John Cooper

Comedian.
Improv guy.
Skills trainer.

You might see me compering stand up comedy clubs, or performing in character as Danny Pensive.

I’m a member of Comedysportz, Manchesters long-running improv team. I’ve performed in hundreds of comedy clubs and theatres. Since the beginning of 2020 as the pandemic affected live arts, I’ve appeared in over fifty online shows and co-facilitated online workshops. I also deliver presentation skills training around UK.

Blog

Can improv help you deal with change?

In the last five months, I've moved apartments twice in an experiment to save money. It's been a lot of change and hasn't amounted to a great saving, but in truth, it hasn't bothered me that much. I trust my life experience...and my improv brain. You're reading this in the future, right now for me it's mid-February 2020. As I move my life in boxes from one location to another I feel a sense of vulnerability. A raised awareness of my environment and the big stuff over which I have no control right now. From flooding in the UK, to ...
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John Cooper performing at the Comedy Store, Manchester
Best venue in the world, the Comedy Store Manchester

Presentation skills training

Since 2016 I’ve delivered presentation skills training for Google’s Digital Garage, Power to Change, The Locality Conference, The Business Growth Hub, Avecto Cyber Security, and many others. These sessions use humour and interactivity to unlock creativity and build confidence, they are now online.

Find out more about training courses

During lockdown…

Distance comic strip

While comedy clubs have been closed, I’ve been producing a comic strip diary called Distance. It’s given me a voice at a time when I can’t be on stage. It was successfully funded on Kickstarter in August 2020. You can buy it here!

Performing Online

Comedysportz were early adopters of putting shows online, and we now do two shows per week, streamed live on Youtube. Doing stand online can be really tough, but improv shows work very well, taking suggestions from the audience in the text chat. These shows really show what can be done online with a great, experimenting and having fun doing it.