Comedy School is an observational documentary series that follows a genuine beginner’s class in stand up comedy, taught by veteran comedian Rob McHugh.

Rob’s students embark on a life-changing quest. For all 10, it’s a nerve-wracking, cringe-worthy and hilarious journey from curious novice to debutant comedian. Though they don’t know it when they enrol, graduation takes place under the spotlight, in front of a paying audience at Sydney’s legendary Comedy Store. And they’ve got just four weeks to write and perfect their routines.

Each student has a personal motivation for enrolling on the course. Harry was hurled into a deep depression when he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy: “Comedy saved my life,” he says. Adam’s getting married and is afraid his groom’s speech is going to bomb. Gonzo is a recovering ice addict who wants to turn the negatives of his past into positives. Emma is a fashion journalist who wants to challenge the stereotype that blondes are bimbos, and bust the myth that men are funnier than women.

Rob teaches them that their own lives and their own truth is the best place to start when seeking new material. Diverse lives are scoured for fragments of inspiration. The personal, the painful and the peculiar are all grist for the mill: family, ethnicity, work and relationships. Truth is spun into comedy as the students learn the mantra life is funny.

Each week the students have to get up on the class mini stage and try out their developing routines in front of their classmates. They come from all walks of life, and some of them confess that they’re not really funny, so Rob has got his work cut out to get them stage-ready. “You can’t teach someone a sense of humour,” he says. “But what I can do is teach them all the rest. There are certain rules. Every joke you’ve ever heard has some kind of structure. I’ve made every mistake in the book, so I can tell them what not to do. That’s a pretty good start for anyone.”

As graduation night approaches, the nerves begin to fray. Walking on hot coals suddenly seems less intimidating than getting up on stage and making people laugh for seven long minutes. Rob spends the last few days dealing with panic attacks and threats of quitting. It’s a minor miracle when, on the night, all the students show up at the Comedy Store and take the stage in front of a crowd of hundreds. Some fly, some die, but they all face their demons and defy their fears in an anxious but ultimately hilarious finale.

Director Martyn Ives' Statement

The idea for Comedy School was born of my friendship with Rob McHugh. Rob is a long time stand up comic who has survived for decades in one of the toughest games around. He supplements his income from performing by teaching the art of stand up comedy at Community Colleges around Sydney.

This has always struck me as a rather bizarre course to offer in any curriculum. How on earth do you teach someone how to be funny, I thought. My curiosity was heightened by the hilarious and often cringe-worthy anecdotes that Rob would regale me with when we played golf together.

The final element, which was the clincher for me, was that to graduate Rob’s students have to perform live at a comedy club, something they don’t know when they enrol. To my mind, performing stand up comedy in a club when you are not a stand up comic is about as frightening as it gets. I’d rather sky dive any day. It dawned on us that we should try and make a documentary out of it, and so we filmed one of his two-week courses as a mini pilot. SBS loved it and commissioned four half hour episodes.

We decided to follow Rob’s expanded four-week course to give us enough of a journey to fill the series. The students who applied for the course came from a wide variety of backgrounds, and for the most part, had no ambition to be professional comics.

Rather, they had deep personal reasons for doing the course, like for example, tackling shyness, insecurity or fear of speaking in public. As such, there were compelling personal stories to follow. We tracked the students through the course, documenting their highs and lows, meltdowns and breakthroughs, culminating in their graduation performance at Sydney’s Comedy Store. (This performance element is NOT included in the course brochure, so it comes as quite a shock when Rob informs them in week one).

Over 200 people turned up on the night, and all of the students faced their fears and took to the stage, in a triumphant celebration of personal courage and determination.