Gig 10 was a short
trip to Huddersfield for bar 1:22’s ‘open for Comedy’ it was nice that after
Wednesday nights poor gig i was going to be back in front of an audience again
straight away.... or so i thought.
I had done badly for
the 1st time but on reflection i have not done well yet either, i am
just ok, average, i have a few good jokes and some dross in my set too. I
needed to fix this. My Dublin incident story was one i worried about telling,
not least because its true but also because i am not sure if it is as funny to
people who don’t know me. Despite my concerns i have used it in my last 3 gigs
and would have been 4 had i survived the gong in Preston. I had made the
decision to stop pratting around with my set and just keep it as it was for at
least the next 4 gigs. I can identify areas that don’t work then and alter
slightly. The other bonus is that if i keep my set as it is i will know it off
by heart before long and not need to keep revision notes.
So my 1st
gig with this train of thought was at bar 1;22 as mentioned. I Arrived on a wet
Thursday to see the MC Holly and said my hello’s. I knew no one else although
had been on stage with Todd Pemberton once before but did not make conversation
with him (my shyness makes me seem rude i bet!) there were to be 7 acts and i
was on 6th. It was pushing 9pm when it seemed worryingly apparent
there were not going to be any audience members... well there were 4 plus the
other acts.
Holly did her best to
make the most of this situation, i think this is where she shines because i
have seen her attempt to beat the gong at both Mr Bens and Nottingham Maze and
she struggled at both but she is actually a great MC.
She settled the 4
audience members in and the other acts made the ‘crowd’ seem bigger but the
worry is with so few audience members, where will the laughs come from. Comedians
only offer muted laughs almost as if they are hardened to jokes, or maybe because
they secretly want other acts to fail?? I doubt that tho, i mean there are some
knob heads in comedy but in general there is great comradery in my experiences
so far. Maybe it was seemingly embarrassing to laugh out loud when no one else
is?? I don’t know but i do know that it was difficult for 1st act Si
Finnigan.
He knew he had it
difficult and went about his set with casual disdain almost, i think he has a
good personality on stage, the laid back luke approach. Up 2nd was
the more energetic approach from Todd Pemberton. He has confidence that oozes
out and he is definitely likeable. Marshall b Anderson followed, he is older
than most new comedians i met, he knows it and uses it. His comedy is
reflective of a man with life experience too, i liked his flowing style. We
then had a break.... we should have just ploughed through as during the break
75% of the audience left (that’s only 3 people tho!!)
The 2nd
half was started by Heena Patel, a bi sexual Hindu girl.... in what other walk
of life would i be hearing someone openly describe themselves thus?? She was
followed by the oddly creepy one liner comic Nigel Needham, his gags were good
but he was a bit hard to hear. I think when he has a bigger audience i’m sure
he will be better to watch. I was on next. No nerves as there was only 1 guy in
the audience and 4 of the comedians that had previously been on (one went home
reducing the audience to 9 in total baring in mind the MC and a non performing
comic were also present.
I went about my set
with no real nerves, i knew it would be difficult to get a laugh but i had stuff
to work on so that i did, my set went on for 8 mins and i decided i had done
enough. There was rapturous applause of course (in my head).
The final act was
Vertically challenged Jibreel Arshad, at 3ft tall and as a member of the Asian
community he has 2 minority areas to pluck comedy from, he challenged us to
guess his height, no one dared, he challenged us to guess his age... i had no
idea, he claimed most people think he’s 6... he’s 23. He completed his short
set (that was not a pun) and again challenged us to ask why he is short... to
his face offstage! An odd performance with potential.
The night came to an
end and i was on my way, the barman told me he liked my set best... a small
detail but the compliment was nice. I hope to get a chance to play there again
when there are a few more people in.
Vanilla at Harrogate next
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