Here’s a conversation I sometimes have with civilians (people who aren’t performers) when I step off stage after a comedy gig. “That was great. So… what do you do for a living?” I point at the Michele- shaped gap I’ve just left behind at the microphone and say, “Well… pretty much… that.” “But,” they say, “what do you do during the day?” “I run a small business.” “What’s the business?” they ask. And I reply, “Me. I am.”

Since I started making a living as a freelance writer and performer almost two decades ago, I worked out pretty fast that “show business” is as much about “business” as “show”. You could be the funniest comedian in the world, or the finest writer on the planet, but if you don’t own a diary or know how to keep a receipt, you could still get stuck doing something other than your passion to get the rent paid.

Being a comedian is about invoicing, taking briefings, juggling dates, arranging travel, making contacts, having a business card, marketing and promotion, negotiating contracts – and keeping a paper-trail of it all in case any of that goes wrong.

I’m not good at all of those things, so I pay people to do the bits I’m awful at. I have various agents who hunt down different kinds of work and write up agreements, and I have an accountant who fine-tunes my GST and tax returns.

Though I like the money stuff. I like earning it, I like spending it, and I like fiddling around with it on spreadsheets. Adding up columns for gross and net income and GST provides me with one of the few moments in my life when there is a ‘correct answer’. And I like being able to write down on a piece of paper what my work is worth to someone. I like that one so much, I do it in triplicate.

Though I have to say it feels true that the business bits and the creative bits of my work use different sides of my brain, and it’s hard to switch from one to the other quickly. I can cheerfully do a gig when I’m tired, sad, anxious or sick, but I find it very hard to flick into performance mode after a day playing with my GST return. So it’s different sides of the brain, sure. But it’s still the same brain. And like everything else in show business, that’s just about timing.

And I find it hardest to work when I’m broke and hungry.