Tydlesley Manchester
was the destination for my 13th gig at the new venue for promoter
Kenny the Queens. It has only been running there for a few weeks after previous
venue the gatehouse closed.
I felt relaxed about
taking this gig, it was a night where there was an MC, opener to do 15 mins
unpaid and 4 acts with one following the opener then a break then 3 again all 4
of which are open unpaid spots then a paid headliner which was on this occasion
Sully O Sullivan who of course hosts Mr Bens gong show and supported one of my
current favourite comedians Steve Hughes who i went to see in Sheffield. I was
looking forward to seeing him in action again.
I arrived at the venue
already aware that one of the acts was not going to turn up following speaking
with Kenny on the phone earlier that day. I was the last of the Opens to arrive
and was introduced to 3 lads who had travelled from Birmingham. They were all
more experienced than me and they all knew each other which gave the waiting a
bit of a clicky me and them feel which one of the 3 tried to prevent but
intentionally tho it may not have been one certainly did talk to me as if i was
not an equal with him, the 3rd was just relaxed and was trying to
comprehend what some drunken woman who had taken a seat next to him was trying
to say. Amusingly she questioned if we were all comedians calling me and the
guy next to her mate, the guy next to me she somehow guessed was gay
(flamboyantly gay would best describe him) but the only one of the 4 of us that
was black she decided to call dude.... casual racism that tickled us all, she
could have chosen worse to say is spose!
The gig itself was
supposed to start at 8.30 but Kenny told us that we would be waiting a bit
longer as barely any one was in and they were expecting 30 plus, so we
waited... and waited. I listened to the guys chat about past gigs ect and
occasionally popped up with a comment although im not sure my opinion was overly
valued.
I therefore got myself
a drink and zoned out of the conversation thinking more about why i was there,
this is not me... im not a man full of self belief and i have had some huge
confidence knocks in recent years, so why was i trying to be a comedian???? I’m
not even that funny. Oddly this question was raised on the Yorkshire comedy
forum and i already had my answer from my time sat in a Tyldesley pub.
I also spent time
thinking about my set and another thread from the forum had thrown up questions
about watching pro’s. My own opinion on that is divided but one thing is for
sure... my set is far from original , there is innuendo, there is my gran is so
stupid, there is im so crap at sex that.... i have not re invented the wheel
but instead put some jimbayes tyres on it!!! But people laugh at my stuff so i
have decided to stick with what i have written so far and as i learn the craft
of comedy and grow in confidence i can become better at writing too and have a
more original set.
All this thought had
seen relativity take hold and i had not noticed it was 9.30, show was going to
begin only the 1 hour late! But no problem for me its not like i had to be
anywhere, while the guys from Brum may have come across negatively they had
agreed that it was best for me as a newbie to take middle spot, so i did. They were
not unfriendly if thats how i made them seem, i just think of the 3 one of them
looked down on me a bit but i was new he was not as new so i do not blame him.
After the Mc Kenny
warmed up the 20 strong audience insanely camp Aaron Twitchen went up and did
his bit. It was difficult for him and i thought he did well, he did banter and
material mixed well. There was a short break then 2nd half and
another 10 or so people had arrived.... do they not have watches in Tyldesley??
I was on 2nd
after a decent set from one of the other 2 lads from Birmingham who i only got
the 1st name of, Dave, he had some bits in his set similar to mine but
i was going to keep mine in as they worked for him in a different way to how i
was going to do them.
I went up and tried my
opening joke.... a few giggles, i think this was not for every room and i have
to learn to gauge the rooms better and try a different opening for some rooms.
I didn’t feel phased by it however and went about my set in a fairly relaxed
way, i enjoyed my 7 mins, i deliberately skipped a few bits that i didn’t think
would work to a friendly room who lapped up the knob gags!!
I came off to a nice
applause and thought to myself, i might be a bit hack, a bit obvious and even a
bit samey but for now its what i am and i must accept that only working hard
will improve things.
There was another act
then a break and Sully was due on but he had a bit of a mission getting there
as he had been blocked in his street by a van!! But he turned up and went on to
do his headline bit.
It was very much the
set i saw him do with Steve Hughes and i again enjoyed it, but i enjoyed more
talking to him after about his own comedy journey.
I had 2 free beers
(shame i was driving i’d have had one more otherwise) which was paid for by the
venue and then made my way back to Leeds to again reflect on another night
doing stand up.
Next it’s Frog and
Bucket Manchester on Bank Hol Monday
No comments:
Post a Comment