Ali Woods - Filming his first special, Getting Millions Of Views On Online, and How To Leave Open Mics

Reece Kidds interviews the talented comedian, podcaster, and content creator, Ali Woods, in episode eleven of "Kidding" 🎧 

Ali, a half-English, half-Scottish comedian, brings a refreshing mix of the 'every man' and the 'modern man' to his comedy. With a genuine interest in men's mental health and a perspective on lad culture, Ali's comedy combines humor with heart as he touches on topics like football, the environment, and social causes close to his heart.

Fresh off his first sold-out show at the Edinburgh Fringe, Ali has been making waves both on and off the stage. He won Hackney Empire New Act of the Year 2020 and has appeared on BBC Radio 4, TalkRadio, and TalkSport. His online comedy sketches, under the tag @aliwoodsgigs, have garnered millions of views and likes, and he's been featured on platforms like LadBible and Buzzfeed UK. Ali's growing fanbase discovered him after he supported Russell Kane on tour in 2022. 

In this episode, we delve into Ali's comedy career and recent successes on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. We discuss his sold-out debut show at the Edinburgh Fringe, the story behind his entry into comedy after breaking his leg, and his drive to find fulfillment through his work.

We also explore Ali's creative process, from writing comedy to crafting engaging sketches. We touch on the challenges of show structure, the pursuit of consistency in creative work, and the importance of creating diverse content that resonates with audiences.

Follow Ali: @aliwoodsgigs

Watch Ali's special "Best Friend Ever": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4e9T2oAU0g

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Transcript

0:00

So I'm here with Ali Woods, award winning comedian, Instagram and TikTok, massive success. Both. Both. I downloaded both. No, you've completed them both. You've done a variety of shows. You've done an art show and you're working on an art? Yeah, yeah. Did my debut hour show at the Edinburgh Fringe. It was sold out, wasn't it? It was sold out. A couple of five star reviews. I don't like to go on about it. And then I recorded that, let's go to theatre. That special will be dropping soon. I've got the edit. But my wifi is so bad I can't even download my special. That's how bad my wifi is. Not upload it. I just can't download it. It just struggles with it. So I'm going to find a way to get it. You haven't got the watch yet? I've watched it all online through like Google Drive and unlisted YouTube links. I saw my editors done it but I can't actually get the file myself yet. But he just sent it the other day. So this is a problem I'll solve soon for sure. Hopefully eventually. It's one of those lost tapes. It's just in the ether. It's just in some link somewhere. But yeah, yeah. So now I'm working on a new show. Doing a work in progress. If you're at Edinburgh Fringe this year, doing a work in progress. There's a work on it and potentially touring the offing. So I'll keep you updated on that. Have you got a new show near you? You personally recently. Have you got a new show near you? So this one at the Fringe is called Working on it because it's a work in progress. But I've got a couple ideas for the new show. I mean I quite like the sound of Massive Brick. The Hollywood Massive Brick. Better than you. It's the show, it's the review, it's everything. You know, you don't need to do anything. Well I have to thank you Ali for sitting through. The setup for this episode has been wild. We've become full camera technicians. The cameras didn't work. We had to move in. We actually gave up and then we have now moved to a different studio. So you've been the kindest man throughout. You should have told me to fuck off. I would have been like fair. Doctor, as you said you respect me less now. Which is, I actually rate a lot for not. Sometimes when people are dicks to you, you think yeah you're right to do that. When people are like no I've got all day. When someone you've invited, someone's like no I've got all day. You're like oh no, never meet your heroes. But no it's cool. It's all good and thanks. It was like a sports movie I think, our journey to this. It was like we were out. We seemed like we could fix it. We couldn't. We lost. And then in the last minute we have a studio. We have lights. We have cameras. We've got it all. So thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it. No problem. The cameras were turning off. It was wild. Did you research correctly? Did you start in 2015 with improv? I started, well a couple years before that. But I was doing improv in 2015. I'll tell you what. I started doing comedy. Yeah probably my first comedy started for me in 2013 on stage in 2013 doing improv at uni. And then my first ever stand-up gig would have been 2014. And then I started actually doing gigs like one a week in end of 2015. So my research was incorrect. So you fucked that up. So that was a bit embarrassing for you innit? That's nil, one. What was the first gig? Improv or stand-up? Stand-up. I'll tell you the story behind this right. I did stand-up comedy because I broke my leg. That's how it happened. So I was at uni. I was at York uni. York had a great comedy society, comedy sock. I managed to get into the improv group there because I was trying to protect my virginity. And I didn't get in first time in the improv. I went to auditions and they said I was too crude and too dominating. Compliments. Don't know why. Just super confident from the get go. I was just, people would go, wow this is the craziest, bizarre and I just saw flaps, dick, titties. And then be like, people are laughing. People are laughing. Give people what they want. So, but I got into improv. And then basically second year uni I was starting to get miserable. I broke my leg and I got tired of not playing football again. I love playing football. I love football. I got tired of not playing football again. I was just feeling sorry for myself. And then I was like, what can I do that would make me feel like I'm achieving something in my life again? And one of those things was do stand-up comedy. So I went and did stand-up comedy. It was a student comedy night at the uni on a Wednesday. And I did 10 minutes, classic as well when you start doing, you're like 10 minutes, only 10? Are you sure? I got half an hour of stuff. I got like a, there's a PowerPoint and there's like a live show and stuff. And I got an eight minute routine about Tinder that's pretty novel. See I did 10. And obviously it went well. As most, most people's first gigs do well. But obviously it went well as well because it was a student comedy night. So people just laugh at anything. They were just happy. You know, comedy about comedy. People would laugh. I did get my Tinder profile up. That was in my set. But it started 2014, Tinder was a bit more new, but it was, it was bad. But you know what? I was so upset because I thought I would finish the gig and then everyone would be like, that was the greatest thing we've ever seen in our lives. And people would be like, you are, I think you're the biggest, you're going to be the biggest comic in the world. But what happened was people came up to other comics who were on and like, well done mate. They came up to me, nice one mate. I just went on. I was like, that was a big moment in comedy history. You just witnessed that. But it seems I understand. That was my first ever gig. Did you still have the broken leg on stage? So I was, where was I at that point? I was doing, so I'd done my physio. No, so I was all right at that point, but I was still recovering from, I'd like a, I broke my leg playing football. I'm so sorry to hear this origin story, dude. It's straight up a movie. Crazy. Were you going for a footballer? Well, yeah, I still don't know how it happened. I was playing football, I got injured. I'd had problems with my hamstrings anyway, because I had delayed puberty. That's not the story. And I thought, oh, it's just, I need to stretch it. So I was just doing stretches. I'm classic, never go to the doctor. I was just sort it out myself. I'll probably deal with this. I was stretching and I was like, I don't know why it's not getting better. It was just getting worse. Eventually we went to the hospital and they were like, okay, well, because of what you said in terms of the pain and stuff, I just had a feel like we'd go for an x-ray. I'm like, idiots. Just got to stretch out, mate. Save the electricity. Save the electricity. Get me a right good YouTube channel. And then did the x-ray, came back. They're like, okay, so you've got about two inches of bone that's come off your femur. I'm like, excuse me? I thought it was probably my hamstrings. They're like, they're like, you can feel it. And they pointed to it. I said, is that what that is? And I had two inches of bone just flowing around my knee for like months. So then I eventually had to have surgery and get a microfracture. And it's never going to be, it's never going to be 100% again. But yeah, they came back to me after I did the physio and all that and was like, you were never going to, you should never run again. They were like, you have to give up all the running stuff. And then he was, he went, well, I can give you a second opinion because obviously that's just my opinion. Give you a second opinion. I'll reference you to another person. Went to another doctor and they were like, well, let's try and build it up slowly. I think that's a bit severe. So I was at York at the gym running for one minute on the treadmill in Australia. One minute, that's it. Six seconds done. There are people who would love that program. There are people like, oh, it's great. I can go to the gym and run for one minute. And then I leave. That's all I could do before I could handle anything like changing direction. And then eventually, uh, go back to it and run a marathon in 2015. Wow. Did you just build for movies, movie time? April, April, 2015, a year and a half after I got told I should never run again, Paris marathon in the sun for a ginger as well. Serious business. But I didn't get, I didn't get the time I wanted, but I did it in the end. The math is a shit. Don't do a marathon ever. Have you done a marathon? No, don't do it. People are like, oh, you get the jack shits. You get nothing. Don't worry about it. Do you think doctors just do that to inspire you? Maybe I think that's what he was like. He, he was at the end of the marathon in a cap, just nodding and then went into the crowd. And I was like, God damn you doctor. God damn. That's exactly what I needed to hear. Well, I think, I think there's a little bit of like, if you tell me I'm not able to do I will, I will set out to do it. You told us today, we were able to use a podcast studio. Yes, what you said. And at that time, that's all I needed to hear that time. I was like, we're going to have a shoot. We're going to record the best podcast that has ever been recorded. Here we are. I was so defeated. I was trying to remain positive, but I was just going to go back in the tube, down to Brandon and be like, oh, this is what happened. What happened? And you were like, no, one more chance. No. And then the music kicks in. No, Reese. No. That's what they wanted here. We came here today to this strange asylum to record a podcast. And that's what we're going to do. You know, as well, that would have been one of those ones we go on the train going fuck sake. And you're like, just hoping the gig goes well. You're like, fuck my life. It's the worst. When you've got a shit day and then a shit gig and then you go to a marathon. Shit day plus shit gig is the worst experience. That's very funny. So back, back to the, the first gig went amazing for you. So it was great in terms of the response was lovely and brilliant. And but it's my mates all I went out, night out afterwards. Normally I love an hour, you know me. And I was just like, no, I'm not really feeling it because I just wanted to think on it more. I was just like, because I've a lot of my life, I felt I'd be needing up to that. Like I was very scared to do a stand up set because I was worried that it wasn't going to be as good as I wanted to be in my head, which is exactly what happened. But it's fine. I just get over these things. You know what I mean? I think I've had to deal with that fear of, of failing at something I actually care about. I mean, that's why, you know, it's like when you're half fast something, cause you're like, well, it's self sabotage. Like, well, if it doesn't come out right, I didn't, you know, I didn't put my all into it. So whatever, I could probably do it if I actually want to. So that's what I had to deal with in that. But, but yeah, it was, it was as a gig, it was great. And then from there, were you straight into more gigs? No, no. Then, then I was like, the world's had enough, give them a chance to recover. I was like, oh, they had to put the roof back on. So I was like, give them a year to do that. No, I was just doing the odd gig now and then, but I'm talking like once every two or three months. Like, uh, it was student comedy as well. So it was just like, there was only one gig, like once every couple of months or once a month maybe. And that was seen as like, well, I'm getting a lot. I got another gig in three weeks. Yeah. You know, cause student comedy is so like, it's, it's great cause it does give you that, platform to go and try things and do stuff. And it was great for that. And it's a wicked lead up into like the real world of comedy. Um, and there was obviously some student comedy, which is great. And you can see some people at that level. Like I actually did, I did the Chortle comedy competition. That was like one of the gigs I did in this time. And uh, the person who won that heat was Jamali Maddox. Wow. Who I've talked to about it since. And he said, you should have won that. No, he didn't. He says, you know what, bro, you should have won that, you know? So, no, but he, uh, but he, you could tell with him already seeing that, I mean, he was more in, he was into it at that point. I think he did like, he started when he was 18 and just started gigging. But, but you could tell with him, okay, this guy knows comedy already, but everyone else, all the rest of us, we're just like, we were just doing like comedy drag basically. We were just pretending to be a comedian. Like how cool is this? We're like doing the actions of our favorite comedian and doing comedy like our favorite comedians. Comedian and Tinder bro straight away. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One, me with the microphone. I think that still might be my, some sort of, you know, I set up some email somewhere and that's still the like icon of me with the microphone. For me on Hinge, it was just the same gig, but three different photos from the gig. And that was it. Just straight away. I smashed his gig. They could tell it was a long set. They could tell that was the closing 10 on that set. Same close. Yeah. So when did you decide then to come back after the first gig? So it was a little break and then you went, you went straight into gig, gig, gig? So I did a couple at uni and then after uni, I didn't, I didn't get a job. I wanted to work in advertising. That was not the dream, but that was something I thought would be cool and work for me. I was going to this like marketing summer school for a week and then off the back of that got a few interviews and I'd been applying to stuff and I was getting to last round. I just wasn't getting any. One job rejected me because they said I was too creative for the role, which means you're an idiot. I didn't actually work that out. So I'm even dumber. You would have been too creative. I think you're too creative to be a rocket scientist for how they let you down. So yeah, I just wasn't. And I remember, and I was, so I was doing improv at Edinburgh Fringe. I was doing two weeks there. This was my last thing to do with uni. I was doing two weeks there and I remember I was on this pillar and I was flying and I got a call from the last job that I was still in for and they said, sorry, we just, it was me and one of the person that I was sorry, we decided to go with someone else, but we think like, you know, good luck to you and all that. And I went back to flying. I was like upset. I was like, I'm a fucking loser, man. I'm an adult, 21. I ain't got no job. No one wants me. Got back with my parents and all that. And then I was there on the pillar and I was like, maybe I just want to do comedy because I enjoy this. I genuinely enjoy this. Maybe I'm not putting myself well in interviews because I just don't care. I can't feign it. So I went back after Fringe and I went back to my parents and I spoke to my dad. I was like, dad, you know what? I think, I think I want to be a comedian. And you know, I work a part time job and then I could just, but I live here, get some money so I pay for myself. I wouldn't ask for any money, but I live here. I can pay rent if you need to, whatever. And then I can just go out and gig and do, do comedy stuff. And he went, he was like, well, you know, it's not like what we had in mind, but, but like if that's what you want to do, say passion, I will support that as long as you're getting a part time job, then that's okay. And then I spoke to my mom and she said, there's no way you're doing that. You say you want to do comedy because you want to be a student all your life. If you want to be a comedian, you'd have been a comedian by now. That's what she said. And I was like, no, but it's what I enjoy doing. I want to make it real. And she's like, I enjoy watching Coronation Street and eating baskets, but no one's going to pay me to do that. Nobody likes their job. So she said to me, you got to go get a graduate level job. That's what she said for at least a year. And then we can come back to any talks about this. So then I ended up working, I worked briefly in like a high level recruitment thing, like executive search. It was shit awful. I remember I did an internship and I spoke to my sister, I was like three weeks in, I was doing this, like it was like paid internship. I was like, work sucks, man. Like, hey, like my boss is awful. I don't care about it. I'm watching the clock. And my sister went, yeah, that's, that's work. And no one in my family enjoys that. So when I was doing that, I was so miserable. I was living at home, I was doing the shit I didn't want to do. Then I was like, what can I do that I want to enjoy? If I want to be a comedian, what can I do? So I wrote down these place cards. I said, what two jobs that I'd, what any jobs I want, two jobs I wanted. One was being a professional comedian, one was being a football journalist. Right. And I wrote these place cards, how to become them. This is back in 2015 on my childhood bedroom floor. So on the football, on the comedian, on the football one, sorry, I said, right, start writing articles for free, start writing articles for some money, start writing articles full time. And that was it. And then professional football journalist. I tried to make it simple, so it looks really simple. Comedian, I said, do open mic gigs, do well in competitions, get an agent, get on TV, become a professional comedian. This was 2015 when TV was a big thing. Right. And I was like, and then I said, right, I'm going to start doing that. So that was one step. And I started doing open mic. I was doing one or two gigs a week. You know what, even in that first year, so 2016, so end of 2015, getting 2016, I was like, I was coming in and out, like April, I made 2016, do any gigs. Because then I changed job, I started getting a job, I enjoyed more people friendly, I started living the corporate life a bit more, I moved out from my parents. I was enjoying Friday night, getting sesh. I remember sitting with my dad's birthday in March 2016 and going to him like, I'm not sure I actually want to be a comedian actually, you know, because I was just enjoying this life. And you know what it's like when you start off open mic, you're just doing the gigs you're doing. You're like, why am I going to Archway to perform in a performing quotation marks in a basement? You get there, what's your name? Oh, Ali was your eighth in the third section. OK, thanks, man. You were told you had to get there half an hour before the show starts. You're like, where's the show happening? It's here. What do you mean it's here? There's no stage. There's a dog running around. There's 84 comedians. And there's a guy who looks like he shouldn't be near a school. That's the audience. So I was like, I don't want to do this shit. And then, but you know what? Then I end up going Edinburgh for a couple of weeks in 2016 with some uni mates. And I was like, OK, well, I've got that. So maybe I should start gigging again. And then at the end of 2016, I've got a personality test from work and not just me. They weren't just like, the whole work. See, I've got this creative guy. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. The police, you've been arrested for being too creative. What's just going on with ideas, man? And it says Ali likes to live out the fantasy in his head of what could be rather than actually try to make that happen. And I was like, that's what's happening with comedy. I was doing the same thing again. 2016, I was like doing gigs sometimes and then going out and I'm not really trying. So I was so you can always be that guy in the pub later down the line. Be like, you know, I could have done that. I could have done that. You know, I mean, if you never properly try. So I was like, fuck it. So from 2017, I started doing it. I said four gigs a week every week and I never look back. And that was me. So that was I remember. Edinburgh 2017, I was up there two weeks again, flyering. I was waking up just thinking about comedy. I was like, this is what I want to do. So I decided 2017 August. I was like, boom, that's it. Comedy, comedy is what we're going to do. And from then on, it was about becoming professional. And I have become professional now, but I missed out the TV step. And I missed out the agent step, to be fair. I did open mics, did well on competitions and then nothing happened. Well, let's talk about the agent. But I want to come back to the open mics as well. But what's your what's the story about the agents and stuff? So I I never had I never had interest from agents. For my first interest as a agent was probably December 2020. Now, you know, I've been going five years now, not not going going, but, you know, I've been around doing gigs for a while. And yeah, just never got emails back from people. I had I had one agent come to a show in 2018, I think, when I first did my first like work in progress shows. And and I thought, oh, this is cool. This is exciting. Big agency. She came, brought a couple mates. I was like, this is cool, man. And then nothing came of it. Said they were going to put me on their list for like gigs and stuff. Nothing came of it. And then I bumped into that agent in Edinburgh and she was quite drunk. And she was being like touchy feely with me. And I was like, oh, OK, that's why you came to the show. So I was like, OK, that's a shame. And then I was just I just gave up on it. I stopped sending emails. I was just focused on the comedy. I was just never getting anywhere. I was just never. It wasn't even that I was getting interviews with people were like meetings and stuff. I was just never getting anywhere. And you know what? For me, to be fair, it wasn't a priority for me. I don't really care. I'm going to say I don't really care about agents. There's some people they know you talk to them five minutes. They're like, oh, that person moved from that now. Now that now she heads up that. But you want to talk to him because he does that. I'm like, how do you know this? Are you on LinkedIn? Are you a recruiter? How do you know all this? But that's the way people are. And fair enough, it's not for me. I've always been just like, if we could just go and do comedy and stuff and great. And there's great people working in. Don't get me wrong. I'm not I don't have any hatred for any particular agents or agencies. I don't care. It's like a few. But I'm a big believer in like the bravest thing is being on our side of the table. Right. We're going out there. We're performing. We're putting our names on things. We're putting our faces on things. We're taking the flak. Right. And, you know, the further you get in this industry, you meet a lot of frustrated creatives, a lot of people who in the back of their heads, they think I'm pretty funny or whatever, but they don't have the bravery to go and do it. And I don't need to worry about what this person or that person thinks of me too much. As long as I'm enjoying it, as long as people enjoying it, because ultimately their boss is audience. That's how as comedians, our boss is our audience, whether that's online, whether that's in person, whatever. So that's what happened with me. I started getting big audiences. I started getting more audiences who like my stuff. And their boss are going, oh, well, actually, this guy's now making money. So we should try and get some of that money. You know what I mean? And so then these agents started talking to me, you know, but I've been in even even with the numbers and stuff, I've been in meetings with agents and stuff. And, you know, they've just said, oh, it's not a good fit. And I've gone, oh, like, can I get any feedback on that? No reply and stuff like that. And and it's just you just got to take that. But then I just think if you work on the products, work on the quality of your products at the most comedy, what you're working, if you work on that as much as you can, then everything else follows. Don't worry about the money, the agents, all that will come. Yeah. Well, what I love about your stuff is that you do everything by yourself. You own everything. The sketches, you write them all, you perform them. The comedy, you've been working really hard. I'm just really confused. And this is me being I'm just confused why people wouldn't be like because you already have the you have the social media following. You have. Well, I mean, I have. So I have I have I do have agents now. I don't have one comedy agent. I have an agent who works who I work with on social media stuff. Although that one, we're just potentially looking at getting a long term contract. I mean, so that that that but we've been working together for the last six months. And so they do social media partnerships and things like that, which is what I'm happy to take that off my plate. Like you talk to the brands and all that sort of stuff. And then I've got someone who does on my live gigs. And I'm happy for them to take that as well, because, yeah, you go and do your thing and you go get me some games because that's admin. I'd rather not have. But yeah, I'm not one of these people who's had much interest from like a one of those big agencies, like one of those agencies that that does it all, that gets you, you know, people sign for them and you're on their big roster and stuff like that. And I think part of that might be I think some of it you just need to be about. You just need to be networking, you need to be getting people to intro you, getting, you know, recommendations and stuff. You need to be, you know, drinking out and doing everything else. We do really sort of people. And I've just never been a big fan that I don't care. Like for me, with comedy, when I sit around with comedians and talk, I feel like we should only be talking about comedians that are bigger than us, better than us. I hate when you're sitting around somewhere and everyone's talking about, oh, they're shit. They're not as good as they are. Do you see them? Oh, they're so wearing this bit. I'm like, who cares? I don't care about these people. Go talk to the person on the street about someone, some semi pro comedian with three thousand followers. No one gives a fuck. You'd be like, oh, have you seen this new special? Have you said, oh, they're good. I'd love to do. Oh, the way they do. Oh, let me show you this video from 20 years ago. Blah, blah, blah. I love all that sort of chat, man. I think I think there is an element of playing the game that I am inherently disinterested with and therefore I'm bad at. Like, I don't care about it. And I think I think that's what you know. You know, it's like agents, they're not down gigs. They're not going down to the gigs going, oh, who's doing well? No, you know, they're just they're interested in. Who's who can I market? Who can I? And I think that's it as well. It's very short term. I'm a long term. You know, we're comedians. Our job doesn't end. We've got job security as long as you keep going, as long as you keep writing. You your job doesn't end. But I think they're on the other side of the table. They got targets. They got they got they got to go to their boss and be like, I made you this much money. So they're not bothered about, well, sign this guy because in 10 years or whatever, they're just like, who can I who can I get on TV? Because there's because there's a pitch coming up next month. And I've just not been that guy. So fair enough. Well, I think it's super cool to do what you've done. I've been very impressed and it's even cooler to hear that you're like going for it. And I think it's a British. Is it a British thing to be the like, did not want to have any ambition or hired ambition? Yeah, I mean, that's a yeah. I mean, you see, you know, the term of British has been more and more under scrutiny. But like, I think I think that is certainly when you compare it to the Americans. There's it is changing. You've got some people changing that ethos, which I think is cool. Maybe there's a bit of overcorrection. I mean, I do. Yeah, I don't want just the social freedom of every comedian going, I can't believe I've just smashed it. Oh, my God. No one said I could do this. But here I was. Everyone's people in our trade loved it. You know, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I smashed. They said that it couldn't be smashed. That guy who touches kids, he's loved it. He follows me. Not online. He's not. He's a big fan. But he signed up for my picture and he wants feet pics. We're making moves out here. I don't want my feet to be that. But at the same time, I do think there is a yeah, there is certainly that thing of. Real modesty, I have no problem with it. People are like, and I do think that sometimes I don't want to sit here and be like, I'm doing this because I'm special. I don't really think that I think I'm maybe more naturally inclined to to comedy and how I think and stuff like that. Then bang out like normal citizen who would be better at other things. You know, I mean, but I'm not saying I'm doing things that people can't believe that could happen because it's not true. I think anyone, if you work hard enough, you're passionate about it. You can do it right. But at the same time, you hate the false modesty that I think a lot of British people inherit like that community of like, oh, no, no, I honestly don't have any jokes. I don't have any. Honestly, I'm sure I'm so sure I'm so while they also like selling what they want TV all the time. We'll get off TV. Don't be here. You know, I mean, I hate being in nothing. I've been agreeing with the same with comedians and they're going and they're going like, oh, why am I here? Don't be here. Don't be here. There's so many people who would love to be where you are. Like if you want to be there, that's fine. Just be like, yeah, or if you're tired, that's cool. But I said that with comedians at gigs, they're getting paid at these gigs and they're sitting there and they're going, oh, I literally last thing I want to do right now is gig. So don't be here, bro. But hey, like, let someone take us. There's so many hungry people taking that spot. So, yeah, I think, you know, you're allowed to be to accept where you are and to, you know, there is a level of bragging, which I think is good for you. And some people are better marketing it than others. But certainly there is acting in British comedy as well. Like the false humility is I don't like where people are saying that, you know, they don't deserve anything and blah, blah, blah. Well, don't don't have it. Give it to someone else. I mean, you've obviously you're obviously talented. And if you're not working hard, if you think you're not working hard, then work harder or leave. Like, I don't know. That's a good answer. I respect it. Um, bring it back to the weird open mic. Do you have a particular like really strange, horrible open mic experience from back in the day? Oh, man. You know what? There's so many that have melded into the same gig. Literally, man, I'm trying to think like I'm fortunate. And I never I've never had like proper aggression from anyone. I had anything thrown at me. Yeah, I've lost lots of heckles from dogs, lots of dogs. Um, lots of weird interactions or even just a dance with a lady on stage one time. That she went down quite well. I've had a lot of gigs, man. May you know those gong shows, man, like King Kong. First time I did King Kong was terrible. I had this bit that I used to do about having a fringe. And there was to be fair, it was going well. King of well, not smashing, but it was like I was surviving. Yeah. And then someone shouted, you stole that from Sean Lock. And everyone's booing me boo boo boo boo. I said, what the fuck you, man? Obviously three cars up. And then I go back and look up like Sean Lock fringe. Yeah, like it turns out he did this thing with his hands. I was I was like, well, fuck's sake. I've obviously like watched that from like 10 years ago. I forgot I fucking watched it. And that was just horrendous. There was it was Halloween night. And there were four guys who turned up as grim reapers to this show, King Kong. I go and the MC said, why are you just like that? And they went, we're here to see comedy deaths. Can you explain King Kong as well? So yeah, King Kong shows basically are they've got different rules. But the main format of a gong show is a comedian goes up and tries to make the crowd laugh for five minutes without stopping so that they get some reward, which might be like a spot at the club or like a bottle of prosecco, whatever, you know, and some some pedigree getting noticed. But the crowd are encouraged. If you don't find the funny, start booing. And three people often this is the way three people are given cards and all the cards go up. Then you have then you're gonged off. Then you get some some work different ways. Some give you a grace period. I remember up the creek. They do one of black house, my sixth gig ever. I did up the creek and I was dying, but they give you a two minute grace period. But I was dying. And it's worse. But no one could get rid of me. No, I would have I would have taken a kill. So I just had to go on to the next joke. I was going to the next joke. And I was like, this killed in my student gig. What do you not understand? This is hilarious. Are you speaking this? No, no, no, I was thinking I was too scared. And I said Google in one of my setups, you know, quotation marks. And this guy just shouts out so comfortably, you should have Google some jokes. Crap is still two minutes isn't up. The crowd are now laughing at the dudes. So I've got to stand there and watch this guy crush in my set. Those were bad. Yeah, those were bad. That's very good. So from the start, did you go straight into Gong shows and competitions? So not King Kong, because I had a little bit more savviness by the time I'd heard about King Kong. Blackout up the creek was one where I was just asking people that anyone I knew who ever gigged in London, where do you get gigs? A lot of people you Google, where do you get them? That's why you find a lot of new people at these Gong shows, because if you Google like Open Mic or like New Comedian gig, we'll give you a spot. Yeah, we're always looking for people. And the worse, the better. The newer you are, the more fun it's getting. More people think they've got value for money. So the Blackout was one of those like a friend had said or whatever. And then and they're the ones who get back to you because they're like, yeah, come on, let's have you. So that was early. So yeah, Blackout, I was up the creek, that one with the two minute grace. But that was really early. But then King Kong, to be fair, I'd waited a year and that's what I was sort of doing OK. I had to had to two minutes before that guy got in. And two minutes sounds like nothing. But when you do King Kong, they're King Kong straight away. Yeah, so I was like, OK, I'm doing and then but you know what? As well, I was I I stacked heavy stacked at the top. Best stuff at the top. And it was getting worse exactly. You got to hope. So that was my plan. So it was only going to get worse. Anyway, even if he hadn't even if he hadn't have shouted at me then, because it was one of those as well. You don't go. I got called a Tory King Kong three and a half minutes in when I'm not doing anything related to politics on them from Northern Ireland. And I was like, we can only feel greater. It was so uncomfortable. And they were like, yeah, I was like, ah, as soon as you lose the composure, that's it. As soon as you're like, well, fuck you. We got it. We got it. I'm just in the back, be like, you don't understand. I have to wait six months to apply. They're like, what's going on? I didn't say that, but I basically on my face, I was so sad. I'm still so upset if I ever find out who it was, that it's brutal. I'll go to prison. Yeah. And there was that's why I go. It was the it was the guy who told me I couldn't run. That was the same guy with the cap, just that doctor. So how did you escape open mics then? By doing them. That's the worst thing. Yeah, that's the worst thing. You do them. And you just got to have the belief. You know, it's like you just got the belief that this will not. This will not go on forever. This will not. Because you meet some people. Oh, you meet some people where they have not left the open mic circuit. They're like sometimes in like fantasy films or whatever, you're like they go into some realm and they're like, hello. And then some like half lion shit comes out. It's like this will happen to you. Never live. And there's some people who don't leave open mic, but you believe you're going to leave it. And the thing is, as well, it's stage time. You just got to work on your jokes, work on your jokes. And then I'm and you just got to cling on. Always have a gig that you're looking forward to in the diary. Always have something that you're looking forward to. I remember first of a gig I did at Angel Camdenhead. This was pre Bill Murray Angel Angel comedy gig in North London. If you've never heard of it, but very good gig. And this was pre Bill Murray. They used to have a gig. They still have a gig at Camdenhead, but this used to be the only gig. And also this was before the fire marshal came and told them they couldn't have as many people. So they used to pack them in. This gig was electric. You'd go on, you'd be like, hello. Everyone's in bits. Everyone's climbing over each other. They're like looking for each other's needs, just trying to find. Can I see this is the hottest ticket in town? You know, and I remember doing my first gig there. And I remember I kept listening to the recording. She kept listening because I was like, oh, my God, this is what it's like to be a comedian. I finished a joke. People laugh in open mic. You know what it's like. You finish a joke. You might have even done my comedy. That shows good, man. That was awful to perform to you, man, because they didn't laugh. But but in and you just got to have always have something to look forward to in the day. You always have some gig. And then, yeah. And when you're at gigs, stick around when you get into those gigs where there are place for stick around, watch everyone, you know, talk to people. And and there that was a networking thing. I was better because I like to talk to comedians. I'm always talking to me. You got any gigs, you know, any gigs, all that sort of stuff. And that's really not really networking, is it? That's just well, yeah. You basically some people don't some people hate that. I hate that stuff. And it's like, well, these are your peers. You get on with it. It's like come into an office and just sitting at your desk and leaving immediately when you're new as well. It's like if you're like the boss, people are OK, well, they clearly got busy day. But when you're starting to make you're just a newbie in this office and you've got a chat and you've got to find out what other people into and how they can how you can help each other and stuff. So that was basically it. And then, you know, suddenly you start looking at your diary and you're like, I'm starting to get a little bit of money. I remember the first time I got money, I was gigging, I was emceeing and open Mike and Hammersmith called Instant Laughs. And I'm going to tell you about Instant Laughs because I'm barred from Instant Laughs. I'm barred from Instant Laughs because I slagged them off on my own podcast. All I do is film, podcast. Apparently, I don't even remember this. I think I just said it was a terrible gig, but it was fine because they gave me spots. It was like it was that was the deal. Right. There was there was like audience was spare. Few, you know, there'd be too many acts. Classical with Mike. And but I remember I emceed it. I emceed it one time because those were the gigs I was allowed to emcee. And I got a split of the bucket. Third, Fiverr. I heard of Fiverr. Oh, my God. I can't believe I'm getting paid. Good hand in the notice. I was like, why are you in there? Who wants a drink? Drinks on me. Cheapest drink, five point thirty. OK. I was actually the first night as well as an audience member had bought me a drink. And I was just like, this is incredible. And you just got to have that belief. You want to live for these moments. And then you start looking at your diary. OK, I'm getting a bit of money here, a bit of money there. And then suddenly you're starting to get more clubs. And then you sort of looking back at those gigs. I haven't done one of those really shy gigs in a while. And that's just the way it goes, man. You just keep working. You keep keep working on the product. Keep, you know, just getting about and going to new gigs and stuff like that. And then eventually you'll just gig level just rises with you. OK, so what about material? How has that changed from when you started? How do you get new material? Oh, I mean, I didn't have any material for about the first three years. Gigan didn't stop me. Well, I mean, I'll tell you what happened to me first time. So because I did improv, when I started gigging, I was like, I make people laugh without writing anything. So if I just make like one bullet point, I'm going to make them like they will die. They will they will piss themselves. I'm so over prepared. And also what I thought was you had to have a new set every time. I thought and that wasn't like a rule. I was I just thought you had to. I just thought you said it once. And then you're like, OK, that was that gig. And then you go to the next one. You have to have a new five minutes. And everyone was just doing that. Yeah. Yeah. And then I started realizing and people go to me, how come you always do new stuff? And I was like, but that's what you have to do. And then I started seeing them and they were like, oh, you're doing that joke again. Oh, OK. And then so then I started trying to have bits. But when I started out, I mean, I've gone through so many different stuff. I used to write on paper, I used to say, like one hour a week, writing five hours a week, writing. I used to do like 25 minutes and five minutes, 25 minutes, five minute break. And and then I used to have everything in a notebook. And then everything was on on on laptop. What competitions are good for is they really make you look at your strongest set. And I remember I wrote all that out. I'd like these competition. The first competition I did well in, well, I got through to the final and through that I was I was writing out the set and just putting the punch lines in red and just getting as much red on the page and that was quite a good process. That's why it's always good to have same with big gigs. Always good to have these big gigs in the diary because they just force you to bring your A game. They're like, you can't just go down and be like, I'm just going to be a bit loose. You're like, you need to kill here. So I really look at your set. But generally, I was just like, I'm big for ideas. Always got ideas. I'm too creative. Always got ideas. I could I could easily go to I could be genuine. And I started like this, but I could go down to a gig every week. Have a new 10 minutes, a new 10 minutes of stuff, right? Be really loose. But a new 10 minutes that would be like fine for a new material. And I'd be like, oh, that was there's enough jokes and like I'm never one of those people that like you see that like great comics and they go down to the material and they talk for four minutes. And it's just like nothing. But you can tell, I guess, and they're they're like working on some really interesting that when they and then you see them two years and they've worked it out and they've got this credible routine on the opposite. I'm like a lot of myself, loads of ideas, pretty good start with. And I struggle to make it like better. I struggle to like hack away. I get bored of stuff and I move on. I always think, oh, because that bit was OK. But now I've got this new bit, maybe. Yeah. So so I think that's when now I've had to sort of restrict myself and what I have is a doc for each year. So I have my twenty twenty three material and I'm just adding to it. At the moment, it's about 50 pages. Well, don't you admit it. I mean, that's not good material. I'm here. Let me tell you. But but that's getting and I've been of material as well that goes into there. So at any point, I can look through them and be like, is there anything like maybe I got rid of too quickly or or, you know, it's like sometimes you throw away a bit because it's shit. But then you start a new bit and you're like, oh, this relates. And then you sort of work in one good joke from that bit into the new bit and stuff. So what I do is I have those Google Docs that I can work from anywhere and I make make sure I do. I make sure every day I'm doing 10 minutes of standard writing, 10 minutes of sketch writing and listening back to a gig and or if it's I've got like a huge working process, listen back to you. I'll listen back to like 10 minutes of it every day. So it's a half an hour. Just because I feel like when it's that short a time, I can't have an excuse for not doing it. So sometimes, you know, I'll be listening back to gigs for ages and I'll try to write some one also talk to people about it. But but that's what I'm doing at the moment. When I started, I was just I was just honestly trying to write jokes. I think that's that's when you start. I think that's the best advice. Just write jokes. Don't worry about your voice, your character. Just try and be as confident as possible and try and write as many jokes as you can. It doesn't matter if your routines are all 40 seconds long. Most of your dinner when you start out five minutes, you wait, you wait till you get to a club for 10 minutes and stuff like that. Most competitions, five minutes, you know, just try and write as many jokes as possible. And I feel like that that's a great education when you start because you learn how to write jokes and learn how jokes work. Then now I've finished my first show. I've done my first show. That's a collection of my best jokes brought together with a story of me and my housemate through lockdown. Now I can let loose and just what do I want to talk about and hopefully bring that education and joke writing to that. So now I can be like, what do I want to talk about? How do I make that funny? How to make that relatable rather than being like, I'm just so scared of not being funny. I just need jokes. So that's the challenge now for me. It's like not to just go up and be like, you know, here's this like really tight dick joke that I, you know, like, you know, save that for the clubs, the weekends where you just need to do that to survive. You just need to bang it out. But for my own shows, it's like, right, what do I when people come to this, what do I want to tell them? Because I've got an hour with them. They pay to be in my company. If they don't like it, fair enough, they can leave. But it's not a club where they pay to be insane. Pays to be my company. What do I want to talk about? And then how do I put as many gags and punchlines in that as possible? So that's how it's changed at the start. I was just writing punchlines. That's really good, dude. Really good. How was the very first Work in Progress shows? When I first first started? Yeah. My first one was great. Loads of friends down. It was like a 30 seat at the vault festival. Shout out Vault Festival. Great. I don't think they're going to come back next year, unfortunately, because I think the guys, the landlords stitched them up. But yeah, they let me have a show. And yeah, it was lovely. Just friends, family. I just did I just did 40, 45 minutes of just my best material. Just what I had at the time. And then the story came. So the iterations. So this was I wasn't I wasn't looking to do a show. I just wanted to do long on stage. I just wanted to do my own show. But I'm getting I just wanted to do my own show in the sense of be the only act. But I didn't have a show I wanted to talk about. And then and then I started working on a on a show with a theme with my first show, which was supposed to be Edinburgh 2020. Push back, push back. Right. So I did. I started working with a director on that. So that was helpful to work out a theme and stuff like that. And that's always tricky. I still haven't worked out that you want to be writing. If you're writing a show with a theme and stuff, you want to be writing like you would be because you're just trying to make people laugh. You're just writing comedy. But at the same time, you got this in the back of your head. How does that work? And so where does that go? Where's the structure of that? And that for me, I found I found tricky because as soon as we start talking about structure and I switch off, I'm just like, that's not what we're here for, man. Because you did an English degree. I did English. I did for one year. So, oh, yeah. So, you know, but I just like. I went to a very academic school. I went to a very academic school. You can only get in on exam grammar school, right? And when I got to I did English because it was like my favorite of the subject was in a level. I did a lot of the same story, by the way, also a grammar school boys. Yeah. That's why we get on to what we dress. So you always spot another one that glint in the eye of like, you know, any girls. So so that's but yes, I went to English, did English. Right. And then I was like, I'll be with me. I structure, you know, I was I was a bit like, oh, my God, the the have you seen the the syllabus for this year? It's so gorgeous. And I'm like, who the fuck cares for some poems to watch? I love just going on stage and connecting people, making people laugh. And also, because I was doing it for Edinburgh and Edinburgh can be very tactical. I didn't want to go in with that. I just wanted to do my show. But then I felt like I had to lean into some way. So I think I did a bit of a halfway. So it was like it has a narrative and it's a story that I'm really glad to tell. I think I tell it in a very good way. But it's not like a comedy theater show that I think a lot of Edinburgh shows that do well are. So I struggled. I struggle with that. And I still struggle with that. And that's why this one I'm just laying loose. And I'm just being like, right, the show will the show will present itself to me. I'm going to end with the strongest stuff. I'm going to I'm going to start with some strong stuff. But I'm just going to I'm going to see what I want to talk about and the way I want to talk about it. I'm not trying to be like, OK, where do we put this there? Because what happened with the Edinburgh show in 2023 in the end, I had like I wrote it all out, had a regimented thing, and it was really punchy. And I loved it. I can't wait to drop a special. I love doing it. And I'm thinking maybe this one, I'll maybe try something else, because that's the fun of it, right? Yeah. So when people talk about structure and all that sort of stuff, I'm just like, just I don't know, just I want I hate. I hate the fake sincerity. Like you've got some comedians that they're telling my story and all that sort of stuff. But you can you have worked this out. You have thought, what's the cleverest way I can do this? You've talked to three directors, four producers and what's great. And it's a great comedy theater show. But for me, I love the stand up comedy where it's just like you can tell that's what that person thinks. You can just tell they're talking. I mean, maybe it's not for you, but you can tell. Like I love the producer Neil quote of like, Killing is easy, but it's the truth. That's hard. Like I love I love that. I love that. Just, you know, seeing someone sincere. So I'm trying to be more that I'm trying to be more myself on stage. Very cool, very cool. And the sketch. So you're writing at the moment, you're doing 10 minutes of sketch deck because you put so many sketches. It's amazing. That's kind of thing that but you know what? There's some beasts out there. And I am. Oh, well, you're the one because I only did a few sketches, but I was looking at you being like, it's not. I always say bitterness and makes me sound so tragic. But I'm like, how does he how does he do this? Why is it so consistent? Oh, well, I'm glad that makes me feel better. Because, you know, I'm not in a good place with sketches at the moment. I'm just like still trying to work out, work it out. Oh, no, no, I am better. How are you not going to get you're like that sometimes. But sometimes you're on a hard street. You know, it's like a gig. Sometimes you're on a hard street. Sometimes, you know, I had a I had a week where I had like three three sketches in a row, just like hit millions. And I was like, oh, this is and the problem is we talk about that today is like the hope that kills you think that's now it. That's me. I'm a million guy. A million at least a million. They call me Milly Plus. And then you get an ex one dead and you're like, well, that's where one. So so what's the what's the question you want? So with the sketches, can you go through a process from idea to really sketch? So ideas, right. On my notes. Yeah. Well, just to my own idea is I write on my notes on my phone. And that will just be from seeing anything. I try and keep them relatable, try and keep them just like light fun. Sometimes I dip in a little bit, a bit more opinion stuff. But generally, it's just like like fun, relatable stuff. And then with that, 10 minutes, I'll look at my ideas. And I've got another sketch is 20, 23, and that's about like 40 pages. I mean, at the moment, but there's a lot of white in those pages. And there's a lot of space. There's a lot of writing down the idea. And then, you know, that chapter one thing, I think we're there. Exactly. It's time for a break. So I I do I try and write them out. And sometimes, you know, what's good about the sketches is they give me deadlines. I need deadlines because I need to get something out today. And then it's a case of, right, this 10 minutes has got to be the sketch. What sketch am I doing today? And just writing that out. Sometimes I'll try and talk to people, especially talk to my talk to people outside of my company, so I'll talk to my partner about it and see what she says, because sometimes she'll be like, oh, yeah, it's like when your friend and I go, yeah, that's OK. That's what we're trying to communicate here. So then I used to just like have no script and just banging out. But now I script out and then I get the shots up. Record record it. I normally try and do three takes for each each line. And if it needs more, it needs more. And then and then I edit it all on my phone. I do that firstly, because I've now got comfortable with the software I'm using on my phone. Secondly, because it means I can do that like I'm on the tube on a train to a gig or something like that, I can just edit it. So that's a useful use of time. And then and then it will be putting it out late. And at the moment, it's just about deadline. So I'm trying to do trying to do five post five times a week, three sketches Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and then a podcast clip and a standup clip. And that's what I'm pushing myself to do, because if I didn't get myself deadlines, I wouldn't do it. But you have been doing it like because you can very seem very consistent, even on holiday, I think you posted sketches. Yeah. So those are ones where I mean, my partner is good for that. She's like up for it if we need if we want to record something we can. And and that's one way I was like trying to do stuff ahead of time as well. Because this is the thing is, you know, I've heard this advice on a podcast. I'm just going to repeat it from whoever said it, but the consistency is is going to put you in a higher percentile of people in the world more than blowing up once or like flashing the pan, talent or whatever. If you just keep going, if you just keep going and keep improving, that's what's going to help you. And I'm not I'm not good at focusing. I'm not I'm not the type. There's YouTube is out there who worked for three months on a video. They release it. It's banging. It's like 40 minutes long. It's sick. I'm just not the type. I just lose focus. There's nothing I have that passion about that I need to communicate. I like just coming up with new things, everybody getting it done quickly done. There you go. Enjoy it. I'll get another one tomorrow. Blah, blah, blah. So that's that's how I operate. Right. If you're consistent with your gigs, with your sketches, you will get better and you will put yourself in a category of people that do do it consistently, which is a small category. There's a lot of people out there who have done standard for a couple of years, who've done this for a year, who've done this for a month, done what was for a week, whatever. There's a lot of people, there's loads of people. There's very few people who have stuck to their tasks outside of just going to their day job, which they hate, who've stuck to their tasks for years. And, you know, you, me here right now, we are each week, we get ourselves to, I'm going to do this many gigs a week. I'm going to do this many sketches a week. We continue putting ourselves in an even smaller, smaller percentile of people out there who are creative, who are doing stuff. So you just got to keep going. Well, well done, dude. Well, I think you've done really well with sketches and it's kind of, but you know, it's always, but it's always a way as well. It's like, you always compare yourself, comparison is thief of joy. I'm terrible for this, but you know, I mean, you, you think you're doing what you're up in your phone, whatever someone's sketches are blowing up, someone's doing this or some, you see some dude, he's got a huge following or whatever and blah, blah, and you're like, and you're like, Oh, I should be like that guy or whatever. But at this one, trying to remind myself, you just got to enjoy them as much as possible, man. I do genuinely enjoy doing sketches. You, some, you see some comics who are doing sketches. You see just the dead behind the line. They're just like, Oh, they're just like, they've clearly gone, well, I'll just do, I'll just do this because apparently you have to now. Apparently you have to. I'm like, well, don't do it. You don't have to, you don't have to. It's the same with the people who are saying, Oh, the last thing I want to do is gig now when they're in a green room. It's like, you don't have to do this. If you don't want to do it, then don't do it. You know what I mean? And, and the internet isn't just people like me doing like in your twenties, like you can, you can do whatever you want to do on the instant. You can do that thing. Like if you want to podcast, you can do long from book, you can do documentaries. You don't have to do this. You don't have to put on wigs. I put on wigs. That's what I do. That's, that's, that's the name of my show. Massive prick. 2025. I put on wigs. So yeah, so go, you know, make the insight, make what you want, make you want, what you want to make. That's very, very inspiring. Well, thank you for coming. I think we're going to run out of time through to the set of issues, but this has been amazing. Do you want to shout out the show socials? Ali? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, well, no, first thanks so much for having me. It's been great. Sorry. I didn't really let you speak. No, I've enjoyed it. It's much better when you speak. Just chatting. Yeah. When this episode comes out, it's seven minutes long. And it's just you asking the questions and being like, the camera will be out of focus. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, yeah. Well, thanks. You can follow me for on, on all socials, Ali Woods gigs, ALI Woods gigs. And then, uh, yeah, we'll have my special dropping soon. Best friend ever. My first ever special recorded lesser square theater. It's going to be sick. Honestly. I'm really proud of it. Jamie. I am. I was scared. That was another thing I was scared of. If you never record it, it will never be as shit. Like it would never be shit. It will just always be this perfect thing in your head. But I'm like, so happy that I've gone through with that. So, um, yeah, check that out on my YouTube when that drops best friend ever. Um, but otherwise, you know, just keep listening to this podcast and go check out. I hope you're all going to Reese's gigs as well. Checking in. Three people in Archway. Yeah. People are like, mate, last time I went to a gig, it was all right. Actually there were three, there was a couple on a date that accidentally got there. So I'm the old guy. That's like, I've been here for 15 years. I'll tell you what's going on. Well, thank you for coming. I really appreciate it. My pleasure.