Graduate Spotlight: comedian Daniel Powell
05 August 2024
Comedy Writing MA (Online) graduate Daniel Powell is forging a burgeoning career on the comedy circuit.
Yorkshire-born Daniel graduated in 2023, having taken the plunge into comedy writing after leaving a twenty-year-long stint in an office job during the coronavirus pandemic. During his first few years in the industry, he has racked up accolades; selected as a semi-finalist in the So You Think You're Funny? competition after only ten gigs and selected as one of last year’s '11 best jokes of the Fringe' by The Telegraph. As a writer, he has won numerous awards, most notably winning 'Best Short Screenplay' for his script Empty Nest at the Shepperton Screenwriting Festival.
As Daniel prepares to take a new show to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, we caught up with him to chat about his time on the course; his flair for stand-up and his ambitions for further success in professional comedy writing.
When did you first become interested in comedy?
I remember spending lots of time in front of the TV when I was growing up. From the moment I got home from school there was usually something funny on, like Zap! on CITV or Ren & Stimpy on Nickelodeon. I liked silly stuff, but looking back, I could always be hooked in by the rhythms of more ‘grown up’ comedy, even if I didn't understand the jokes. I used to watch things like The Brittas Empire and Red Dwarf, and American shows like Friends and Frasier, and find them hilarious without fully understanding them at that point.
Why did you choose to join Falmouth’s online Comedy Writing master’s?
After being made redundant from my job at the start of the pandemic, I decided that I wanted to pursue writing seriously, after doing it as a hobby for years. I took a Screenwriting course at the National Film and Television School, and the script that came out at the end was marked as being ‘very funny’, so when I had my meeting about what came next at the end of the course, Falmouth was mentioned because it suited my strengths. Once I looked into it, it was a no-brainer for me – it was like someone made a course filled with all the things that I love!
What was the most valuable thing you took from your time on the master’s?
I feel like I'm doing the course a disservice to pick just one thing – the course served me well in so many ways. But if I had to, I would choose Course Leader Simon's framework for approaching a script. Prior to the MA, I would just try to write a script as I went along, without any preparation or thought for where it was going. But having that framework that Simon taught us – of developing the premise, figuring out the characters, testing them out in little sketches and then outlining the story you want to tell – has completely changed my approach to writing.
Having that plan in place means that, by the time I reach the actual scripting stage, all I have to worry about is making it as compelling and funny as possible, because the hardest bit has been done. It makes it more fun when it comes to writing the script, and usually it is better for it as a result. Beyond that, I made some incredible friends on the course too, who I am very happy to have met.
You've had talks with TV comedy production companies like Ranga-Bee about the script you developed for your master’s Final Major Project. Can you tell us more about that?
I don't want to sugarcoat things; this industry is hard! Plus, things move at a snail's pace, so there is very little for me to actually report yet. What I can say though is that I made the connection by taking the DIY approach and not letting an opportunity pass when it arrived. Basically, as I was looking for a way to get my work noticed, I decided to put on some table reads of my scripts, with help from some of my amazing funny pals on the stand-up circuit. Then, whilst attending an event run by the British Comedy Guide, I got the opportunity to ask a panel of producers if they would be interested in attending one of the reads. To cut a long story short, they sent a lovely development assistant along and he and I struck up an email/zoom correspondence relationship, which led to me sending him a few of my ideas and scripts (mainly developed on the MA). That whole process took about a year or so, and from there it's been a case of keeping in touch and continuing to write new stuff.
As a successful stand-up comedian, what do you relish most about the experience of performing?
Instant feedback. It's a cliché I have heard hundreds of comics use, but there really isn't anything that compares to stand-up in terms of learning very quickly whether something is funny or not – the audience will tell you! One of the most satisfying things is writing a joke at lunchtime and getting a big laugh from it that same evening.
You’re set to take a work in progress show to the Edinburgh Fringe this year. What can audiences expect?
Lots of jokes, mainly at my own expense, but also honesty, some blatant fabrications involving children's entertainers from the 1980s, and a puppet of the rear end of the cat that tried to kill me when I was a child. In short, lots of fun!
In 2022 you were a semi-finalist in the So You Think You're Funny? competition, you were selected as one of the ‘11 best jokes of the Fringe’ by The Telegraph in 2023, and earlier this year have written material for the BBC topical comedy Breaking the News. Some impressive achievements there – what’s been your career highlight so far?
All the things you mentioned were massive at the time, and the only thing that puts them in perspective is doing the next thing. In stand-up terms, my highlights are selling out a (small) room in Edinburgh in 2023 with my friend Kyle (that Fringe was a learning curve!) and all the work I've done with (No) Money in The Bank, who are a DIY punk and comedy double act from Leeds. They put on lots of shows and champion unknown comics and, frankly, I wouldn’t be able to perform comedy without them.
In writing terms, those BBC credits felt special. I have a soft spot for all my projects, but to have something I wrote get an applause break on BBC radio shows me that I can write good stuff sometimes!
What are your ambitions for the future?
Obviously to be snapped up by a big agency, sell out an Edinburgh Fringe run and get my own sitcom on BBC 2! For now, though, I'll say I just want to keep writing things that I'm proud of, and to take as many baby steps as necessary to build a career in comedy.
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