Imaginary Jack

Jack is a comedy writer. He also does stand up, and he’s fairly good at it. He is, however, not as good as me. 

He went to a private school, not a really posh one or anything, but he doesn’t tend to tell people because he doesn’t want to seem privileged. His accent, hair and generally bearing give it away a little, though.

He’s not a bad guy, let’s be clear. At a gig he might buy drinks or say nice things about my set. He’s generally supportive. I don’t hate him, but…

Jack has a bewildering amount of self confidence. Maybe from being male, maybe from being privately educated, maybe from being tall. When it comes to applying for gigs, sending scripts to competitions, or talking to producers, he doesn’t even flinch. He doesn’t question if he’s good enough, nor whether he’s wasting peoples’ time or ‘allowed’ to message TV people. He just does it.

Importantly, though, he is not as good as me. His stand up is fine, but it’s not that original. His scripts have wooden characters and the dialogue is dire.

When I don’t know whether I’m good enough to submit work, I absolutely know that Jack already has, and did so without a second thought. So I apply out of spite.

I strongly recommend you get your own Imaginary Jack. It’s guilt-free and useful for so many situations.

Remember, when you’re unsure if you should do something…Jack already has.