EXPERIENCE
When Marie Cross, 55, from Newport, retired from the RAF, a stand-up comedy course gave her the chance to fulfil a lifelong dream of performing on stage
I spent 36 years in the RAF as an aircraft engineer, retiring in 2022. It’s a big transition from working all the time to doing nothing. Within three months, I was itching for something new. I saw the Royal British Legion (RBL) was offering a course for veterans, ‘recovery through comedy’, and I applied. I didn’t think I’d be accepted because I wasn’t recovering from major trauma as such, but I was still in a vulnerable position, adjusting to life outside the RAF. The course marked the beginning of my stand-up journey.
When I arrived at the week-long residential in Shropshire, I realised I was exactly where I should be. I was loving it. We were taught by Janice Connolly – a legend best known for her stand-up persona Mrs Barbara Nice. There were 14 veterans, including me. Some had physical injuries; some were PTSD sufferers. We were told that if we were on the course, we already knew what we wanted to say. She wasn’t going to teach us how to be funny, she was going to develop how to best communicate that funny side of us to an audience.
We were there to develop our own style, and we all had something different to offer.
I talked about my turbulent relationship with my mother and coming out as gay in the Nineties. I use a story structure with a beginning, middle and end, rather than quick, tight jokes. This means I can’t really deliver when people put me on the spot and say, ‘Tell us a joke’. I’d describe my comedy as a cross between Joan Rivers, Sarah Millican and Victoria Wood.
We were steered towards a public performance in Knowle in the West Midlands at the end of the week. When we got to the venue, the RBL Club, it was revealed that Jasper Carrott had volunteered as our warm-up act. I suppose they knew we were already terrified, so forewarning us that a legendary comedian was going to be there might have tipped us over the edge. Before the performance, I couldn’t touch the buffet. I felt like if I ate anything I’d vomit. But the show went
