A business graduate from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is using his career in sales to help him win over a new type of customer - stand-up comedy crowds.
Since he graduated from DMU in 1995 with a Business Studies degree, Jurgen Strack has travelled throughout Europe as a salesman for different firms, selling white goods, mobile phones and more.
But after plucking up the courage to take a comedy course about 10 years ago, Jurgen has been using his experience, patter and people skills to make a different kind of deal: jokes for laughs.
Now, after steadily building a name for himself on the notoriously tough circuit, the 48-year-old is lining up his biggest gig yet: a 30-minute slot at Leicester Comedy Festival next year.
He said: "When you get up in front of people you are selling yourself, no doubt about it. You need to be likable.
"So there are more parallels than you think with sales work. And a lot of what I have done in my life I learnt the foundations of at DMU.
"But selling, that is an art. It is about people skills and contacts and it is not something which can be taught, only learnt by experience.
"Stand-up is quite the same."
Jurgen said he had always admired stand-up comics like Jasper Carrott and Jerry Lewis but it wasn't until he saw a Leicester-based course advertised that he was inspired to try.
He said: "My first gig was at The Stand comedy club in Glasgow but I missed my cue - I was sat at the back of the room when my name was called out.
"I finally took to the stage heart pounding and improvising, saying "er... so much for German punctuality." It got me my first laugh."
Balancing his work in sales, with his family life with wife and three children, Jurgen continued to gig when he could - including an appearance at London's famous Comedy Store - and was picked as a finalist at the Leicester Comedy Festival stand-up competition.
But, with a growing reputation, including profiles and interviews on Chortle and the British Comedy Guide, Jurgen is now working on his biggest gig yet: a half-hour slot at next year's festival in Leicester.
He said: "Hardly a moment goes by when I'm not thinking about comedy, now I've really started. I've had a lifetime of experiences and I'm bursting with ideas.
"What drives me is that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you come off stage to a room full of people laughing. It is like a drug, like balm on your soul, making you want to repeat it as often as possible."
Posted on Friday 8 July 2016