My older brother introduced me to comedy. We watched The Simpsons religiously, and we loved Weird Al Yankovic – not only because we enjoyed his parodies, but because we’d finally found someone with a last name as weird as ours.
Comedy was never something I thought I’d do, though. Nobody in my family performed for a living. It wasn’t until I came to the UK that I started doing comedy.
My friend Leanne Davis was doing stand-up at the time. She could tell I wanted to, too, so she said, “Get up and do a set. That’s the only way you’ll know if it’ll work.” So, I did.
My first five-minute set was eight minutes long. I think I only told one actual joke. Watching it back is excruciating, but what I had as a newbie was enthusiasm and a knack for act outs.
I felt exhilarated and my friends who came to the gig said, “We were so worried you were going to suck! You didn’t suck!” So, I kept going, even after awful gigs like a variety show I did in Brixton where I was on between a horribly racist Australian man and a Little Mix tribute act.
MY FIRST FRINGE RUN
Karla Gowlett
Louise Bastock and I were at PBH’s Southsider for our first split-bill of stand-up at Edinburgh Fringe. When we talked show plans, Louise and I listed all the things we wanted to do and realised we’d need a budget of a million pounds, so we scaled back.
My “big budget” item that year was a foam cowboy hat. In 2023, comedy director Dec Munro reminded me to always put something in a stand-up show that’s just for you – and at Southsider, that was the foam hat.
Louise and I had great gigs and awful gigs, but we learned a lot. I went up to Edinburgh thinking “I’ll come out of this month with a great 30 minutes of comedy” and in reality, I came out knowing how to write a great five minutes. That led to me becoming a finalist in the Funny Women Awards in 2019 (my set was six minutes long).
I got a new voiceover agent out of that competition, and more paid gigs. I was planning on doing my first solo show in Edinburgh in 2020, but Covid had other plans.
PANDEMIC COMMUNITY
Karla Gowlett
I got Covid in March 2020 – it turned out to be long covid and I was in a bad way. That’s when my comedy community stepped in.
Barry Ferns at Angel Comedy started online gigs, which kept me gigging, and they started the Writing Gyms, which helped me pass on what little wisdom I had to other, newer comedians.
The ingenious Alex Farrow of Jericho Comedy ran a gig in a drive-in movie theatre in Oxford, where the comedians would stand on stage, and the audience would be in their cars and flash their lights if they liked a joke (horn honking would disturb the neighbours).
I remember standing by the stage waiting to go on. Pierre Novellie was on the bill. I was a huge fan. He was so nice, and so encouraging at a time when I needed it the most.
Somehow I came out of the pandemic as a Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year Nominee in 2021. It felt like a good indicator to keep going.
EDINBURGH SOLO DEBUT
Karla Gowlett
Part of my recovery from long Covid was attempting a work-in-progress show in Edinburgh in 2022, which then led to a joyful Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2023 with my show Geriatric Millennial.
It felt like the culmination of everything I’ve ever worked on in comedy. There’s a lot of pressure put on a comedy debut, let alone one when you’re older than 25.
It was icing on the cake to be listed in The Guardian’s Top 10 Jokes of the Fringe, and as runner up for Dave Joke of the Fringe.
What I really discovered in 2023 was that the shows I love watching the most are the ones where the performers are doing what they love the most. Audiences love seeing performers have a nice time, and I’m determined to have a nice time from now on.
So, I’ll keep tackling self-doubt head on, I’ll keep believing good things can happen, and I’ll remember to never, ever do a variety show.
If you want to see me have a nice time in the midst of the mean new world order, come check out my new show, 'Liz Guterbock: Nice' at PBH’s Southsider Edinburgh Fringe venue between 2-24 August (not 11 or 18) at 7pm – free entry (donations). See more at edfringe.com
