We caught up with one of our previous Comedy Promoter trainees, Johnny Campbell Tavernier, to hear about his experience behind-the-scenes at Soho Theatre.
Johnny first became interested in learning more about comedy when he saw a flyer in his local Walthamstow café and applied for one of Soho Theatre’s comedy labs: “Picking up that flyer”, Johnny says, “was definitely the best decision I ever made.” On completion of the lab, and following his showcase, he was encouraged by our Head of Creative Engagement, Jessica Draper, to apply for our six-month Comedy Promoter traineeship.
The experience proved formative for Johnny, who worked as part of our comedy team on the New Act of Year awards. “It was amazing. I was seeing behind the scenes of how a show gets put on.” He remembers the day when he first saw Britain’s Got Talent winner, Viggo Venn, before he became famous: “I remember it was the New Act of the Year auditions and I saw his video and I was like, people are going to enjoy this dude for sure because it’s very light-hearted and fun. And then when I saw his first audition I thought this guy’s obviously one to watch for sure. It was something that people hadn’t really seen before but so simple – just taking off the high viz jackets and doing that Eminem My Name Is thing with the microphone. And then I saw him on Britain’s Got Talent and I knew he was going to win.”
Johnny says that doing his traineeship at Soho Theatre was an inspiration. “It was good being around people like Soho’s Comedy Producer Lee Griffiths. Even in the Soho bar you’d see TV comedians wondering around, I’d end up speaking to them. Just being in that environment with people who are in a position that I wanted to be in made me more hungry.”
Since completing his Comedy Promoter traineeship at Soho Johnny has gone on to set up his own comedy club, 0596 Club. He offers this advice to anyone thinking of applying for Soho’s Comedy Promoter placement: “You have to really want it. Producing shows is non-stop – you have to keep going, tell everyone about your night. It is massively rewarding when you have a show that everyone enjoys, it’s really satisfying for sure.”
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