From Stuttering to Stand-Up: Emil’s Journey to Overcoming Challenges and Inspiring Others
One of the unique and transformative aspects of the McGuire Programme is the opportunity for participants to step outside their comfort zones and develop confidence in their speech. Among these opportunities is the public speaking challenge—an activity that many participants initially find daunting but later describe as life-changing. This challenge is introduced gradually and with full support from coaches and fellow participants, ensuring that everyone progresses at their own pace. The McGuire Programme believes in providing a safe and encouraging environment where participants can achieve things they may have never thought possible, including speaking in front of others. For many, this becomes a pivotal moment in their journey toward confident communication.
One of the most emotional parts of a McGuire Programme intensive course is the public speaking challenge. Course participants are welcome to step up on a soapbox in a crowded place—and speak to both other participants and to members of the public. A daunting task even for most non-stutterers. And a huge achievement for new students, many of whom doubted if they could even get themselves to walk up there just a few days earlier.
It’s not uncommon for passersby to get teary-eyed. Not to mention those of us who have firsthand experience with the pains of living with an out-of-control stutter.
The students who find it the most challenging usually get to go up first. Then McGuire members who have already gotten comfortable with public speaking get to have their minute in the spotlight. Many of those who have embraced what we call “the sport of speaking” use the opportunity to try and make the audience laugh.
When 22-year-old Emil Guerry from Denmark steps up on the soapbox on the most recent course in Sweden, parts of the audience start chuckling before he has even uttered a word.
Emil is not particularly funny-looking for a Danish person, if you ask us Swedes. The reason why we were getting ready to laugh is that he had constantly made us do so during the previous three days.
When asked if he has ever considered trying stand-up comedy, Emil brightens up. “That is my dream! I have decided to try it for the first time on International Stuttering Awareness Day,” he says.
A month later, Emil walks out to an audience in a comedy club in Bologna, Italy. A country that he moved to just three weeks earlier. He has already had plenty of experience with public speaking, sometimes in front of very large audiences. But stand-up comedy is a completely different ball game.
“If speaking is a sport. Then stand-up comedy is an extreme sport,” says Emil.
Emil has loved to joke around ever since he was a small boy, but trying to tell funny stories on stage can be a serious matter. He has long admired professional comedians. Not only for their humor but also for their speaking skills and their courage.
“I view it as maybe the ultimate stage performance. You need to not only master writing stand-up, you also need to be very good at timing, using pauses, using the musicality in your voice and your body language. There is also so much pressure on you – because you need to get certain reactions from the audience. If you don’t get those reactions, you will fail.”
Laughter is contagious, but so is silence. Sometimes even heckling and booing. Once you walk up to the microphone, you only have a short opportunity to get both yourself and the audience in the right emotional state. If you miss it, you will likely fall into a spiral that will only get worse and worse until you are finally allowed to walk off stage. Comedians call it “bombing,” and even some of the world’s best admit that it still happens to them. And that it still hurts.
The learning curve for stand-up comedy is steep and recurrent “bombing” is seen as a necessary part of the journey. And comedians who stutter, especially ones who can stutter severely, do not only have to contend with the fear of losing their ability to vibe with their audience—they also have to face the possibility of actually losing their ability to speak—while standing in front of a crowd that is expecting to be entertained.
“As a kid, I actually felt very good about myself and about my stutter. But when I became a teenager the world became bigger. I started at a new school, started meeting new people and became more self-aware. My stutter eventually became quite severe. I went from being an open and happy boy to someone who just wanted to avoid many speaking situations. I was using so many tricks to get words out and it became exhausting to speak.”
Emil joined the McGuire Programme in 2019, at the age of 17. but it took him two more years until he had put enough puzzle pieces into place to start using the McGuire method outside of his comfort zones.
“In high school, my best friend and I had an idea to turn a parking lot at our school into a green area. To realize that, we had to convince other students, the administrators, and the person in charge of the school. Which meant writing speeches. And I was terrified of that. But when I was standing there in front of the whole school, on stage, I realized that there was no other place where I would rather be. And that public speaking was something I had to pursue.”
After high school, he decided to take a gap year before university and to challenge himself by working as a waiter.
“The first two or three months as a waiter were some of the worst in my life. I was terrified every day because I felt that you can’t be a waiter if you stutter. But when you stay in those very difficult situations for long enough, you eventually start figuring things out. You start digging out small breakthroughs,” says Emil and continues:
“My breakthrough came when I started focusing on the first things I would say to customers and insisting on using a lot of speaking techniques. And showing them exactly who I am. Eventually, I found out that you can have a stutter and do any job you like. It’s all about how you carry yourself and how you portray your difference.”
Emil did not only gain confidence in his speech but also in his social skills. And the benefits that he started seeing inspired him to keep pushing himself.
“One of the best lessons was seeing how small things such as smiling and body language can get you through very difficult situations.”
Emil says that he used to fear traveling abroad and speaking different languages. So he decided to keep defying his fears by enrolling in a university program for European studies. He spent some time in Belgium, where he also worked as a waiter. Now he’s in Italy and after that, he will be moving to Switzerland.
Emil hopes that the degree will lead to a job where he will get to keep traveling and growing by learning new languages, adapting to new cultures, and overcoming different types of speaking challenges. Maybe as a diplomat. But now, stand-up comedy is also a live career option.
How did you feel after you finished your first stand-up set?
“It’s a bit complicated. The time when I did my first standup was a very tough period in my life. And I started doubting if I would be able to use my speaking techniques at all on stage,” says Emil and continues:
“But when I got up there, my techniques just worked. Probably because I stopped overthinking. And seven minutes later when I had finished my performance I just thought that I have to keep doing this. This is my thing!”
In the following weeks, Emil has continued doing standup in front of new audiences—and has been doing it remarkably well for a beginner.
Do you have any advice for people who want to try standup or some other form of public speaking?
“Just sign up for something! People think that their speech needs to be a certain way, that they need to get ready. But when I first got into public speaking, I couldn’t even use good technique when speaking with my classmates.”
Emil explains how you grow the most when you suffer the most. And that just taking on these difficult challenges is a victory, even if you perform badly. And the payoff that you get from expanding your comfort zones is more than worth it. Not just when you succeed with major accomplishments—such as using your speech to perform in public—but mostly for how it changes your everyday life.
“I think that I am by nature a very social person. And not being able to be that and to be seen as that has been the most painful aspect of having an out-of-control stutter. Taking on all these challenges has given me so much self-respect. So my advice is to stop postponing and stop waiting around. Just do it!”
