‘I’m not gonna stand up in front of a bunch of strangers and tell stories about you and me.’
Billie’s signed them both up for stand-up comedy. Tonight, she and her husband Peter are locking themselves in their living room until they’ve got it down: a ‘tight-five’ set that’s a guaranteed knock-out.
With the clock ticking and nothing but a baby monitor for an audience, they go delving through their past for material. But as questions about their future are forced to the surface, they discover that some jokes really do hurt, and laughter isn’t always the best medicine.
I’m Not Being Funny explores hope, endings and how to survive if a knock-knock joke hits you in the gut. Piers Black’s play was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2026, directed by Bryony Shanahan.
‘Compelling… laughter through tears… an emotional dark comedy taking us deep into the hearts of a couple staring the worst possible outcomes in the face’
— Guardian
‘Touching… poignant… captures the joy, awe, exhaustion and trepidation of new parenthood’
— The Stage
‘A moving two-hander that manages to confront heartbreak while, despite everything, having us truly laughing by the end… Piers Black’s writing navigates the difficult balance between humour and grief with real humanity… raw and affecting’
— Everything Theatre
‘Emotional force… instantly tear-inducing’
— Reviews Hub
‘A delicious concoction of humour, wit, heart, emotion and intensity… will have you smiling and crying all at once’
— Theatre Weekly
‘Intimate and heartfelt’
— London Theatre
‘Emotionally precise and structurally satisfying… an onslaught of feeling without tipping into sentimentality, balancing humour and pain with precision’
— All That Dazzles
