Communication & Personal Impact Skills . . . for Individuals, Teams & Organisations.
"Learning Thru Laughter" draws on a pool of over 40 professional comedians
and associates from all walks of life with proven track record. Here are some selected bios:
Keith Palmer founded the Comedy School in 1998 providing workshops for aspiring comedians, learning and development for commercial and public sector organisations, running projects with and for young people. He is an experienced producer, facilitator, and consultant on the comedy circuit, in television and arts education projects.
His work has spanned over a 25 year period and includes developing and providing bespoke training and personal development programmes for organisations including The Princes Trust, British American Drama Academy, The ICA, Arts Education, The National Youth Theatre, Equity, St Marys University, 20th Century Fox, NHS, London Zoo, Angst Production and Premiere League football coaches. Keith also produced the entertainment for Nelson Mandela's visit to Brixton in 1996.
Keith has a wide network of contacts in comedy and the arts, and has also successfully run a number of comedy festivals with high profile professional comedians, such as Lenny Henry, Andi Osho, Omid Djalili, Sean Lock, Jo Brand, Hugh Dennis, Paul Whitehouse, Harry Enfield, Felix Dexter, Arthur Smith, Neil Mullarkey, Darah O'Brian, Phill Jupitus, Josh Widecombe to name a few.
"Olivia is a leadership coach accredited by the International Coach Federation. She has been coaching for thirteen years and is also an NLP master practitioner, trainer and creative facilitator.
Over this time, she has worked with thousands of people, both individually and in group settings - from CEOs of PLCs, leadership teams, directors and those moving into management for the first time. Her industry experience as coach and facilitator includes finance, utilities and retail. Her roster of private clients range from accountants, the Army, the Bar, the media, the arts and mental health professionals.
Olivia is licensed to deliver and administer MBTI. She is also a qualified Team Diagnostic Assessment Facilitator - a cutting edge intervention for intact teams. Her skills lie in eliciting personal, team and organisational values and supporting clients in creating a future which reflect and integrate them. Through thought-provoking questioning and encouraging clear communication, her focus is on getting results; achieving pre-set objectives by providing the client with the confidence to incorporate learning into daily life and business.
Prior to coaching, Olivia was an award-winning radio producer and Head of Programme Development at an independent radio production company. She continues to produce programmes for BBC Radio on a freelance basis, including the recently acclaimed 20-part series for Radio 4, Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle. She believes the DNA of coaching and radio production are closely linked, having at their heart the desire to help people see things in new and different ways.
Comedy School improvisation facilitator
Luke Sorba is a highly experienced improvisation professional comedian. His work includes Strictly London Improvisation 2011 and The Comedy Store Players. He represented the UK at the international Comedy Festival in the USA and Australia. His radio work includes Parodies Lost, and television programmes such as Fast and Loose for the BBC.
Luke recently performed in Paul Merton's Impro Chums and Marcus Brigstocke's "Unavailable for Comment". In the coming year he lines up with Ross Noble.
Luke has also taught improvisation since 1988 in association withy a number of arts organisations such as The Young Vic and BBC Blast, as well as The Comedy Store.
Clients Luke has worked with include GlaxoSmithKline Kline, Astra Zeneca, BT Vodaphone, Nokia, IBM, Microsoft, Peugeot, Fiat, Chrysler Daimler, Nissan, Saatchi & Saatchi, JWT, KPMG, PWC, Barclays, Institute of Actuaries, 20th Century Fox, Disney Television, BBC, Tesco, Argos, Argos, Bupa, NHS and Circle Anglia.
Comedy School creative facilitator Dee Hennessy has developed innovate ways to facilitate learning and change in the public, private and third sectors.
She has built on her wealth of experience from freelance producer for film and broadcast theatre and a local government officer in Planning and Cultural Development departments, to UK Curriculum Director for Common Purpose, delivering learning programmes to senior decision makers across the private, public and not for profit sectors. She co-founded Creative Exchange 12 years ago which enables her to specialise in providing new contexts for thinking, learning and making things happen.
Recent clients she has worked with include Department of Health, Lankelly Chase Foundation, St George's Hospital, EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), Manchester Business School, The Open University, The Scottish Executive, NHS Scotland, Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland, Sheffield Health and Social and Social Research Consortium, Royal College of Art, NERC (Natural Environment Research Council), and a number of Local Authorities, NHS Trust Boards and partnerships including Perth and Kinross Council, Derbyshire County Council, High Peak Borough Council, Manchester and Leeds City Councils, Quality Improvement Scotland and Creative Futures.
