Clive started out his stand-up career

[Bassim]

Have I made any mistakes?

Clive started out his stand-up career performing in pubs and cheap hotels at the seaside, where poor pensioners used to come out of season. Later when he became famous, Clive remembered that period as the best in his life. He didn't earn much, but had the freedom to say whatever he wanted and tell jokes about everything, without the constraint of politically correctness. He felt that with his celebrity status, something had died inside him. He was like a boy who got a lot of toys but was not allowed to play with them.

 

[Tarheel]

Perhaps:

Clive started his career as a standup comic performing in cheap hotels and pubs at the seaside, where poor pensioners used to come out of season.

 

[Bassim]

I often see in the newspaper just "a standup". Is "comic" necessary?

 

[Tarheel]

I don't know, but if the sentence is the first mention of the individual It might be better to use the whole thing. After that you can shorten it.

(Everything I say is just my opinion, of course, and I don't really know anything. ;-) )

 

[Tarheel]

Have I made any mistakes?

Clive started out his stand-up career performing in pubs and cheap hotels at the seaside, where poor pensioners used to come out of season. Later, when he became famous, Clive remembered that period as the best in his life. He didn't earn much, but he had the freedom to say whatever he wanted and tell jokes about anything, without the constraint of political correctness. He felt that with his celebrity status something had died inside him. He was like a boy who had a lot of toys but was not allowed to play with them.

Maybe "got" works there in British English. I'm not sure.