War of words over stand-up lessons

A seemingly straightforward press release about stand-up courses has sparked a war of words on the London comedy scene.

The row revolves around the Absolute And Almost Beginners comedy that Logan Murray has taught under the banner of the Amused Moose comedy club for the past 14 or 16 years. Even that seems open to debate.

But what is agreed is that it was the course that helped the likes of Josh Widdicombe, Rhod Gilbert and Greg Davies find their feet early in their comedy careers.

Last night, Hils Jago, who runs the Amused Moose said that Murray had ‘decided to take some time out’ – so was relaunching the courses with new tutors including comics Luke Toulson and Markus Birdman.

She said Murray – who was once Jerry Sadowitz’s performing partner and has written books on performing stand-up - was to concentrate on other interests such as directing, and crafting silver jewellery. She added that me might return to lead ‘a few Inner Clown, Spontaneity and Absurdity workshops for us’.

However, Murray has now fired back – saying his working relationship with Jago is not on a hiatus, but definitively over.

And he will continue to offer the courses he taught while under the Amused Moose banner – but now under his own name.

‘The fact is, after 14 years, I have decided not to work with [Jago] ever again, at all, in any capacity,’ he said in a strongly-worded rebuttal of the original press release. ‘What she writes is a nonsense and also potentially damaging to my present and future work.’

He pointed out he would still be running his courses in London and around the world.

Here’s what was said:

Original press release

The Absolute And Almost Beginners comedy course that launched Greg Davies, Josh Widdicombe, Rhod Gilbert and many more on their comedy road, is about to be rebooted.

‘We are moving with the times as comedy evolves,’ says Hils Jago, founder of Stand Up And Deliver. ’While after 16 years my original and longtime course leader Logan Murray decided to take some time out to focus on the training programmes he has developed which he delivers as far away as Shanghai, directing, and also crafting silver jewellery. But with luck he may be able to squeeze in a few Inner Clown, Spontaneity and Absurdity workshops for us.

‘Comedians who are now at the top-of-their game have a great understanding of what is currently takes to succeed as a stand-up or comedy performer. So I am thrilled to have persuaded two award-winning comedians, Luke Toulson and Markus Birdman, who not only tour the world, but perform and compere regularly at the top comedy clubs in the land, to join Comedy Training Courses as course and workshop leaders.

‘They are both experienced in teaching comedy performance, are really knowledgeable about the skills that comedians need to develop now, and naturally have high level communication which is needed to impart knowledge effectively."

The comedy courses they are leading include: absolute & almost beginners, the complete compere, improve your stand-up, sketch and comedy characters, plus short Try Stand-Up taster sessions. Graduation showcases hosted by the course leader will be the climax of some courses.
 In addition there are other workshops and seminars in the pipeline starting in May with Becoming A Reviewer led by Kate Copstick (Scotsman) and Chortle's Steve Bennett, comedy viral videos (by a by a Buzzfeed expert), Presenting And Other Avenues with household names who added other elements to their comedy CVs, Sitcom Writing led by with recent award-winners, Political Gagwriting led by [Andy] Zaltzman, and Take Your Show to the Fringe.

Details can be found on www.comedytrainingcourses.com

Logan Murray’s response

Firstly: The press release that Hils Jago recently put out about the upcoming Absolute and Almost Beginners Comedy (ABC) course indicates that I am on some sort of hiatus from working with her: this is not true.

The fact is, after 14 years, I have decided not to work with her ever again, at all, in any capacity. I don't really want to go into details, but I think most of my ex-students and fellow comics will tell you that I'm a pretty easy going man, so this decision to sever ties wasn't made on a whim. 

For over a decade, I led the ABC Stand Up courses and had the great pleasure to single-handedly teach all the people she mentions on her website: Josh Widdicombe, Rhod Gilbert, Greg Davies, Holly Walsh and Andi Osho, and I can add to that mix many more household names.

They all did my course - they were taught by me. I can't claim any responsibility for their onward success, but I am grateful that I was able to encourage them in their early careers, and to give them the space to explore their comic voices. 

I would like to say that during this the time we worked together, Hils was a very able administrator, but she is not responsible for training anyone. The stand-up course participants saw her for the first hour of the course and, if they were lucky, she might turn up for the course show night. 

My second point is Hils Jago is suggesting that I am taking time off to pursue other interests - among them that I intend to pursue a career in silversmithing (it is a hobby, but you might as well say that I intend to pursue a career in watching boxed sets and getting cross at Radio 4).

To be clear: what she writes is a nonsense and also potentially damaging to my present and future work. She also suggests that 'with luck, he may be able to squeeze in a few Inner Clown, Spontaneity and Absurdity workshops for us' - I reiterate that I am not working with her in any capacity on these courses (in fact I have no idea what these "workshops" are). Her quote sounds like word salad to me (how would an audience ever see an 'inner clown'? What does it mean?).

So much for the fiction: here is the reality.

I am running my own comedy courses mostly in London but also around the world. The workshops that have I have already started have sold out, and future planned courses are filling up quite nicely. Immediate future courses (like the one in Shanghai later this month), are fully subscribed.  For instance, the first weekend stand up course, when I get back from Shanghai, has only three places left.

Sorry if that sounds like a hard sell - I feel I must defend my business in light of Hils Jago's press release. 

I will continue to run stand up workshops, comedy writing classes, working on your performance sessions (it definitely needs a snappier title!) and Finding The Joke writing retreats up and down the country, in Europe and globally. 

All details can be found on my website www.loganmurray.com. 

I am not going anywhere.

Published: 1 Mar 2018