The Haileybury Society was delighted to hear recently from Monica Hsueh (Aby 00), who has been in touch about her career change from real estate to comedy. From starting at Haileybury with limited English, she now cracks jokes to the enjoyment of British audiences. Here, Monica tells her own story…

I’d love to perform at Live at the Apollo one day – a sentence I never dreamt of saying or even came across my mind when I arrived in the UK aged 13. I remember being dropped off at the Allenby House. Saying hi to a few students who had also just walked into the living room. I say “a few” because I was so very shy and could barely speak English.

Now, I can’t wait to get on the stage and make audience members laugh. When I am on stage, I have those surreal moments where I am thinking to myself, am I making people laugh and in English?

How Haileybury helped

Mandarin and Hokkien are my mother tongues. I’d say it took me two years to feel more at ease with the English language. Being a boarder helped.

There were so many different activities, music lessons, weekend outings and not to forget the weekly CCF training. I used to put the radio on – Capital FM to be precise. I think that’s where I developed my sense of humour, who’d of thought! In the beginning, I laughed wherever the DJs laughed, then I started to understand their banters after a few months, and now I am telling jokes on stage.

As a stand-up comedian, I try to be very disciplined. You don’t have to be but I prefer it to be this way. Comedy gigs usually come alive at night so I make sure I write during the day. The way I work now is hugely influenced by my time as a boarder at Haileybury, we had a routine.

Stand-up comedy – a search for a new challenge

Before I became a stand-up comedian, I worked in real estate in London for 8 years. I liked my job but it always felt like something was missing – some kind of challenge, maybe? When I decided to change my career path and not just any career but to become a stand-up comedian. Everyone was shocked, including my family.

My mum still thinks I need to dress up like a clown by the way. The career change was a bold move. It comes with so much uncertainty but I absolutely love it. I love the way that I can develop my thoughts into new materials and then test them out on stage.

Those ideas eventually become more polished and I can share them with audience members. The joke writing process doesn’t stop there because I can always write better – the challenge that was missing from my previous job.

Find out more

Stand-up comedy is notoriously known to be a tough industry. It is only tough if they have never been on a CCF survival weekend, what a delightful experience! I feel super excited about the challenges I will encounter because any obstacles I face can be used as material in my future gigs, haha.

Thank you and I can’t wait to see you at Live at the Apollo! Follow my comedy journey on Instagram @monicahsuehcomedy .