I am in the local paper.

http://www.berkhamstedtoday.co.uk/what-s-on/arts-culture/tom-leads-new-comedy-club-1-6361571


Oooh look, I am in the local paper. This is the first time I've been written about by someone who isn't me. It's exciting.

I just went and bought a copy of the Tring/Berkhamsted Gazette myself. It's a very weird feeling, buying a newspaper purely to read about yourself.

This has made me feel a bit nervous, to be honest. I'm not a massive fan of attention anyway, and I was a bit worried regarding how some people would react. But then I thought deeper about why I was worried; the people I mainly worried about were "those people from school". The ones who didn't like me, and took the mickey out of me for being weird, different and quiet. Why did I not want them to see this? Surely this is the perfect way of blowing a massive raspberry in their face, the fact that I am now *using* my weirdness and awkwardness to gain a tiny measure of success? Not to mention the fact that I am doing so while being funny, which was the exact thing they thought that *they* were and *I* was not. I stick my tongue out to you, "cool kids from school".

Ultimately, I think this has made me realise that it no longer matters what they think. School was, practically, a lifetime ago; we are all now very different people. Perhaps things going quite well over the last 2 months comedy-wise is what I needed to finally exorcise those demons, and stop caring what anyone would think. It feels like I've gained a bit of proof that, on my day, I have something interesting, funny and worthwhile to listen to. Having a few examples of that helps to shut-down any long-standing doubts installed by people who didn't even know me.

Also, the quotes "by" me were not written by me; they were written by the lovely Leslie Stuart Tate, who co-runs Dar Papillon Comedy Club with me, and is the man who contacted The Gazette. In a sense, he's acted like something of a manager for me over the last couple of months - not for money, or fame, but purely because he's a lovely person who believes in me and wants me to do well. That truly means the world to me. Thank you also to Cynthia Nolan, who has also been fighting my corner recently, and who also contacted The Gazette. Your support is truly appreciated. If anyone is happy for me that I'm in the local paper, go like Gorilla Dreams(Leslie's wife's latest children's book) and Shoot Me Studios (Cynthia's photography studio). It would be nice to get them a handful of likes each to say thanks for their kindness.

Most importantly, hopefully this will lead some people to come along to this: 30th October - First night of Dar Papillon Comedy Club. It would be lovely to have a nice audience there, especially as I have some of my very favourite acts - and, frankly, humans - on the bill, and I don't want to let them down by dragging them out for a small audience.

If you want to grab a copy of the paper, The Gazette is only 80p. I'm on page 56, I believe.

Thanks for reading,

Tom.