘s intensive stand-up comedy course, at the Angel Comedy Club, at the Bill Murray in London.

It was a great bunch of people, all very interesting and I learned a lot.

Now, I am under no illusions that I will ever be the next Bill Bailey, Jack Dee or Kevin Bridges… but it has been eye-opening and, prancing around on stage aside, hopefully with some tips for future events.

But there are also a few wider lessons or observations, ones we can all take away, which have also happened as a result of getting out the the usual orbit.

Every industry has more “jobs” that you notice

Getting a peak behind the curtain, the week illustrated just how many different roles sit behind what you see on stage.

It’s not always just about the “lead guitar player” or the star of the show, because behind this are an army of writers, producers, bookers, organisers, loggers and advisers making it work.

And, honestly, that’s true everywhere. Every industry has a whole ecosystem of roles that matter, even if they are not the ones you may immediately think of.

Sometimes the most useful or influencial, person in the room isn’t the one holding the microphone. Something also true back at the office this week.

It’s not just about the content – it’s the way you tell it

Comedy is very much about delivery. As the saying goes, it is “not just what you say, but how you say it”.

Timing, tone, confidence and rhythm all matter.

The same words can land completely differently depending on how they are positioned ordered or communicated.

It is hard not to see the parallel of this at work.

Thinking about the audience, the environment, and how a communication is positioned is as important as say the messsage itself… bring people along with you.

Get out of that cosy circle (it wakes you up)

Last week reminded me just how important and powerful it is to get out and meet new people.

Getting out, going to different events, meeting people (great people) outside of your normal ‘bubble’ is completely refreshing… you end up buzzing with new ideas.

In 2026 doing something that nudges you out of that safe, familiar loop can really open up new ways of thinking and new opportunities… it is worth a shot.

Get over your fear and try new things

Finally, and simply, you just have to go and try these things. There are a millions reasons to hestitate, put stuff off and just not do it…. ignore this.

Putting yourself out there, feeling a little bit of fear and doing something new is so rewarding. If it doesn’t work, so what, try again.

And, this is the attitude to take back to work, not necessarily because you’re going to become the next comedian, but because it moves us forward.

And with the January Blues well and truely upon us, it feels like a good time to be thinking about all this as we head into 2026.

Have a good week everyone

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PS.. look out for me on the OpenMic circuit next 🤣 – open for recommendations 😂 #SproutsAreFun @SproutsAreFun

PPS.. there were some great comedians in the the group this week… future stars right here. Follow them on instagram for the latest gigs and sets at the links below.

This week, the topic of AI came up in my Italian lesson. We were reflecting on just how much has changed over the last few years.

What was unthinkable only a few years ago is now possible (including high-quality translations that far surpass my somewhat mediocre efforts… I’m still not very good, feeling old, but still trying!).

This digital revolution thingy, has been incredible and, at times, unfathomable: from the invention of the computer (yes I remember a world before computers!), to smartphones and AI. The progress is stunning, and it seems to be accelerating.

AI it feels is now starting to embed itself more and more into my life and my working practices at work. Increasingly it is that ‘handy helper’ that, frankly, allows me to get more done – beit language translation (not strong there), document formatting, or more recently image, presentation, and even song creation (an operatic piece about the problems of eating the turkey was a particular hit over the holidays!).

Of course, none of this comes without dangers, and I’m not talking about bias, transparency, or AI hallucinations, all of which have been discussed at length elsewhere.

No, I’m talking about it embedding itself so deeply in our processes that we become reliant on it, and I can already feel it starting to dull some skills, ones that used to be important (my spelling is getting even worse for sure!)

This is, of course, no different from other leaps in techology throughout history.

One hundred years ago, many people fixed their own shoes, and certainly knew how to sew… not so much today.

It’s not that the needs went away, just with automation we have access to mass produced alternatives that save us time, but they have also, as a results, become more generic and derivative. We may be facing a similar future with AI.

The service industry is often a hive of activity, collating information, creating content, media, and presentations, often in volume. With AI it is likely going to come under increasing pressure.

After all, why do it by hand when it can be done at the click of a button, automatically in a few minutes?

And for all the gnashing of teeth and protests about it not proper, we have to be honest: in many cases the output is as good as, or better than, what would have been produced ‘manually’. In 5 years, with hindsight, it is likely much of the resistance is simply going to be seen as us struggling to come to terms with the fact that the world is changing around us.

It is at times like these that history can teach us a lot, at least by analogy.

When the motor car was invented, how many horse-drawn carriage providers survived? Some may have done for a while – perhaps even for a generation – but the writing was on the wall. Many went out of business, save for a smart few who adapted, building coaches or indeed eventually high end supercars. Closer to home, we saw similar patterns with shoes too. In both the market split between generic mass-market output and high-end bespoke creativity.

I think we will see a similar pattern with AI.

The creation of mass market high quality content, in volume, is becoming cheaper by the day. This content is impressive, but (like my song) isn’t unique and does sound slightly generic. AI afterall still needs that seed of original content and a prompt to be created.

So whilst is going to become ever easier to produce more and more content, what it won’t do is create the flawed, original madness of truly original design or ideas – however crazy or poorly explained they may be.

Yes it can help polish them for us, for sure, but creating something genuinely new is harder.

And while all this progress puts a lot of roles at risk, it does also mean that original thinkers, researchers, and songwriters are not going to disappear. In fact, their work may become even more valued.

In a sea of generic content, original content will be gold dust and will command a premium. This is the original content from which everything else new will be generated and it will also change the economic landscape.

Now, we cannot all become Italian shoe designers, brilliant composers, artists, or writers… but we do all have strengths. So what are those strengths? Where can we each be original, and what can we bring to the table?

That’s a thought we all need to take back to the office next week. I think it may become ever more important.