In my 1st blog I talked about my 1st comedy stage appearance, I’ll go back in time a little 1st.
In 2006 I started running comedy nights at my family’s pub. I always liked comedy, the sillyness and the cleverness of the comics, the atmosphere in the room, the buzz of a great show all furthered me opinion that comedy is a great art. I watched each comedian and how they worked with the audience and delivered some great lines and thought wow, the way he or she has people hanging on his every word… I have to have a go at this. One problem, I’m shy and quiet normally, I only open up in groups of people that either I don’t care about and therefore don’t care what they think of me or that I know well and trust so even though I decided in 2007 I would do comedy it took me until after the pub had become a victim of the recession and I had take a window cleaning job to decide I needed to explore my desire to be a comedian a bit more, hopefully one day I can earn a wage doing stand up?
I booked myself on a course in Nottingham run by a working comedian that covers how to generate material, this was paid for as a present for my 32nd birthday by my girlfriend Vikki which was a bonus because it meant not only would she support me but she was encouraging enough to pay for the course, trust me if you know her you’d know that this kind of show of support is rare although she always means well.
So I took the course and while it was worth doing I don’t feel I came away with anything I couldn’t have gained from a book but the one thing I did get was to meet people in the same position as me and thankfully of a similar age.
The idea behind the course is that we would re convene in a month or 2 to showcase the set we have written in front of an audience and family members who were coming to support. I took the decision that I would book myself on a few more open mic comedy nights so that I was able to recover if I bombed and gain momentum if I did well, unfortunately the showcase gig was cancelled which meant my 1st gig was to be at Mr Bens in Leeds.
Mr Bens runs a gong show for newbie’s which is basically a night where a compare warms up the audience then a guest slot goes on 1st (usually a previous gong show winner or a pro comic working on new stuff)
After the guest slot 10 newbie’s are given 5 mins maximum to impress the audience, you get 2 mins ‘grace’ then after that you can be voted or gonged off if the audience don’t like you. 3 audience members are given red cards and all 3 must go up for you to be gonged, if you are not gonged within 5 mins then at the end of the show all survivors are paraded in front of the audience and a winner is decided by way of a clap off.
I decided to adjust my set slightly having watched 3 previous gong shows at Mr Bens meaning that my story telling set went a little more punch line heavy.
March the 5th was the date of my debut, I went about my day as normal even playing football 6 til 7 in Yeadon despite needing to be at Mr Bens for 8, I got there on time signed in and got a drink, I felt relaxed at 1st but as the crowd filtered in my nerves began to kick in. I could not sit still, Vikki was with me but she was ok with me pacing about and suggested I mingle with the other guys which I did. It quickly became apparent that I was the only 1st timer and that most of the guys had a lot of experience of gong shows some having done as many as 30, this made me feel more nervous, the standard would be good and I have just learnt I’m on last too!!
The 1st 3 acts all survive 5 mins so the compare keen for blood handed out a 4th red card to the mostly student crowd, now it was 3 from 4 cards up and you are off and this had an immediate effect as acts 4 and 5 were gonged with material no worse than the shaky 1st act. The guy who was on 2nd I had seen before when I was in the audience, he was gonged off that night but tonight the exact same materiel went down a treat as he talked about his distain for his kids. There was a break after the 1st 5 and I really began to get nervy now. The 2 acts that were gonged were sat grumbling about it being a poor crowd and a bad show, I told them I thought they were unlucky and they thanked me and said not to worry when I go on I’ll be fine which was nice, in fact all the acts said upon hearing it was my 1st I would be fine just go for it ect.
The 3rd section began and a guy who was doing his 31st gong show stepped up, he was very good in his delivery and twisted take on one of life’s bad guys the paedophile, his set went down a storm and I knew we had a winner already, he was my winner so far, all of the next 3 were gonged off. 2 had weak materiel but one who was on just before me was unlucky, his stuff was ok but just not well delivered.
Shit…. Its my turn! I was up and the compare who wasn’t the usual Sully o Sullivan (who is excellent) called my name.
Then before I knew it I was stood on stage with lights in my face and everyone’s eyes on me, I nervously delivered my 1st joke which was met by silence…. Oh no! this meant my 2nd joke was not delivered properly as I nervously tried to make it sound better but a few giggles followed and I thought ok just go for it, I cracked my next joke having delivered the feeder line better and this got a good laugh, I felt good now and began to tell my set with a little more confidence, although a red card went up and I lost my way slightly, why did she not like me?? never mind I was on to my favourite joke and it went down a treat with the whole room belting out a laugh.
I never thought I was going to make it but before I knew it 5 mins were u and I survived. I felt great but was put down by the compare who had insulted most of the acts so I should not have taken it personally.
So 5 people were paraded in front of the audience to decide the winner, the 1st 3 got a nice cheer then it was the eventual winners go, he was loudly cheered, I was pleased for him, he seemed a nice guy and had done well, it was my turn, only a couple of supporters from work and Vikki cheered for me and I was again put down by the MC but the audience applauded me and I was happy, I had clearly not won but I had my 1st gig down and the buzz was immense!
Next blog will involve a bit about how I faired at Jason Manfords club the Laugh inn in Chester
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