Heckle

2012, 90 minutes

Stacy Mitchell, a supermarket cashier living in Selby, hides her misery and upset with a happy persona. To the outsider her life is carefree, but her husband has left her. She wrestles with the pain by joking about it. Out for a works drinks night in a local pub, the pub comic Wilton Johnston heckled by her, invites her up to try it for herself. To the comic’s amazement, she gets more laughs than him. Afterwards Wilton asks Stacy for a date but she turns him down. A few days later Wilton shows up at the supermarket and gets Stacy to agree to go with him to an open-mike club. She insists its not a date, she just wants to see if he uses the same material twice. At the club, Wilton gets Stacy to take the mike. This time its not so easy to get the audience to laugh. Afterwards she realises that there is more to being a stand-up than just getting up. Stacy starts to sketch out a stand-up routine that allows her to explore what she wants from life. By trial and error as a stand-up, the material takes her in a new direction and helps her to change her life for the better.