6. Perhaps you shouldn't be doing comedy.

It was always going to be scary becoming a comedian. I only did it because I had had too many people for it to be a coincidence tell me that I ought to try stand-up. One of them was my friend Nick Williams who knows a lot about shadow inspiration.

Shadow inspiration is where you help other people to do what you would most like to do yourself.

Anyway, when three people in just one week said 'you should try stand-up' I thought that I should, at least, check out whether there were any courses that taught this weird and wonderful thing. There was one of course, starting a week from then and just two miles from my home. Dead cheap too.

So I went ... and was greeted with 'what are you doing here, you're like, old! I don't like old people' from one other participant. I told her that she'd get over that in time and everyone laughed. That was odd.

So, I did the course, I enjoyed it ... and I was surprised at how well I did. At the end of the six weeks we did a performance at the Queen Victoria Pub in Birmingham and I started getting gigs around Birmingham. And then in London. And then all over the place.

I really, really enjoyed it. The great thing was that my bishop just loved it too - and called me his 'Fool for God.'

But my former spiritual teacher wrote me a letter warning me that I was bringing the clergy into disrepute. That felt really, really horrid.

So when Nigel turned up, nine months after the comedy course, it was a frightening thought that maybe the comedy was the wrong direction. Maybe I was being shown that it was the wrong thing to do? Maybe I was being punished? (hang on, don't I believe in a loving supportive God?)

Or perhaps it was my inner self-scupperer?

I promptly enrolled on another comedy course run by Mirth Control in Bath and the Universe conspired to help me get there. And what's more, Geoff Whiting liked my act. And when Britain's Got Talent came to him for recommendations for people to approach for the 2014 competition, he recommended me.

So lesson no. 2 is to deal with the inner self-scupperer. Careful consideration showed that this had been around for quite as long as shame.

I can't tell you when I'll be on BGT - as I type there's no known scheduling but I am confirmed on the televised auditions in February. But I have to spend January practicing and laughing. And laughter is the best medicine. So if you do watch that programme and spot me - give me a wave.