Kettering: James Acaster runs hometown school comedy course

Kettering-born James Acaster ran session for the five pupils at Kettering Science Academy

Comedian James Acaster has completed a five week stand-up course for pupils at a school in his hometown.

It involved weekly training session with the comic and five students at Kettering Science Academy.

The course culminated in a performance in front of fellow stand-ups Katharine Ryan, Tom Allen, Romesh Ranganathan and Desiree Burch.

Acaster said: "The main thing is that you find out who you are and you make as much of that as possible."

Comedians Katharine Ryan (top left), Tom Allen (bottom left), Romesh Ranganathan (top right) and Desiree Burch (bottom right) watched the performances virtually

The course was delivered with the help of social mobility charity Speakers for Schools.

It was first time the charity had worked with a well-known person to create and deliver their very own work experience initiative.

Acaster said: "It's about the individual and about knowing yourselves.

"Some of them want to become more confident, some of them want to have something to put on their CV, some of them want to have the experience of doing something they haven't done before."

English teacher Ben Norwood said the pupils can be inspired by James Acaster's story

Ben Norwood, the teacher at the school who had been leading the sessions, said: "It's great to have a comedian from Kettering who's come back and really celebrated the town, it gives them something to be proud of in the place they are from."

He said Acaster's success, which has included three Edinburgh Comedy Award nominations, two bestselling books and a Netflix special, had given the students something to aim for.

"At least one pupil has said they want to get into a career in comedy," the teacher added.

Student Catherine said she is more confident delivering a punchline after the course

Catherine, a Year 10 student who took part, admitted in the beginning she "had no idea what I was talking about".

"I sort of had an idea of a story that I thought was funny, I had no idea how to execute it at all, which I've now been helped with a lot," she said.