My latest attempt to be a comedian saw me travel to Nottingham Maze to do another gong show.
This was the 1st gig I booked and I have been waiting a while to do it, it was through the comedy course I got this gig, another reason why doing a course is worthwhile I would say. This gong show was formatted differently to all the others. There is no voting you off mid joke but instead the votes are done on 2 mins, then every 1.5 mins thereafter taking you up to 5 mins if you survive the votes. If at the final vote you get more green than red (glowsticks rather than cards this time) you are invited to the final where you get up to another minute to win the £50 prize.
Spikey Mike the event organiser and compare e mailed me last week to confirm I would attend and with the e-mail he listed people who would offer a lift, I contacted one of those guys Ross Brierly who was a very similar position to me in terms of gigs done. This was I could share fuel costs and have a chat about what is on where and hopefully give each other some help.
I’m glad I did this and we chatted all the way to Notts like a couple of seasoned pro’s as if we knew what we were talking about!!
We arrived in Nottingham to find only one other act waiting and Spikey Mike not yet there so we got a drink and were about to grab a seat in the bar when Mike opened the door to the comedy club, in we went.
The stage was small and cosy and I was looking forward to getting up on it but the room was cold and as we were the 1st 3 in it felt a empty… well it would do.. It was empty! A steady flow of other acts arrived and we chatted about the night in prospect before Spikey Mike called us to a register. He announced that 3 acts from the scheduled 15 would not be coming and therefore as there were only 12 of us the votes would be on 3 mins and 5 mins cutting one vote out to get us more stage time filling the gap left by the missing 3.
He then asked who would like to go 1st, no one seemed keen, he asked again and Patrick Draper said he would but mike said no as you are a good act and I don’t want anyone to follow you id rather have you before a break so no one has to… good decision as Patrick I later found out was excellent. I decided to put my hand up for going 1st, hell the crowd are not sure of the standard yet I had nothing to lose so why not, the down side was that if I was gonged I had a long time t wait for my lift home especially if he made the final.
The rest of the order was set everyone knew their slot and we joined the smaller than usual audience (apparently the night was effected by Easter but there was still a nice crowd in)
Spikey Mike began the night with a couple of jokes and audience banter, one guy in particular was good to have as a judge, he was a deli manager for a supermarket, Louis was his name and he was to be the man that helped a lot of the acts through, Louis was one of those belly laugh guys who did not care how loud he was laughing and was very much the sort that found things funny that others may have just tittered at. He was a great guy to have in the crowd and gave a green light to most of the acts, his girl friend however barely smiled and offered reds to most acts.
Mike got round all of the judges explained the night to them all and it was time, I was stood nervously at the side of the room out of sight of the stage waiting to be announced, Mike however had forgotten to take the running order on and could not remember who was 1st, it looked like he had forgotten my name but it was more he’d forgotten who was on so he asked and I shouted up my name, he then introduced me to the stage and I began my set by acting like I had forgotten my name too, it got a giggle and eased my nerves and I began, my set very much the same as the one that saw me through 3 previous gong shows covering my early days living in Otley and the Yorkshire upbringing. I felt more confident after the 1st few laughs (thanks Louis ) and went through my set with a little more calm than past although I forgot 2 punch lines at the end making my last bit sound a bit wordy, I was later advised by another act to trim that, I think it was good advice. I survived the 5 mins and the final vote put me into the final, buzzing!! I now had to think of another minutes material tho as I did not expect this!!
I wont list all the other performers as there was a reviewer in the crowd, we had no idea we were being reviewed but it was a friendly reviewer looking for positives in all our acts, to see it go to www.scorpio-promotions.com/gigreviews/archives/382
7 of the 12 acts made it to the final and were asked to return to the stage to do another minute.
For my final one minute performance I did something I have never done before, I wrote material on my hand to help me remember (well notes not the whole set) I decided to take random jokes I had thought up and written on my phone note pad but not found a way to put into my set, it basically made me a one liner comedian for the last part and of my 9 one liners 8 went well… the other I’ll probably not do again!!
It came to vote time and all the 7 finalists were back on the stage and lined up ready to have the audience shout cheer and clap their approval of the winner. I got moderate applause as did most but Patrick Draper who I mentioned earlier had a fantastic deadpan set that was far and away the best on the day and he was deserved winner.
I had another gig under my belt and with Dudley looming tomorrow I was on cloud 9, this might only be a silly hobby at this stage… but I love it
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