When Birmingham primary school teacher Rachel Burns posted a witty comment during the BBC's Glastonbury coverage back in 2017, she never imagined her tweet about The Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb would throw her into a global spotlight.

The story of how she went viral is now the subject of Rachel’s first one-woman show, I Started A Joke, which debuts at Birmingham Comedy Festival this month.

So what happened back in 2017, Rachel? How did the Twitter-storm unfold?
I was watching Barry Gibb’s Glastonbury set on TV. He'd played all the Bee Gees classics, including How Deep Is Your Love and Words. When he started Tragedy, I did something that I do quite a lot: I told a stupid joke on Twitter. I said it was a shame that Barry Gibb didn't have more of his own material - first he covered Take That, then Boyzone, now Steps! I had a few people like it, and a friend said, ‘Wonder how many biters you'll get?’ Well, before long, the 'biters' arrived, telling me that actually Barry Gibb wrote the songs and other people covered them. One of them was particularly persistent and wouldn't let go. Even after I told her it was a joke, she kept on telling me it wasn't a joke and asked why I would say anything so silly. It then started to gather more momentum as people liked and retweeted the joke. But as the joke spread, more people replied to me, educating me in the life and works of Barry Gibb. Some were very gracious and apologised for misconstruing the tweet once I pointed out it was a joke. One guy in particular was lovely - he went from 'mansplaining' to being utterly charming and telling us a hilarious story that involved a drunken bet with a soap actor.

But it didn’t stop there, did it?
Someone mentioned it to David Baddiel and he retweeted it, followed by other comedians like Dom Joly and Dara Ó Briain. That was when it started to get really silly. I'd made a daft joke, people didn't get it, and I was being mentioned by comedy legends! Then the story was covered by media websites. The Guardian, the BBC, The Poke and the NME all ran stories about the Twitter farce that I had created. It also got mentioned on The Last Leg, and David Baddiel and Richard Herring talked about it in Richard's Leicester Square Theatre podcast.

How far did the story spread?
It went global! I had replies from all over the world, and people sent me links to articles published in the USA, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Some of the Tweets were quite negative - how did you cope with those? Did they concern you?
Yes, some were a bit rude, calling me things like 'fool' and 'idiot'. I just kept my cool and batted them away with some witty ripostes. There's no point getting aggressive with people who are rude to you. They didn't bother me - I didn't feel attacked or threatened. What I experienced was extremely mild compared to some of the bullying and threats I've seen other people suffer on Twitter. It can be a horrible place but fortunately I had a positive experience.

Any idea if Barry picked up on it?
Yes! About a week after Glastonbury he was interviewed on Good Morning Britain and Richard Arnold asked him about the tweet. I'm not going to give away any show spoilers, though!

What do The Bee Gees mean to you?
Big hair, high voices and disco classics! I grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, so tracks from Saturday Night Fever were staples at school discos and parties. Obviously they've got a much broader range than disco bangers, but that's what I remember most about them when I was growing up.

Which are your favourite Bee Gees songs?
I love Stayin' Alive, Islands In The Stream (the Kenny and Dolly version) and Tragedy. My husband is a big fan of You Win Again, which he got played on Shaun Keaveny's Breakfast Show on BBC 6 Music the day after the whole debacle.

How do you turn a brief Tweet into an hour-long show?
It's all about the replies! The thread has over 1,500 replies from all sorts of people and it attracted a lot of media attention.

You’re premiering the show at Birmingham Comedy Festival. Are you nervous?
Of course I'm nervous, but also excited and really chuffed that I've got this opportunity to tell my ridiculous story.

What led you to stand-up comedy?
Peer pressure, I guess! I've always been a bit of a joker but never really thought of taking it to the stage. After the Barry Gibb tweet, lots of people suggested I should do stand-up. My friend Rachel Sambrooks is a pro-comedian and she recommended James Cook's comedy course.

Who are your comedy influences? Who do you admire?
Too many to list! My dad has a very dry sense of humour and I definitely think that's rubbed off on me. As a kid, I loved Monty Python, The Young Ones and The Comic Strip. I enjoyed sketch shows like French & Saunders, Fry & Laurie and later Big Train and The Fast Show. As for stand-ups, I'd say my current top three are Sarah Millican, Joe Lycett and Mr Millican - Gary Delaney. Millican and Lycett are brilliant at working the crowd, and their observations are very relatable. Delaney's delivery and pace are second to none. To be able to punch out one-liners like that is a real talent.

Do you plan to take your show elsewhere after Birmingham?
I'd love to take it elsewhere and bring the story to a wider audience - maybe even take it to Glastonbury, where it all started!

Rachel Burns: I Started A Joke is presented at The Victoria, Birmingham, on Sunday 6 October (at 1.15pm) as part of Birmingham Comedy Festival’s first Free Half-Dayer.

For more information, see bhamcomfest.co.uk