I got a last minute offer to do a gong show in Preston, gong shows had been going well for me in that I was surviving the 5 but not winning, I was umming and ahhing as to weather I would go but decided I would.
I had had an awful day, working outside in the pouring rain not helping so I thought going to Preston would be a good escape…. It was… and it wasn’t!
I got there at 6.45 45 mins early which was good as I needed to read through another we write of my stuff and learn it, I could not do this however as 2 of the other comics were there already and it would be rude not to chat with them. They like me were less than double figures in terms of gig done and were trying some changes to their stuff.
It was a gong show in the mould of Mr Bens but without the 2 min grace period.
There were 10 acts on and 3 were doing their very 1st gig.
The crowd was at around 50 people and the compare gave out the red cards to 3 girls aged around 25 for them to be our judges for the evening.
The running order had already been done and I was on 2nd to last.
The guy who went 1st was using material similar to mine and it was going down well, I thought to myself I can make my set better.
2nd on was our only female act, she talked about needing to check if she was pregnant and how her boyfriend would react but with 20 seconds to go she was gonged, not helped by the all female judges I think?
On next a guy from north Wales who did some topical and some hack stuff about Wales, he had a mini break down halfway through when he forgot his set but it didn’t matter he was not voted off.. Which is what made the next one odd… he was a 1st timer but he was getting laughs all the way through.. Yet he did a tit joke and boom 10 seconds shy of 5 mins he was off (I should have spotted this and learned from it about the room)
Up next was fingerless nick as mentioned in earlier blogs, he was gliding through his set but again he made a comment that was less than favourable about women and a card went up but he clawed it back straight away. For me the winner so far.
There was a break then act 2, up 1st was another 1st timer, he had a great delivery, good confidence but his material was not his own, the audience didn’t know that and they loved it, I hope he writes some stuff of his own as he was good on stage but I think a lot of people can go tell other peoples jokes for 5 mins.
The next 2 were someone doing gig 3 and our final 1st timer, neither got very far before being gonged but I would say the audience claws were sharpened now and they were not being patient as both guys got more laughs then a previous act who got through. It had quickly come round to my turn. I had decided to try a look that included flamboyant shoes black trousers white shirt black tie, I went up to the stage with no confidence tho, I began my usual routine getting the expected laughs in places it had before then I tried the re write stuff…. I had forgotten half of it due to nerves… so I went back to my normal stuff, that got me a card as it was all over the place but I thought I had recovered until I did my joke about calling my ex a fatty… boom the other 2 cards straight up and I was off, I was also the nights loser being gonged quicker than anyone else.
I will blame a couple of things…. But NOT the audience, I want to blame them but its not their fault I did not make them laugh. I will blame changing my set all the time when im so new… write one set, learn it and hone it…. That is what I will now do, I’ll blame myself for not having the ability to recover when I forgot a bit, work on that me thinks. I will blame myself for not learning my material and taking Mickey Sharma’s advice. All these things are valuable lessons, the shame of being gonged off and doing badly is necessary to learn from I think, there are an awful lot of gifted new comedians on the scene so I need to work hard at this to make sure I become one of them.
Anyway back to the gig, one last act was to perform, he was casual and clever but started with a well used I look like celeb x and celeb y’s love child, his set however was very good, I thought he might run fingerless nick close as potential winner.
The final vote was between 5 acts from 10, whittled down to 3 quickly it was fingerless Nick, the 1st timer and the last act…. Fingerless Nick was next to go… I couldn’t believe it tho when the 1st timer was then announced winner, take nothing away from him as an act, he was better than me on stage and it was his 1st ever go… but comedy has a writing aspect too and it seemed harsh that Nick and final act lost out with their own material.
I have much work to do before Bar 1:22 in Huddersfield tonight
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