The London Comedy Writers... the story so far...
In the Beginning...
By group founder Jack Milner
In the beginning there was nothing… well, actually, there was a lonely comedy writer. He was desperate for comradeship in the fairytopia like world of comedy writing… and so put an ad in Shooting People asking if there were any other comedy writers out there who fancied meeting up, reading scripts, networking etc. There were a very small number, but just enough to have a meeting and so began the East London Comedy Writers Group.
Yep that was the original title for the group. So called because I vainly supposed it would make the group sound more exclusive. A little like the Ludlow Cat protection League of Bill Bryson’s “Notes Round an Island,” though we soon found ourselves letting in other non East London comedy cats just to keep the numbers up.
The first meetings took place in my little flat in Leytonstone. There a motley crew of comedy geniei met up once every three weeks then, to chat, support our fellow artistes, read scripts and argue. Soon though we’d outgrown the flat, or so I thought, and so for a brief while we met up at Stratford Circus. However, numbers fell away. In those early pre-Kings head days, they fluctuated between about ten and well one (I remember one very bleak evening sat alone drinking over priced beer in the Stratford circus foyer waiting vainly like a nerdy unwanted lover for other members of the group).
However, like most good things in life (except possibly drinking and smoking), I soon discovered that if one is persistent there are rewards. And that came in the shape of Tristan, a man of impossible complexity whose passion helped make the group work – he found a great pub, The Kings Head, a place that the LCW calls home. Numbers remained low in those early years and that was partly due to my own waning enthusiasm (not so much for there group as my own abilities) and about a year too late I resigned. Tristan and Graham (the first) took over and the group went on from strength to strength so it is almost unrecognisable from the original.
One thing though remains the same. It is still a place where lonely and of course very popular writers can meet up, read a script and share their thoughts in a way that is always staggeringly generous, kind yet incisive and critical.
Jack Milner is one of the most versatile and prolific creators on the London comedy scene. For many years, Jack has pursued simultaneous careers as a director, writer, comedy actor, facilitator and producer in theatre, television, film and radio. He has participated in over one hundred productions, both on stage and behind the scenes, with notable success in all fields.
