Comedian and alumnus Tiernan Douieb, who completed his BA (Hons) in Drama and Theatre in 1999, featured on BBC Radio 4’s Money Box earlier this week, in an edition entitled ‘How to Maximize Money from Mirth’, broadcast 23 October 2019.
You might think of comedians as up on a stage in a pub, but that’s just one part of what the job entails today. Social media, streaming services and stadium tours have changed the comedy game. Instead of doing gigs to get on TV, you do TV to get people to your gig.
The programme explores how start out as a comedian from a financial perspective, begging with dealing with cash and card readers, how to navigate online streaming and how you can get a mortgage while still telling jokes for a living.
In the programme, Tiernan explains how he got into stand-up comedy: ‘I’ve always wanted to do performing, and the first time I did a comedy gig instead of acting it was like a compulsion – you suddenly realise that’s what you need to do.’
Tiernan’s has contributed to the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive in the Templeman Library, including material relating to the many projects he has organised as well as solo performances.
The episode can be heard here (with Tiernan first featuring at about 3’30” into the programme):
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0009jkg