Comedian embraces 'failure' after scooping award

A comedian who only took up stand-up at the start of the year says he is embracing the occasional failure that comes with his new career after winning a gong.

Vyome Singh moved to the UK 14 years ago to study and finished his PhD in physics eight years ago.

He was crowned Reading New Comedian of the Year at the Reading Indie Comedy Festival, beating more than 100 applicants to win, earlier this month.

Despite his confidence improving, he said he still had difficult gigs with jokes that have been successful elsewhere.

"I think you have to accept that you will fail. The first time [performing] was to survive the five minutes and not run away from the stage," he said.

"And even after that, after I'd finished my first five minutes, I thought I had killed it. I thought I was amazing. I was so confident and watched my video and no-one was laughing.

"It's a process that I'm still getting used to. There are nights that I completely bomb with the same jokes that won competitions.

"I know it's about such subtle pauses and how you come across on stage. You torment yourself about it but you just need to have a thick skin and think 'this is me getting better'."

The new comedian said moving to Scotland as a student was a difficult transition and, while he could speak English well, he "couldn't understand anyone, especially after one pint".

"Imagine you learn Japanese for five years but in the UK – and then you go to Japan," he said.

"They have their own slang, their own culture, their own humour, which is so different to the UK humour you're used to. That was the case with me."

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