JUST a year ago, teenager Faye Cooper was nervously planning her first stand-up comedy event.

Now the ambitious 19-year-old has left her Monday to Friday job to run her comedy company full-time.

Faye held her first Chuckle&Hoot night in June last year at a pub in Hammersmith – that was a sell-out, as were two subsequent events.

Realising there was a hungry market for a good-quality comedy evening outside central London, Faye established a stand-up ‘open mic’ night on the first Wednesday of every month at The Crown and Treaty pub, in Oxford Road, Uxbridge.

Six weeks ago, Faye found out she was being made redundant from her role as a marketing and communications assistant at a training company in Uxbridge.

On Monday, she started in her new, self-appointed role as Chuckle&Hoot’s comedy promoter.

“I prefer to call myself The Owl,” says Faye, with a nod to her distinctive black-and-red logo.

18 year old Faye-Louise (known as Faye) Cooper has set up her own monthly comedy night Chuckle&Hoot. First gig is on June 1 in Hammersmith.
“I’m going to work on trying to get another comedy night in Uxbridge then branch out in other places.”

At the moment, she is trying to get a regular slot at the Royal British Legion club, in Uxbridge Road, Hillingdon.

As well as giving local up-and-coming artists a platform – she hopes to work with students on a comedy course at Brunel University – Faye has secured some well-known names for her gigs, including stand-up, actor and comic Marlon Davis, and TV’s Nathan Caton, Rob Beckett and Finn Taylor.

She is particularly excited about tonight’s headline act (Wednesday) – one-third of sketch group Jigsaw, Tom Craine.

“I went to a gig he hosted and said ‘hi’ after and told him, ‘You’re amazing I want you on my show’. He gave me his email address and said he’d do it, which is amazing.”

It is breaks like that which have helped Faye get as far as she has in just 12 months – that and tenacity and a dash of chutzpah.

“I track comedians down through Twitter or going to shows or begging their agents,” she explains.

“I took different angles with different people, but I have sent lots of desperate emails.

“I’ve done it all on my own.”

Faye Cooper comedy night organiser, Uxbridge. CMB_NLP_NL20135516_1

For the first anniversary of Chuckle&Hoot’s debut show, Faye is hoping to secure another big name, but you will have to watch this space to find out who.

Meanwhile, alongside planning events – a role she says has made her ‘highly organised’ – she works at The Old Orchard pub, off Park Lane, Harefield, and at The Crown and Treaty itself.

She also volunteers one day a week with Funny Women of Richmond-Upon-Thames, working to undo the misogynistic opinion that ‘women aren’t funny’.

“It’s a really great organisation,” she says. “They run courses to help promote females in the comedy industry.”

Faye has written a lot about female comedians in her blog, www.chuckleandfayelouise.wordpress.com.

“It’s tough for them,” she explains. “One comedian got an email saying she had been taken off the bill because there was ‘too many female acts’ on the show.”

It is a hot topic at the moment: Ricky Gervais waded in with an interview for Radio Times last week in which he said he wanted to pen better roles for women ‘because usually they’re props, particularly in comedy’.

And comic Dara Ó Briain recently spoke out about the BBC’s ‘ban’ on all-male comedy panels, saying the change should have been made without an announcement.

“I completely agree with him because now people will think women are there as a ‘token’,” says Faye.

“It undermines them because it makes them look like they’re only there because they have to have a female.

“It’s so good that people are realising it is an issue.”

Lynne Parker, founder of Funny Women, says: “There are lots of women working hard behind the scenes on the comedy circuit and Faye demonstrates a real flair for promotion.

“It’s just a shame that women are not as visible on stage.

“To be so young and already running her own comedy nights deserves support. We are lucky to have Faye on board just as we launch this year’s Funny Women Awards for the 12th year running.

“We need good scouts like Faye to encourage women to take part.”

Find out more at www.funnywomen.com/awards.

Eventually Faye would love Chuckle&Hoot to become a recognised brand, like the Comedy Store, but for now her humble aim is to give up one of her pub jobs.

“That would be nice,” she smiles.

“And hopefully, when it gets a bit bigger, I can get an assistant. But for now it’s just me.”

Talk about stand up and be counted.

■ For tickets, go to www.wegot
tickets.com/chuckleandhoot.