SCOTT Gibson has come a long way to get to where he is now. A professional comedian about to embark on his solo tour, “Life after Death’, having supported big names such as Frankie Boyle, life is good for Gibson. However there’s no way that he would ever take any of it for granted. A brain aneurysm in 2009 could have been the end for Gibson. However after fighting back, it proved to be the start of something great for the comic.

He said: “I started doing stand-up in 2010. The operation was the year before, in 2009. So, it was a difficult time because you don't know what’s going to happen. You just try and get through it really.

"At the time, I was young and healthy, so I managed to bounce back quite quickly after surgery. There was talk of there being a six to nine month process of rehab and different things. Because of the type of aneurysm I had, they had to go about an inch and a half into my brain to cut it out.

"Normally what they do is, because aneurysms occur on the surface of your brain, they do a thing called clipping, which is when they put a wire through your hip which runs up through a vein and then you just clip it. But because of the depth of mines, they had to cut a bit out.

"So because of that, your chances of a stroke are increased, seizures are pretty common, it can affect different things and so they were a bit worried about that.

"But I recovered pretty quickly. I was out of hospital one week following the surgery and was back to work seven weeks after that. So I recovered quickly, possibly too quickly when you look back on it. The only thing I really had to worry about were seizures, but I was given medication for that."

 The true scale and seriousness of the condition did not become apparent until later, as all Gibson’s focus was upon simply getting by day by day. However it was to leave a long lasting impression on him and presented a new life perspective previously undiscovered and also the impetus to push on and reach for his long-time goals: “I think because I had been through so much, you don’t realise the time you've been through, because you're just living it.

"It was probably more serious than what you would want to accept at the time. But that’s when I really started to think; because I’d been off work for so long, I realised just how much I hated my work and I just did not want to go back. I wanted to try and do something that made me happy in life.

"I’d known for a long time, since the age of about 21, that I wanted to do stand-up, but I’d never had the guts to do it and felt that if I did it, I’d be rubbish. So that’s why I stopped. But after everything that happened, I thought, ‘Well, there’s nothing to stop me now’. Life is too short and I knew I couldn't keep putting it off. So I signed up to do a comedy course and my first gig was the 10th November, 2010, as part of the course. And really, it just went on from there. Now, nearly six years on, I’m doing it full time and supporting Frankie Boyle, so it’s been a good few years since I got started”.

The great amount of determination and drive demonstrated by Gibson has helped him to get to where he is today and he is under no illusions regarding the level of hard work required to continue to achieve success in the comedy arena; “I’ve worked hard to get to where I am now. There’s a lot of comedians nowadays and it’s a tough game. It’s as much about how good you are as it is about what you're like as a person when you start out.

"Des Clark has been a great help to me throughout my career. As has Gary Little, who is very much like a mentor to me and he is the guy I’ve always gone to about everything. He’s been a huge help to me since I got started. I think the knowledge that this was something I could make a living from instead of being stuck in the job I was in was a huge incentive and driving force for me”.

Gibson has never forgotten how different it was those years ago though and took time to feel able to state that his profession is as a comedian. Although even from early on, the early signs were there to encourage pursuing a comedy career, as his former bosses at this old job identified: “I worked at a call centre on the floor as part of a team, but it just wasn’t for me. I think the bosses knew that as well, but because I was always a bit of a laugh and had a sense of humour, I got away with quite a lot.

"When I started out, for a long time I wouldn't tell anyone that I was doing stand-up, because at the time, I didn't feel that I was a comedian. I also worked for a while part-time in The Stand comedy club, doing the tech, then it was two years ago that I left The Stand and was in a position where I was solely making money from stand-up. That was the first time I felt comfortable to say, “I’m a comedian."