S7E10 - Mark Nicholas
This week’s guest is Mark Nicholas, comedian, comedy workshop leader and tutor.
After getting his comedy start while on an extended trip to Vietnam, Mark has been working his way around the London comedy circuit. He created his show Laugh-Able to be an inclusive space for acts with disabilities. Being autistic himself and coming from a family of those serving or caring for others with disabilities, he is an advocate and activist in that space.
Before all of this, Mark started work he continues today. During college, he was working in a bar and realized it wasn’t for him when he saw an ad on Gumtree that led to him working as a tutor and then in special education. He talks about all of this and his work as a union rep in the episode.
We talk about:
Mark’s path from drama class to comedy
Coming to terms with being autistic and the support Mark received from his family
Why Mark left his career in the formal education system and went into private tutoring
Setting up his own comedy night for disabled acts (LaughAble)
Inclusion
Note from Rabiah (Host):
Mark and I met at a gig, while doing the Zoom circuit during lockdown. You’ll be listening to a chat between me and a colleague but also me and a friend. He has included me in his shows and made me more comfortable talking about having Multiple Sclerosis (MS) on stage and off. He’s a funny guy and we share a few laughs on the episode but also share an important chat. It is a privilege to get to learn about my friends in this way and to share the chat with you.
Comedians Rabiah and Mark record an actual podcast, not just WhatsApp voice notes to each other.
Find Mark
Mentioned in the Episode
Transcript
Rabiah Coon: [00:00:00] This is More Than Work, the podcast reminding you that your self worth is made up of more than your job title. Each week, I'll talk to a guest about how they discovered that for themselves. You'll hear about what they did, what they're doing, and who they are. I'm your host, Rabiah. I work in IT, perform stand up comedy, write, volunteer, and of course podcast.
Thank you for listening. Here we go!
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to More Than Work. I am really excited today because I have a good friend joining me who I talk to all the time anyway. So it's just going to be a more structured conversation now. And we practically podcast together because we send each other so many voice notes. But this is my friend, Mark Nicholas.
He's a comedian, workshop lead, and tutor. So thanks for being on Mark.
Mark Nicholas: Hi, yeah, no, thanks for having me, and It's true that we do do a lot of Whatsapp podcasts anyway, But, it tends to be a [00:01:00] lot of bitching about other people in the comedy scene.
Rabiah Coon: No, no, no, no. We talk nicely.
Mark Nicholas: Yeah, yeah, and obviously, you know, we big up the people who are doing brilliantly, but, you know, that's a podcast for another time, I think, I think that's its own separate podcast.
Rabiah Coon: It definitely is. So, where am I talking to you from today?
Mark Nicholas: You are talking to me from East London. Well, it's East London slash Essex, there's always a difference between the two, because like, you know, my postcode is Essex, but I'm about 10 15 minutes from East London, so. I just like to say East London, because. If you're not from the UK, you don't know where Essex is.
So it's,
Rabiah Coon: Easier.
Mark Nicholas: yeah, so East London, yeah.
Rabiah Coon: cool, cool. Yeah, you know, I'm in Camden. So, yeah, we're pretty close, but still far enough away. And I guess, so, I mean, obviously, we met on the comedy circle. We've already mentioned comedy, which is one of the rules of being a comedian. We have to mention it within the first five seconds of talking to someone, right?
But before, [00:02:00] You were a comic, and even when I met you, you were doing something else, which you were working in a school, and you were also really involved in the union, which I think is one thing that we connected on, is just your involvement in things in general, but can you talk about kind of your work in schools, and how you got an education, and also, like, just the union stuff?
Oh
Mark Nicholas: So I think that it kind of happened quite early on for me. When I was studying at university, I needed some extra work. So I started working in a bar and I absolutely hated it because I, with my autism, I am very dyspraxic, very clumsy. So I'd always be dropping pints of beer and I can never do the cocktails right. And I think I remember one time I was someone asked me to make them like at one of those mochas, chocolate coffees thing and you had to use the little coffee machine. But what I did I went up back just put the spoon of instant coffee, put a spoon of hot chocolate stuck hot water in put some milk in and that was it because I [00:03:00] couldn't work the machine.
They drunk it and they didn't even notice it. So I was, but it was like, you know, I never even changed a barrel, you know, I didn't even change the thing. So I was just a terrible barman and it was just way too stressful. So I was like, I need something else. I know I need the money while I'm studying but. So then I started, I did an advert on Gumtree.
I'm not sure if you remember Gumtree and people still use it, I think. There was a job advert and there was this woman whose son had Asperger's which is the form of autism I have, and they were looking for a social skills tutor because he was really bad at trying to make friends. He was one of the brightest kids I ever met, but he was really bad at socialising with other kids.
And I ended up writing a letter about my story growing up and things like that, and how I've overcome adversity. I've never taught before, but I'd love to try and do some one to one tuition. And the mum, she really loved the [00:04:00] letter. I met him and his brothers and her, and, we ended up, you know, like, hitting it off. But what was, what was strange about it was she was like, well, how much an hour do you, do you want?
And I was like, oh, just minimum wage. And, and true fact, my mum came with me because, no, because, because obviously I'd never, you know, I was meeting this woman and her family. It was quite odd. And I was 18 years old and the boy in question was about 10, right? And and then, and then my mum was like, And then she spoke to me privately, Mark, you're more valuable than that.
£10 an hour at least. So, my mum was acting as my union rep almost. So that was kind of, you know, planting the seeds about like the kind of union thing. Anyway. I ended up tutoring him for about maybe six, seven years. But he ended up getting through school
great making friends, getting on better with his brothers and sisters. Difference I [00:05:00] seemed to make was not just him, but his family as well was really positive difference. So when I started doing that, I started to, Oh, I quite like this. So. I was a student ambassador at my university, like a disability ambassador, right?
So I'd support other disabled students when, when I was in my second or third year. And I remember going to schools in the area doing talks about mental health. I was like 19, 20 years old and, and I just got so much out of it. And I thought, well, this is, I like this. This is what I want to do. And one of the people working at the university, her son was going to a local school.
She went, oh, I'll put in a good word for you and you can apply as a teacher's assistant after you graduate. So I graduated and I applied to become a teacher's assistant at a school in north London, actually, and it was a Catholic school, right? So, it was an all boys Catholic school, but it had an autism unit, so I was a teacher's assistant there.
[00:06:00] And I was working one to one with a lot of the students. But what I didn't, what I found out the minute I worked there was, that was the school my dad used to go to, because he was,
Rabiah Coon: wow.
Mark Nicholas: yeah, he had a Catholic background and he was like, Yeah, I was, I went to that school and I was kicked out of it. So, but I don't think anyone taught teaching him was still there. They didn't pay very well, so I had to move on. Then I was in a primary school, working one to one with an autistic boy. And then my last job in education was in an SEN school.
And I was there for ten years. And I, I tried to do a bit of teacher training there, but it was too stressful. I was like, no, I can't do teaching. Because I don't, I didn't mind the actual teaching itself, but it's all the paperwork. Every teacher the UK will tell you, what, regardless of setting you work in, the paperwork is, you take your home, you take your work home with you, you go in at 7, get back at
Rabiah Coon: [00:07:00] Mhm.
Mark Nicholas: 6.
So ridiculously hard. And then I just ended up being a cover supervisor there. Because they could see I could teach. And then one of the other teachers, who was the union rep at the time, decided she needed to move on and then that position opened up and I was like, Oh, I might be interested in doing that because I'd always been interested in politics. Like what I studied at university was sociology, so I was very politically aware. Like, I used to go on marches, I went on the student march where they trampled the tuition fees in the UK, and I remember talking to actually another American about this, and they were like 9,000 a year. Mark, that's nothing. That's cheap. And I was like, what? And then they told me about the US system. I was like, oh Christ, that is mental.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, I'm 44 and just paid off my loans this year.
Mark Nicholas: That's insane. I was the last year off the 3,000 a year fees. But with interest, and even though I got a [00:08:00] grant and other bits because I grew up in a single parent family, even though I got all those bits, there was still the loans, the tuition, and they've added interest on the student loans
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Mark Nicholas: I'm still paying it off, like, I'm coming about, out about 17,000 in debt, which doesn't sound like a lot, but I keep adding interest on it every year, so I think I'm still about 17, 000 in debt. It's, it's a ridiculous system. But anyway, I was a union rep for a while at the school and then, I like to say I oversaw about three different CEOs, so the big bosses, because they would try and like change like the way the school was and try and get rid of people and stuff like that. It was a kind of really toxic culture but then I built kind of, I got people to join the National Education Union and in the school and we got together. I used to try and talk with management all the time about stopping these changes and they wouldn't. And then we balloted for strike action and they end up getting rid of the [00:09:00] CEO, bald dude, once I think.
And then, and then, and it was just this, it felt very powerful being such a, an incredible collective. But then we had the group of, these brothers coming in that took over the school and they knew I was the union rep and I said we need to meet once a week because I want positive dialogue so I was being open, but I'd heard rumours they'd gone into schools and they were like called the "union killers" because they used to just get rid of, I mean legally you can't but what they did, they restructured the school, which meant my position was redundant.
Rabiah Coon: Mhm.
Mark Nicholas: And they were trying to get rid of what's called midday assistants. Some people in the UK will know them as dinner ladies, or if you're men. So basically, in the US, like, people working in a cafeteria at a school, I don't know what you call them.
Rabiah Coon: Cafeteria lady.
Mark Nicholas: Yeah, whatever, to
Rabiah Coon: Or man. But then you just,
Mark Nicholas: Yeah, cafeteria person. So they're called midday [00:10:00] assistants because they work at midday.
And when we work in a special school, they, kids need feeding in a certain way, because some kids have a lot of physical disabilities. But then we're going to get rid of them. They were expecting the teachers and the teacher assistants to work in their lunch hour. So they would get rid of me, get rid of them.
And I remember, again, we tried to talk him out of it, there was a consultation period, and again we tried to ballot, and I remember phoning the school going, did you receive your ballot yet? And then the head teacher went round saying I was harassing people. Like, he was doing all the dirty tricks of the book, and in the end, you need to reach a 50 percent ballot thing to, for it to be approved.
But the first round of balloting, it got like 90%. It was what's called an indicative ballot, saying you're prepared to vote on strike. And then the second lot was, it was under 50 percent for ballot action. [00:11:00] So it didn't go through, and I ended up just taking the redundancy.
Rabiah Coon: Mhm.
Mark Nicholas: Like I could appeal and stuff like that, but I just, I thought, you know what, I'm done there.
If people weren't... I'm a senior rep, I used to go in and sit in the one to one meetings and like... The amount of times I was dealing with cases around long COVID, a lot of teachers not being able to get back to work because of long COVID and other disabilities, other mental health. I remember sitting there and basically just reminding management what the employment laws were, like not what you can and can't do and how you need to make adjustments to people.
One of the biggest things that fallacies about autism is that we have lack empathy, but I'm probably one of the most empathetic people out there because I used to, I'm not, I'm picking myself up now. I never used to, but I was like, no, I did a lot for those people. And then I felt that I was there for all these different people.
But then when my job was under [00:12:00] threat,
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Mark Nicholas: thing about union, it needs to be collective. They didn't reach out to, they didn't support me in that. And so I thought, well, you know what? Because I could have, what I could have done, I could have applied for a lower position. So it's fire rehire they call it, 10
years there, I don't want to do it. And so I just took the redundancy and...
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Mark Nicholas: them where to stick it. And then the irony is they restructured the school. The irony, these two brothers that were in charge of the school resigned because of financial irregularities. And this isn't confirmed, but what I heard happened is They made people redundant and they were employing them back towards their own agency.
And if you, if you work for a supply agency, you don't have any of the workers rights. So they're making people redundant, they're re employing them through their own teaching [00:13:00] agency, and they were profiteering off the school, even though they would get wages by the school. But there was an investigation into that and they just resigned.
So, and this is after I left, I got all this gossip and I was like, wow, I left at the right time. It was a sinking ship there. So
Rabiah Coon: Yeah,
Mark Nicholas: it was, it was a really stressful period of my life. And oh yeah, that's not to mention that I went out to Vietnam halfway through, like my dad passed away. And I went out to Vietnam for about seven months and that's when I started doing comedy.
Vietnam of all places, like, I joined this expat group. It was like this creative, poetry, comedy, spoken word group. And we ended up doing this showcase and I did my first comedy set. in Saigon and it was incredible. So that was halfway through when I was at that school because I'd taken a sabbatical, like a career break because of my dad.
So it's been a very eventful, since I've been an adult and [00:14:00] going out into the world of work, it's been very eventful, a lot of stuff happening. But yeah, that's basically kind of my story.
Rabiah Coon: yeah,
Mark Nicholas: So the comedy on the side and then that's slowly been gaining momentum As well because now I I get the odd paid work here and there.
You know, this is where I run my own disability comedy night. I'm starting to run workshops, comedy workshops, I'm doing my first one tomorrow. Although I did one a couple of years ago, but we're doing another set of workshops for disabled adults in our local area. So, I'm still doing the Teaching but through workshopping and then I'm doing a bit of home tutoring as well.
So I'm doing bits of everything and I'm self employed at the moment. I quite like it, but I think I'll send you towards the podcast. It's like spinning lots of different plates at once. I'm not used to doing all these different things. I used to having one job and that's it. Now my life is a series of different things.
Yeah.
Rabiah Coon: yeah, totally. Well, and so, I guess, so there's a lot there, but I [00:15:00] mean,
Mark Nicholas: Yeah. There's a lot.
Rabiah Coon: now it's okay though, but, so I think just, one thing is that you just kind of realizing that you shouldn't, you didn't need to be at this school anymore, because a lot of times, and I even had, we had redundancies at work yesterday, which you and I haven't talked about yet, but I'll, we'll talk to you about it later as a friend, but You know, there's something about wanting to fight for something that you don't, and realizing you don't need to fight for it anymore, and by that time you were doing comedy anyway, right?
So.
Mark Nicholas: Yeah. And the thing is like, I love the whole kind of working with people with disabilities and empowering them and things like that. And I've always been like that and, and like my grandmother was a primary school teacher and my other grandmother, two grandmother, my other grandmother, On my mum's side was a care worker so that kind of runs in that family to care for and look after and support [00:16:00] those with vulnerabilities. And because I went through those things, felt like giving back. And my mum worked for disability charity, which is what sponsors my night now which is and he's helping me with his workshop. So that was always important to me. So working in a special needs setting, I did get something out of it, but the education system in the UK, I mean, again, that's another podcast in itself.
There's too much focus and trying to fit everyone into the same umbrella and a lot of kids with SEN are shoved out from mainstream to special needs schools because the mainstream schools cannot meet their needs and that never used to be the case. It used to be, because I was a kid with SEN, and I was in a mainstream all my life, but if I was a kid today with autism because of my behaviour problems, I'd be in a special needs school.
They're [00:17:00] segregating children with disabilities more with mainstream kids. So the system in itself is very flawed at the moment. And what's that Einstein saying? "If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it's stupid." And I think that's what's wrong with the UK education system in a nutshell. And that's why I don't want to be a part of it. Like, I really don't.
I'd rather do these workshops and perform the comedy and things like that. So, because with the comedy, I'm teaching comedy. I'm teaching a bit of improv as well. But I'm doing it on my own terms. And actually with the home tutoring at the moment, it's on my own terms. And a lot of the time I'm teaching young I'm teaching older teenagers or younger adults independent skills.
So... I'm still doing the teaching in a lot of ways, but I'm doing it how I want to do it. And there's something very empowering about that. I didn't fall out of love [00:18:00] with teaching, I fell out of love with the education system. And it needs to dramatically change if I ever thought about getting back into that.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. That makes sense. And it just, yeah, it sounds like it's a really difficult place to be. And I mean, I think in the States there's similar things going on and I have a. Friend whose child has I don't know, well, I know what it's called, but I don't want to say the wrong name, but basically he has definitely has difficulties and, and it's hard because she's now become an advocate for him though, which I'm really proud of her for, but I think, and that's what you've done.
And so just along those lines, like you're very open about your autism and you've made me more open about stuff I have going on, but what do you think it is that just made you decide like this is something you were gonna be open about and something that you were gonna take on as a cause and disabilities in general, do you think?
Mark Nicholas: Well, I think it was when I was working with the boy I was working with, to be honest.
When I was working with him, [00:19:00] I was making a difference to his life because my whole feeling is that I found it so difficult, but the people that supported me helped me get to where I've got to.
I wouldn't be here without my family, friends, partners, et cetera, for everyone, you know. I, I was very fortunate to have a large support network growing up, but I wanted to give some of that back because it was like, well, actually he deserves that support. And I believe every young person deserves that support because, and this is where it goes into the social model of disability as well.
In the social model of disability for those that don't know is basically society disables us. The way society is set up, it's set up for neurotypical people, it's set up for neurotypical people and able bodied people.
It's not set up for neurodiverse people. It's not set up for those with disability. It's, you know, I was even [00:20:00] giving a talk the other day, I was running, helping run this panel show on ITV Able with a fantastic colleague of ours, Betty Shakes, and we were talking about like, disability and inclusion in the arts, and talking about actually, the reason, part of the reason I'm in comedy, and part of the reason I wanted to set up LaughAble, is because the amount of... When I first was on the scene, the amount of disabled comics that told me they couldn't access certain nights, I thought, well, let me provide a space then, because... And I think the reason I've been so open about it is because my family were as well, with the autism and the disability.
Like, I was, my mum, again, worked for the charity, and my nan was a care worker. Like, I was surrounded. And my two older brothers were, like, incredibly supportive of... I was, like, bullied horrendously at school, and I... People would manipulate me into doing things, and I thought they were my friend, and [00:21:00] they weren't.
I had a real hard time. But my family, because they gave me all that support, I felt like, well yeah, this is something I should do now. And I think, you know, and then this is why it goes back to the union thing.
Rabiah Coon: Mm-hmm.
Mark Nicholas: You know, we're stronger together than we are apart. I think in general that's a really important message.
People collectively get together, actually, it makes our lives better rather than having this individual focus of I'm only going to look out for myself. However, there is a worry that, you know, you don't look out for yourself whatsoever. I've got, I've got to positions where I was promising to help all these people and then I'd let people down because I over promised.
So there is that balance between looking out for others and self care. And that's something I'm trying to work out at the moment. You need to find a balance between looking after yourself and being there for others. So it's, yeah, [00:22:00] it's an interesting one. But yeah, like I'm so open about it.
It's 'cause my family were open about it. I was embarrassed that I had autism. I would deny I even had it.
Rabiah Coon: Mm
Mark Nicholas: My family was so like, Mark, this is your difficulties. Let's not shy away from it. They didn't want to shy away from it, they weren't embarrassed about it, so therefore why should I be? But when I was in school, was an embarrassing thing to have.
Rabiah Coon: Sure.
Mark Nicholas: So, but again, my family are a big part of the reason why I'm so open minded.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. And I, I noticed, I mean, you, and you're very much an advocate for people also in the LGBTQIA plus community and then with other disabilities besides autism and
Mark Nicholas: Everything, yeah..
Rabiah Coon: Which I think is really important. And so let's talk about, let's talk about comedy.
You did comedy in Saigon. That's a, you know, that's the path, you know, that's the normal path everyone I met took. Yeah.
Mark Nicholas: Yeah, of course, you know, [00:23:00] Saigon, that's where you're going to. But no, do you know what? It's, it was, I've always been a fan of comedy. Like I used to watch comedy all the time. It's my favorite genre of movie and I used to go watch stand up comedy all the time. When I was 19, I used to go to Backyard Comedy Club in Bethnal Green because it's around the corner from where I am.
And now, you know, I can say I've performed there, which is really cool. I didn't think in about 12 years time I'd end up doing that. But, yeah. Also, that's why I did a lot of drama at school. My middle brother I'd like to say was an actor.
He's not, no longer acting, but he's running an acting school now. Performance in the family is quite common. So I loved drama at school. I loved improv at school because it allowed me to mask certain things about me, like, cause I was embarrassed about who I was.
And actually Drama provided that initial [00:24:00] masking where you can take on the role of someone else and for an hour pretend you're not you. And... So I love performing, I love being a performer. I was always, I was, I used to get a lot of stage fright though, so loads of people helped me through that. But so when I had the opportunity to do comedy, I thought, well screw it, I'm out here anyway, I might as well give it a go.
I didn't think it'd lead to much, and I remember my first set, I started trying to do, started trying to speak, froze completely, and the, and the, and the compere said, "Alright, let's give a round of applause for Mark, everyone, because this is his first time doing this." So he was very supportive when we went.
And then he said, and then I still froze, and he was like, Mark, I will whisper your own jokes back at you. You can do this. And so eventually, once I started doing it, then, just the laughter, the applauses I got from it. I was only on there for five [00:25:00] minutes. But the adrenaline rush, I thought this is better than any drug I've taken, than any, you know, booze or whatever, or jumping off cliffs, sod all that.
Being on stage for five minutes is enough adrenaline for me. But I felt such a buzz afterwards that this is something I wanted to do. But then I came back to London, I chickened out for a year. I was like, no, I don't want to do the open mic scene in London because in London we have these things called bringer nights where you have to bring friends.
And I thought, well, after about 10 gigs, I'm not going to bring anyone up and that's going to be it for me. But it's fun. I can just bring along my twin and then when I sit down, and I can only do that once, and the next gig, I just pretend to be him. And then I sit back down, yeah, I pretend to be him.
Well, that's me. But no, like, I, yeah, so, it took me a year, because London, I didn't feel like was very supportive. In terms of, you, you had to do all these things, in order to perform. And [00:26:00] then I did another comedy course in London. And I did the showcase, a place called the Comedy Pub, which is now the Coach and Horses.
And it was such an amazing experience. I was like, right, I'm doing this again. And I ended up doing another course as well called Ultra Comedy. They were working with cancer research and so you had to do you had to bring, you didn't have to pay for the course, but you had to bring 10 people along who paid 20 each to see you perform for 5 minutes.
But I mean, I performed out Backyard which was really cool and so, obviously I'd like to give a shout out to my two comedy tutors that I had initially, Tamsyn Kelly and Mike Gardner, they were absolutely brilliant. Oh, and the American the one who did the course, who ran the course in Saigon, he was called Ben Bettersby.
He was really cool. So those three people in terms of course tutors were really supportive and in terms of me doing my comedy. [00:27:00] So yeah it's been a wild ride. I think for a while I was like, Oh, I don't know if I want to do this anymore. But, you know, then, and then lockdown happened as well. So that fucked everyone.
Rabiah Coon: No, but yeah, COVID happened and that's when we met, was online.
Mark Nicholas: Yes, with,
with,
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Mark Nicholas: Yes, on the old Zoom gigs, which a lot of people complained about, right, but I can't be too mad about those Zoom gigs, because I won King Gong, the Comedy Store's competition over Zoom, which meant I now get, means I get regular spots at the Comedy Store. I ended up getting signed to a comedy agency through Zoom gigs.
So, when people go, oh, wasn't Zoom gigs horrible? Or, I hardly did, and I'm there going, actually, it was fine.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Mark Nicholas: And actually, it brought the disability community together. Because it's when I met Benny Shakes, who... Again, put me in touch with his agent. That's how we got signed. But me and Benny create this [00:28:00] disability support group.
We end up doing all these wonderful gigs. We end up doing a lot of fundraisers for mental health charities. Rosie Jones headlining, Andrew O'Neill headlining. John Robertson headlining. The reason I could afford to bring those acts over Zoom cause you're just doing it by your bedroom.
You're not having to travel. So, and I think every comic pro or non pro was so desperate for stage time. Yeah, sod it. Why not? Let's do a Zoom. And I think a lot of people with disabilities that wouldn't have thought about getting into comedy did the Zoom gigs. So I think actually for disabled people, it is actually the most accessible form of comedy.
Rabiah Coon: Well, yeah, you don't have to get in a tube. You don't have to, like, get into a basement. You don't have to do all that. I mean, it is ridiculous. Like, people cannot get to places. Or once they're there, get in them at this point.
Mark Nicholas: Yeah, so like I I think Zoom gigs are great. I think they were brilliant. But yeah,
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Plus we [00:29:00] met there. So, yeah, well, I, I had
Mark Nicholas: I mean that's one of the downsides. But no
Rabiah Coon: Okay, fine. Oh, I'm hanging up now.
Mark Nicholas: so thank you for having me on this. Yeah, you're gonna mute me for the whole time now. Like I would give this big inspirational speech is gonna be all on mute because I made a joke about you Sensitive Snowflake or
Rabiah Coon: And then it'll be the highest rated episode.
Mark Nicholas: Cancel Mark Nicholas. Sorry.
Rabiah Coon: oh my God, that could be, I think that's what it's going to be called the episode now, but so I've had a Philip Simon on who we both know and Rich Wilson and I asked them both this question. I want to ask you. What was the first joke you wrote?
Like, do you remember what the first joke you wrote, wrote is? And if you want to tell it,
Mark Nicholas: Oh god, I remember the first joke I did in London.
Rabiah Coon: okay.
Mark Nicholas: Oh no, a lot of your listeners. It was, hmm, it was, it was genuinely a joke about incest. I mean, I, [00:30:00] do you want to hear it?
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, because yeah, I'll do a trigger warning and yes, let's do it. And we're not related that just so you know, so that's not part of the joke.
Mark Nicholas: yeah, yeah, we're not related and it's okay, so a bit of context for people outside the UK. This joke is about a guy called Danny Dyer, who's this East End, Cockney, London, guy who's been in East Enders and all that. Anyway, so, like, so Danny Dyer has a daughter called Danny Dyer, because he's that creative as a person, right?
And oh fuck, Danny Dyer's gonna kill me, I know. And, and, and so, and... On Love Island Danny Dyer's daughter went on Love Island. That must have been really hard for him to watch. Like, imagine interviewing him about that. Danny, it must be so hard seeing your daughter with all these men on Love Island.
Yeah, yeah, it is so [00:31:00] hard. I'll tell you another thing. It's the hardest wank I've ever had.
Rabiah Coon: Oh God.
Mark Nicholas: Yeah, like, that is the most hackest joke I've ever written. I'm not proud of it, by the way. But, it was, but, but also, also, one of, I'm not gonna say the, I'm not gonna say who it was, but the person, the tutor who was part of my course with me told me to lean into and go like really messed up with it so I was just like okay fine and I remember doing that in front of my mum and going oh what and then she was like oh god Mark I didn't know you're going to do this type of humour and I'm like in all fairness I dropped that joke about uh Um, yeah, about five gigs in. So, yeah, I'm just like, you've asked me to do a bit of my old material, and now people go like, "Who's this shit comic that Rabiah has got on the show?"[00:32:00]
Rabiah Coon: no, I mean, that's it, but it shows how far we come and like, like Philip, I think told a joke. He kind of told him he was a kid. Like he remembered something. It wasn't really a joke. He wrote, but it was like some comment he made to his dad. And then Rich had a joke too that was pretty wild. So no, that's good.
I'll be fair, Mark, and let you tell a joke that you like from now. How about that? You're the only one I will let do this.
Mark Nicholas: Oh! I wrote a joke in lockdown that I quite liked, actually. That I haven't brought back yet. So I might try it again for you now. So this genuinely happened.
During lockdown, I had my appendix out. I got appendicitis.
I remember, like, having the surgery, get my appendix out, and then a week later, performing a comedy. And the promoter said to me afterwards. Oh, God, Mark, that took some guts. I had the audience in stitches.
Rabiah Coon: Oh no.
Mark Nicholas: Oh yeah, they were really [00:33:00] they really hated that joke. They were scarred from it.
Rabiah Coon: nice.
Mark Nicholas: were scarred for life. That's it, they were scarred for life. Right, so there you go. That's a joke I actually wrote. I often write joke about trauma as well, like all messed up things I've been through so,
but yeah.
Rabiah Coon: it's part of it, right? So, so one thing I like to ask everybody who's on the podcast is, do you have like any advice or mantra you want to share? It could be something you kind of follow, or just something that... While we're talking, you thought of like, this is something I'd want to leave with people
Mark Nicholas: Always try, I feel like it hurts, always try, even when you're crying yourself to sleep, carry on pushing through the barrier, don't rest at all, don't just have a moment. No um, I think it's I think there's a number of things to say, know your worth as well, like I think I, I spent a lot of time not knowing my worth, the value of myself, really. However, always know that sort [00:34:00] of life is a journey. And Actually my partner Kate, said this to me the other day, progress isn't linear. It isn't this straightforward thing that we all think. It's actually very up and down different things that happen to you.
So no matter what happens, know that, yeah, progress isn't linear.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Mark Nicholas: and actually the journey you go through between your start and end point can really shape you. So, yeah, so when you're feeling at your lowest, know that it will pass and know that the only way is up.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Mark Nicholas: If you're, when you're at your lowest, the only way to go is up so..., and also, yeah, talk to people. Make sure you have a good group of people around you that you trust and know, or even that one person, you know, and you trust. So lots of things there, really. Just, yeah.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. See you had advice. All right
[00:35:00]
Rabiah Coon: So now the last set of questions I call the Fun Five because they're fun for me and it's just a list of questions I like to ask everybody it's because like I said, it's fun. So what's the oldest t shirt you have and still wear?
Mark Nicholas: Do you know what? I threw out a lot of my old t shirts last year. And the reason I did is because I can't get away from wearing them now. Not in terms of the age thing, but in terms of the fact that I've put on that much weight that it just looks like a kid's shirt now. There was the Green Day American Idiot, you know, the hot, hand on the heart grenade.
Because I was a bit of a punk when I was a teenager, so I used to wear a load of band hoodies, and so I wore that Green Day one, American Idiot, that t-shirt that I wore up until last year before I had to throw it away.
So, yeah.
Rabiah Coon: That's cool. I like it. I, I think you said American [00:36:00] Idiot with too much exaggeration just now, but that's fine. I
Mark Nicholas: Idiot! Sorry, what was that?
Rabiah Coon: Huh? Okay. So if everyday was really Groundhog's Day, like the movie where he woke up and it was the same day every day. If every day was like that in real life, what song would you have your alarm clock set to play every morning?
Mark Nicholas: I guess "We Didn't Start The Fire" by Billy Joel. I think it has to be.
Rabiah Coon: Nice. Okay, cool. And coffee or tea or neither?
Mark Nicholas: Can I say both?
Rabiah Coon: Sure. Yeah.
Mark Nicholas: Let's mix this up a bit because, again, I'm neurodiverse so I want to go out there. No so coffee I have to have in the morning because it gives you that boost, right? And then when I'm starting to come down early afternoon Because coffee gives you that instant buzz and then the crash.
Then early afternoon I have a cup of tea. I actually had a cup of tea just now. And that gives you that slow boost towards the end of the day.[00:37:00]
Rabiah Coon: Nice. All right. And so can you think of something that makes you like laugh so hard you cry or like. Just something that just cracks you up when you think of it. Just whatever it is.
Mark Nicholas: So, I would say anytime I see Piers Morgan make a fool of himself, I think it's just the most beautiful thing to watch ever. I think whenever he puts his foot in it, it's just, it's absolutely glorious, because it's, he's such an idiot.
You know? I know, I know people in the States aren't exactly a fan of him either, so, but you can keep, you can keep him, we don't want him anymore, it's fine.
Rabiah Coon: We gave you James Corden back. So it doesn't matter
Mark Nicholas: Yeah, oh exactly, yeah, thanks for that one, so.
Rabiah Coon: Okay, and the last question is who inspires you right now,
Mark Nicholas: I don't really wanna say anyone in particular, but I would say other disabled artists on the comedy scene right now because I think [00:38:00] it's brilliant watching everyone have their own unique story. And I'm very, I'm in a very privileged position where I've worked with so many incredible disabled artists.
So, yeah, I think disabled artists, they inspire me at the moment. They, yeah, I don't like to use the word inspiration to describe disability because I know that annoys a lot of people. But in terms of, it's just amazing to hear about everyone's individual stuff going on. And different perspectives as well.
So, yeah.
Rabiah Coon: yeah and willingness to share yeah, that's cool. Alright, so Mark, what do you want to promote right now? Like, where should people come find you if you want to talk about anything upcoming?
So how do you want people to find you and what do you want them to
Mark Nicholas: So, my Insta and TikTok is at Mark Nicholas comic (@marknicholascomic). I'm trying to do better, put more content on there. And my Twitter is M Nicholas comic (mnicholascomic). I wanted it to be the same as Mark Nicholas comic, but bloody Elon.[00:39:00] Mark Nicholas comedian on Facebook. I promote a lot of my stuff on there.
Yeah. Laughable Comedy Night on all the socials. If you search that. If you are London based run a disability and mental health comedy, I'm sorry, an award winning mental health and disability comedy night called LaughAble.
And I run Laughable the first Wednesday of every month.
It's bring your own booze as well. It's a fully accessible venue as well, so it's in the area of Wanstead, Essex, so, if you get tickets in advance for general admission it's 3 pound 50 for disability it's 1 pound 50, and if you come on the door it's a fiver each, so it's worth getting advance tickets for that.
So, if you search for our events then that's where you can find me. And I put all my gigs up on the socials anyway. So, yeah,
Rabiah Coon: Yeah,
Mark Nicholas: that's it.
Rabiah Coon: Well, thank you, Mark. Thanks for chatting with me. It's been great.
Mark Nicholas: No, it's been a lot [00:40:00] of fun. Yeah, thank you for having me on.
You can learn more about the guest and what was talked about in the show notes. Joe Maffia created the music you're listening to. You can find him on Spotify at Joe M A F F I A. Rob Metke does all the design, for which I am so grateful. You can find him online by searching for searching Rob M E T K E.
Please leave a review if you like the show and get in touch if you have feedback or guest ideas. The pod is on all the social channels at at more than work pod (@morethanworkpod) or at RabiahComedy (@RabiahComedy) on TikTik. And the website is more than work pod dot com (morethanworkpod.com). While being kind to others, don't forget to be kind to yourself.
