Comedy Writing alumna on writing for the BBC, community comedy and taking her work to Edinburgh Fringe

When Jade Gebbie began studying MA Comedy Writing (Online) at Falmouth University, she was already performing stand-up. Like many new comedians, she started with short five and ten-minute sets, gradually learning the rhythms of live comedy. But while she was still on the course, an opportunity arrived that would help launch her career in a new direction.  

In 2022, Jade was selected as one of two writers to join the BBC Studios audio comedy team on a year-long contract — an experience that gave her an early foothold in the world of professional comedy writing. “It was while I was still doing the course,” she says. “About a year in, I got selected to work with the BBC Studios audio comedy team. We were working on topical shows, creating and developing ideas, writing scripts and contributing to a range of different programmes.”

The role involved collaborating with established producers and writers while developing her own ideas. The experience also introduced her to the fast-paced world of radio comedy, where topical material often needs to be written and delivered quickly.  

Since then, Jade has continued working as a freelance comedy writer, contributing to a range of radio shows including The News Quiz, Breaking the News and Nature Table. Alongside writing, she has also been involved in DMs Are Open, a BBC Radio 4 show built around audience submissions.

After contributing scripts for several series, she moved into a script-editing role for selected episodes. “Once the scripts have been chosen, it’s about tightening them up,” she explains. “Sometimes that means helping to shape the ending or cutting things down so the jokes land better.”  

Building a comedy-writing portfolio  

For Jade, freelancing has meant embracing a career that spans multiple roles. In addition to writing, she performs stand-up comedy and has increasingly focused on developing longer-form work. Over the past couple of years, she has been working on her first solo show, which she plans to take to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer. “It’s something I’ve been developing for quite a while,” she says. “I did a short run of the show last year, but by the time I get to Edinburgh it will have been something I’ve been working on, in different ways, for a couple of years.”  

Preparing for Edinburgh means performing the show in front of audiences as often as possible. This year she is previewing it at several UK comedy festivals, including Leicester, Glasgow and Brighton, as well as smaller local gigs. The goal is to refine the material before arriving at the Fringe. “I know it will probably change once I’m up there,” she says. “But I want to hit the ground running.”  

From short sets to storytelling  

Although Jade began with shorter stand-up sets, she has increasingly been drawn to longer, narrative-driven performances — something she credits partly to her time at Falmouth. “What I’ve really enjoyed is doing the hour-long shows,” she says. “They’re still full of jokes and they’re quite chatty, but I like being able to tell a story within them.”  

Developing a thematic structure for a stand-up show — rather than simply delivering a string of unrelated jokes — is an approach she traces back to techniques she explored during her studies. “The moment I realised I could give a show a theme and make it feel like it had a narrative to it, that was really exciting,” she says. “Those are skills I learned from the course, and I’ve found they translate really well into stand-up.”  

At the same time, Jade enjoys the unpredictability of live comedy in its most spontaneous form. “I also really like MC-ing,” she adds. “That’s the complete opposite. You don’t know what’s going to happen — you’re chatting with the audience and reacting in the moment.”  

Creating opportunities locally  

Jade’s work in comedy now extends beyond writing and performing. Living in West Kent — an area with fewer comedy venues than major cities — prompted her and a friend to start creating opportunities themselves. Two years ago, they launched a daytime open mic event designed to be relaxed and accessible for new performers. “It’s very low-stakes,” she says. “A nice environment where people can try out material.”  

Since then, they have expanded their efforts, taking over a Sunday night comedy night that features professional headliners alongside emerging acts. Most recently, they organised the first Tonbridge Comedy Festival. Held over a single weekend at one venue, the inaugural festival featured 14 different shows — a significant undertaking for a first event.  

The experience added another dimension to her creative career, introducing the logistical and organisational side of the comedy industry. “It was a lot of producing, programming and promoting,” Jade says. “But it was really fun.” 

The realities of freelancing  

Like many freelance creatives, Jade has had to adapt to the rhythms of an unpredictable schedule. Some months are packed with work; others are quieter. “At first it’s quite scary,” she admits. “But after a couple of years you start to understand the rhythm of it — when things are likely to be busy and when they’re not.” 

One of the benefits of her varied career, she says, is the ability to shift between different types of work depending on the day. “Some days the words just aren’t coming,” she says. “When that happens, I’ll focus on admin or producing work instead.”  

Other days are devoted to writing scripts or developing new material for her stand-up show, and that variety is something she has come to value. “I really like that every day is different,” she says.  

Looking ahead  

The coming year promises to be a busy one. Alongside preparing for the Edinburgh Fringe, Jade is exploring new creative directions — including filmmaking. She has already written several short film scripts and experimented with making a very small-scale project filmed in a single room with a friend. The goal was simply to test the process and see which aspects of filmmaking she enjoyed. “I realised I actually quite like editing,” she says. “It was a good way to figure out what I could do myself and what I’d need help with.”  

Now she hopes to take the next step by assembling a small team and producing one of the scripts with a modest budget. “I think Edinburgh comes first,” she laughs. “Then I’ll focus on the short films in the second half of the year.”  

For Jade, the journey from student writer to working comedian has been shaped by a willingness to try different roles — writer, performer, editor and producer — while staying focused on what she loves most: comedy.  

Even the less glamorous parts of the job, she says, feel worthwhile when they lead to a live show or a room full of laughter. “You might spend the day setting up ticket links or putting information into spreadsheets,” she says. “But the payoff is a weekend where you get to watch fourteen great comedy shows.”   

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