Did you ever think of going to a school stand up comedy talent show? Well, I tried to. Of course, you've got to go to the school and study stand up comedy first.

So I went to this stand up comedy school, and I put on my best humorous voice and manner. Guess what? They turned me down. Said I wasn't serious enough!

'But I thought you had to be funny,' I said. The principal shook his head. 'You have to appear to be funny, but the business of comedy is very serious. Look around and you will see that lots of comedians are very serious people.'

Now this took me by surprise. But I found out that he is right! Lots of top comedians are really very serious guys when they are off-stage. In fact, some really terrific comedians took life so seriously that they couldn't stand it and committed suicide.

Ok, so don't take it too seriously, nothing is that important. But if you go to one of these schools make sure they think you are serious.

What do I mean? Well, get yourself a real act, not just a few jokes. Sure, the audience will laugh at good jokes, but you want them to be laughing all the time. So who are you? Look at yourself in the mirror. Are you a suited gent who might have just walked in from your office in the bank? This is one way to go.

Or are you long haired and wear scruffy clothes all the time? Well, that can work when you eventually get to the school stand up comedy talent show. Snag is, that quite a few other people will do it. You could dress like a clown, and fall about the place a bit – but that's getting away from stand-up comedy.

What you need to do is to be creative. You could always come on with an umbrella up, or with a briefcase bulging with papers where you search for jokes. That might be enough to win at the school stand up comedy talent show if you get your jokes right.

See, when you enter a school stand up comedy talent show, you need to be yourself, and make sure that is different from anyone else – and exaggerated.

By the way, I did find a stand up comedy school where I was accepted, but that's another story. In the end, though, I found the best way to turn my act into a laughter-maker was online.