Don't let the weather get you down, Gig30

I had found myself at gig 30 so quickly and this is one i was looking forward to very much.

I had visited Glyde house when i 1^st set out on my comedy adventure with a view to starting a gig there and would have done so had it not been for another comedian having already got a gig booking there, so as i did not want to step on his toes or create a bad name for myself i opted to step down my interest and instead offered support/advice from my perspective to the gig manager David. Thankfully David who is a very enthusiastic and friendly guy to work with sought to run a night himself (saving him a few quid i would imagine) and so Bradford comedy club at Gylde house was born.

It is a lovely room that holds around 45, David and his business partner John had worked hard to make the room even better for comedy, they had put a comedy logo in, a stage curtain which was not functional but gave aesthetic appeal.

When i arrived i was greeted by David and although it was great to see him again there was bad news. The Headline act was coming from the North East and was stuck due to the horrific storm and floods so we were 1 headline down and also another act, a guy who i was looking forward to meeting again was also a victim to the poor weather.

So there would be myself and the fabulous Callum Scott along with 2 acts i have never seen before in Kahn Johnson (Kahn was the 1^st guy to welcome me to the comedy forum but i had not met him in the flesh until tonight) and Jonathon Pelham.

Hosting was Eddie French who runs the Verve gig, Eddie was the man who took control and attempted to get a last min replacement for the missing headliner but upon not being able to do this difficult task he then organised for us all to do longer sets... i was allowed up to 15 mins but felt i didn’t have enough good stuff for 15 so opted for 12 which Eddie was helpful setting me at ease doing.

There were 22 in on my head count which was a nice cosy crowd, Eddie had highlighted a guy that was regular and likely to heckle thinking he was helping, one for us to look out for and hopefully ignore!

The regular did not disappoint as Eddie set about warming the room up with a confident laid back charm plucking gems of humour from his conversations with the audience. He spent around 15 mins i think warming the crowd and settling everyone in ready for the reduced line up to go on and do what they could to make the night a success.

Kahn Johnson was up 1^st, his performance started with an introduction into who Kahn is and this included the revelation that Kahn is an MS sufferer. He used this to form some great opening material, i’d love to say more about Kahn’s set but my pre gig nerves kicked in and i twice had to go to the loo just to compose myself a little.

My turn came around and i went about my set with a feeling of acceptance, i accept my set is not what i want to be doing in a years time but i am over the whole its not good enough thing, i do still think its not good enough but i know it has enough punch lines that work clichéd or not and i know that while there is not a mass of originality in style it is an original set to at least accept if i can’t be proud of it. It has sort been my demon not liking my set but tonight the feeling of accepting it allowed my to perform it much better i felt than i had before, there were some dud moments in my 12 mins, mainly as i tried to factor the new stuff in and somewhat ironically forgot the memory loss bit!

The crowd were lovely though and i enjoyed myself feeling a real buzz again when i came off like my 1^st few gigs.

After the break Callum went on and he had an odd situation where the audience didn’t participate in a bit that had worked seamlessly everywhere else, they seemed to not take to his go to stuff as much as expected (they did still laugh) but they lapped up his new stuff as did i laughing out loud at another comic for the 1^st time in a while. He did 15 or so mins and it was typical of a Callum Scott performance for me, very enjoyable.

Jonathon Pelham followed as our final act, i have never seen him before and mistook him for Peter Brush at 1^st. Jonathons set was brilliant, his mixture of self depreciation, sarcasm and intelligence created a set that lifted the laughter level a decibel... and that was after acts that had done well.

I really enjoyed all 3 of the other acts and Eddie’s final hurrah silencing the regular with a superb quick witted couple of put downs.

Huge thanks to David and John, long may comedy live at Glyde house, hopefully i’ll be back in a years time with more experience to make an even better night, any acts reading this apply for this gig now!! You’ll really enjoy it.

Next for me Kings Norton Birmingham this Saturday as my last practice before so you think you’re funny

One small step, gig29

Comedy is not a world where I thought my brain would survive, I mean that in the sense that to be a comedian you must be intelligent, something that I do not class myself as being.

There is debate(on the comedy forums) about why one would become a comedian and what are his or her goals or motivation, for me it was always simple because i am a fan of comedy and as a shy often quiet person i wanted to find a way to be liked and be heard that i would enjoy. My goals are as yet unclear in my own mind, i think i would like to start by becoming funny, not just making my mates laugh but by knowing how to pull humour from anywhere and tell a room full of strangers jokes or stories that perpetuate laughter while the audience digest the words that i have spoken.

This is all very narcissistic but then that is what comedians are as they stand before a crowd essentially saying i am the funniest person in this room you will now listen to me and me only as i have a microphone!!

So what next when i become funny, this is of course assuming i do become funny because if after a year i do not then i will have to stop doing this, there is no point given the rate i have been gigging in continuing if i am not funny in a years time as i am clearly not progressing learning or going anywhere and being an eternal open spotter would take up space for good young acts who will go somewhere.

But lets assume i do become funny and there is talent, what do i want, tv gigs?, fame? Or the opportunity to be paid for doing what is essentially my main hobby now? The answer is i do not know, i would like to be paid one day to do this, maybe make it my main job but at this stage i have no idea what my ambitions will do to influence my decisions as the comedy ambitions have not fully formed.

So why am i rambling about this now? this is not my usual blogging style, well its simple, tonight i did a gig called cut up run by the HOWL team. It is my 3^rd time at cut up and im not even sure it can be called a gig? The idea with cut up is that you don’t do your best  10 but instead road test new material and i did this tonight with strange results.

I had earlier this week had a mini breakdown, almost a meltdown as i reflected on my age and achievements while noting that my Nephew Jamie’s 18^th birthday made me feel old for the 1^st time in my life... not older but old!! So i wrote down all the thoughts that came into my mind knowing that i could confidently relay them at cut up and maybe formulate a set. Cut up’s safe environment style allowed me to essentially rant my weeks findings in a more personal set than i had ever before done.

The set was not brilliant comedy but there were moments that made me think that i could make a good set from this, the liberation i felt from being personal and the sense that i am now learning how to write comedy properly allowing for my comedy voice to begin forming are all testament to a night like cut up allowing my personal comedy style to breath a little.

Tonight i took a small step on the comedy moon but thanks to cut up it was a giant leap for Jim Bayes........ yes i know that the lunar landing quote is cheesy but im sticking with it.

l couldnt say no. Gig28

When i 1st thought i was actually going to have a go at doing stand up comedy i started regularly attending the gong show at Mr Bens. One of the gongs i remember most was when Johnny F Monotone won, that victory was good not least because of the level of opposition he was up against that night. On the night in question 2 other acts stood out to me, one was a western born Indian guy who’s name i did not catch annoyingly and the other was Callum Scott. When i got home that evening i googled Johnny f monotone and Callum Scott to see how they had got to be so good, Callum has a blog and so the inspiration to blog myself was born. The relevance of this being that my next gig was one that took me a little by surprise and is run by Callum and other members of his pigeon hole comedy group.

They run monthly and had come about a situation where they needed a PA system, now i had offered to lend them one but did not want them to think it was in exchange for anything such as the offered free booze or a slot, why? Well because i love comedy and these guys are doing a great job keeping the comedy heart beating so if i can help then i will i don’t need anything in return it’s not how i work anyway... favour for a favour is not really a favour but more a form of employment.

Anyway i digress because it just so happened one of the acts scheduled for Pigeon hole tonight had sent a txt saying they could not make it so i was offered the spot, i couldn’t say no despite what i mentioned earlier about that not being my intention, i love gigging and need to really begin to show improvement some time soon.

So we set up in a lovely little room that reminds me somewhat of a cinema room but there are really no similarities so i don’t know why? The HOWL group were all due to perform this evening along with the Pigeon Hole being i think Jacob Rawcliffe (who was not performing tonight) Joby Mageean, George Stride. I hope i got that right, of course there is also Callum who would MC tonight.

Also on the bill the boy that pops up everywhere there is comedy known as Jon Newall and Eddy Hurst both newer acts doing slightly shorter sets.

The night was to begin with Callum explaining the way it works and prizes  for a competition to create a comedy character and catchphrase, then warming the audience up with little bits of banter and segments from his set, he did a great job warming them up and i was on 1^st to a very supportive crowd of i’d say 30/40 people? I went with my 8 mins that i will be doing at SYTYF, it’s no secret i hate my set and wish i could write something that works better and isn’t as innuendo or cliché filled but it is what it is and as i only started in March this year i guess there is time to refine. All that said i really enjoyed my set tonight, not from the set itself but from the warmth of the room, i scanned around looking at everyone as i spoke, some stony faces yes but there was plenty of enjoyment too.

I seemed to finish with a bit of a whimper however but not to worry too much about that i could learn from it.

Thom Milson came next, he has changed his set a little from when i 1^st saw him around 7 or 8 weeks ago and he seemed at ease with things tonight, he took comedy up an intelligence notch from where i had left it and it was well appreciated by the audience.

Jon Newall was next, he was racking up the gigs, he is everywhere where there is funny, i love the way he gets straight into the controversial side of is Jesus black or white with a superb punchline, there has in the past however been an element of awkwardness watching Jon, he is shy and a little timid but tonight there was much more confidence especially towards the end of his set. One of his best performances and proof he is going in the right direction.

Mickey Sterrett was to close the 1^st half, and once again the audience would be going on a journey to the days of dating a girl with daddy issues and the sadness of Mickeys existence all the while belting out laughter. Once again Mickey had delivered a set i would have paid to watch.

There was a break and then followed 4 acts i hope i have got the order right, George stride next, it was the 1^st time i have seen George, he had some great lines including the broken home bit that i remember best but not only that it just looked right, he looked like he belongs on a stage doing comedy and was a joy to watch.

Edy Hurst followed, Edy is sort of whimsical, he appears unrehearsed and random and has just such odd takes on things with several stories going nowhere, ‘The end’ being the lne that gets the laugh until his final story with is the ultimate punchline of it all. Another enjoyable watch.

Si Finningan was next, i love watching Si dominate the stage and effectively press self destruct while simultaneously getting roars of delight, there are jokes, insults and mini stories in a set that you just want to end and keep going at the same time. Very much a great style and always good to see Si in action tonight was no exception.

The final act of the night was my favourite, Joby Mageean (think thats how its spelt)

Joby produced a book and read out what was written within, these were the beginnings of failed jokes... yet he was still getting laughs from them, i suspect because he sets you into a position of relaxed poise awaiting the next opportunity to laugh. Joby then produces a Ukulele and has a back story for it before swapping it for i think an appalachian dulcimer (i had to google this) and playing an enjoyable comedy song (i sometimes fear when i see comedy musicians not sure why)

And so concluded  great night at Pigeon Hole and my 28^th gig, while i fell i personally may be plateauing slightly the main thing is i have recognised it and can work more on things like smiling, looking up, speaking clearly and really selling it even though i have many many doubts about my set.

Up next Glyde house Bradford a gig i’m really looking forward to.

Articulated heckles gigs 26 and 27

Gig 26 would be my 2^nd MC slot at the Madness of King George, this time there would be only 3 comedians rather than the 4 we had last time. The acts were Jed Salisbury, Dave McAndrew and Andy Woolston all now familiar names from recent gigs.

I would also be gigging with all 3 of the same guys on Tuesday in Tyldesly near Manchester but more on that later.

Madness of king George was now moved to a Saturday and was a ticketed event with tickets costing £5 but £2.5 per ticket was going to the act that the ticket payer was coming to see thus making an opportunity for the acts to earn a little (there was also meant to be a flat fee for the MC but it was not discussed....so it was quite flat...zero!! i’m not good at negotiations)

The comedy was due to start at 8 but there were only 4 people in at 8 so we waited til half past and by then around 20 or so were in.

I tested some new material while trying to gauge the level of the room and warm them up for Jed who would be on 1^st, i struggled to make any impact at all, i tried chatting to a few but a mixture of them not wanting to be chatted to and my not being experienced in the MC role (hence the flat fee of zero and why it was not pursued) made it hard work, eventually i got the room to a luke warm level and was able to bring Jed on.

Jed immediately injected the much needed energy and was on form, the beauty of having him on the bill is he will always lift the crowd and tonight was no exception, a great set met by warm applause.

I then made a faux pas in that i MC’d into an interval an mc should not do any compeering into an interval as it is warming them up for nothing.... just eagerness to get something’s out of my head quickly was my excuse but the jokes were sadly wasted and we went to a break.

Dave Mac performed 1^st after the break and this is when the gig began to become a struggle, Dave was doing great, his set was going smoothly but as Leeds Acoustic normally run music nights they without any intention to cause problems allowed guests and one of the bands to enter midway through Dave’s set, this may have not been an issue but they then decided to attempt to heckle Dave distracting his rhythm, Dave dealt with it admirably but there was an edge to the night now and i tried to win the room back, but as there were now nearer 45/50 in i had to re MC the room, go through the rules of comedy again, no talking phones off no heckling as all acts are new and working Saturday night for free yadda yadda, sadly i was ignored and Andy Woolston had to deal with some people who were in dickhead mode! I must offer huge praise to him for not only getting through his set but twice winning back a room that was disturbed by one of the bands due to perform later (who again i’m sure were not doing it on purpose) if fact at one point one of the bands supporters said he would quote ‘arse rape this comedian if he doesn’t get funny’ now i know that shows a level of articulation and education that would suggest this heckler was quite worthy of his point but don’t let that fool you he was a tool!!! Andy did superb rounding off the comedy.

I stayed and Mc’d the bands who all were great in differing ways and although Dave tried to return fire on the heckling at the band causing most of the issue for the comedy we all agreed they were actually very good and therefore recommend watching them.

The night itself needs to be tweaked a bit more if comedy is going to thrive, no act deserves to be heckled or confronted and people entering the room mid set needs to stop, i.e the event starts at 8, if you don’t arrive at 8 tough luck wait til the break to enter or leave basically. Leeds Acoustic are good guys though so i’m sure we will work it out.

Gig 27 saw me return to Tyldesley this time with Jed, Andy and Dave (last time i went alone)

Tyldesley is a great gig and an awkward one at the same time, it’s great because A, Kenny who runs it is a top bloke, accommodating friendly and a good MC, and B, the venue look after the acts, free coffee, free drinks from the bar (as long as its not abused) and biscuits.... foxes biscuits not Aldi’s imitation either!!. The awkwardness comes from the room layout, there is a row of fixed seating separating the people at the back of the gig and they therefore feel like it is ok to talk and heckle.

We already had our worries about the gig as it was the same day as England’s final Euro group game v Ukraine and if things go bad for England they could go worse for us. But alas England won (although apparently despite winning the group and not losing a game they are still rubbish according to some people) and so the room began filling up with punters ready for a bit of comedy. Amongst the crowd was a bloke who looked like the weight of his stupidity had caused his head to crush his neck, a man who’s love for Man utd was inked on his body, with him was a bloke who looked like he had rohypnolled himself and who spoke words that made little sense almost as if he was just reading out the 9 randomly selected letters in countdown as they appear and not as an attempt at a word, accompanying tweedle dum and tweedle dumber was a man with a stare that belongs in an asylum... so they were going to behave right??? Wrong!!!

The running order was Bobby Murdoch then Jed, break, Myself, Dave then Andy followed by headline act Jamie Sutherland.

I will not go into to much detail of the gig other than to say i was worried to go on after being offered the threat if im not funny..i’m dead!!! From no neck... thankfully he was shaking my hand and smiling at the time! He also made me promise not to talk to him but gave me no choice as he heckled me immediately!! I did my 8 mins (of which 4 mins was different from last time i was there) and then got off the stage asap!!

I thought all the other acts had stronger performances than me, in fact i did not want to go on at one point as Jed had done so well i didn’t think i could follow especially with a similar bit (not the same tho) and jed delivered his bit far better than i could do mine!

Andy was typically enjoyable and cool as he went about his set but Dave Mac was the star tonight ripping into no neck for 8 of his 10 mins!!!

Another great night out doing comedy could have been even better as we were invited to a party by one of the audience... a party that didn’t seem to actually exist but we were invited none the less... groupie!!! However i declined the invitation and instead headed off home using the journey home to help Dave think of witty texts to send to Jed in the role of Jed’s mum.... but that’s a whole other blog!!!

Next for me an impromptu invitation very last min to take part in pigeon hole.

Back to hell gigs 24 and 25

After the disappointing crowd numbers at Mr Bens on Monday i had high hopes for Thursday’s trip to Driffield especially given that the last gig i did for Andy Woolston and Jed Salisbury was amazing.

I had not taken into account the Euro group C game between The Republic of Ireland and Spain, a game which was well supported in the UK and that effected numbers at my 24^th gig. That said it was still not the worst turn out i have gigged in front of as there were 6 in plus the other acts making it busier than bar 1:22, Verve and CSCDDC all of which are gigs that are sometimes busy sometimes not so busy, this gig is usually busier, I have heard around 15 times from my 24 gigs ‘it was busier than this last time/its normally busy’ well it is true with this gig a fact confirmed by an audience member who was there last time. The gig itself would be hosted by the excellent Andy Woolston, he is confident, funny and so easy to listen to. Jed Salisbury would open, i always enjoy Jeds sets, his energy and persona deserve to be better recognised than they are (and they are pretty well recognised) i hope Jed becomes pro soon he can more than hold his own although tonight was a bit of a struggle and Jeds sparkle was effected by this, that said i still think he showed qualities of an act that can deal with any situation. I would be next and i wasn’t sure at all what to do, tried and tested or new?? In the end i did a bit of both, a messy mix of new stuff i was testing and my gong show stuff, i waffled on with no real continuity or direction, there were laughs but on the whole i got nothing and was accidently racist reffering to my girlfriends pet name ‘monkey’!! oh well i learned a bit about my new stuff at least! Si Finnigan following me with his laid back charm complimented by his apparently aggressive outbursts, all of which make him very funny to watch and tonight was no exception as he used observations from the car journey, jokes and banter with the only 2 in the audience that were listening! Great set. The interval would create a gap between si and next act Thom Milson who brings a new level to self depreciating humour then perks up with stories of what he would do if he had a pet lion and how ludicrous the idea would be! Thom has a great bit about the Face/off movie and looked like he was going to build into that especially given that he had watched it the night before (it was randomly on) however the bit is a little niche and Thom decided not to try it finishing a little early. The dark joke merchant Simon Gutherless followed with his one liners, always enjoyable. Mickey Sterret closed the show, i have mentioned before i could watch Mickey all day, he just plucks humour from despair in a way that makes you want to cry and laugh at the same time.

All in all i enjoyed the night, it is always worth it to just go and gig, these tough gigs are character building and you just never know who’s watching, i fell for the lad who organised as they felt bad about it being quiet but they needn’t as i still enjoyed the event for what it was.

As this is a double blog given my 3 gigs in 4 days situation this week (4 gigs in total) i will keep the details of my return to ARC gong brief, given the way this gong show went last time (400 people booing me as my 4^th gig descended into a nervous bloke warbling nervously) it was like returning to hell, well not quite hell, but a pretty unpleasant place... Grimsby maybe? I think returning was to try and prove i had improved in the 19 gigs i have done since last time, if you have not read my blog from that gig it is gig 4 and this is a sequel so you need to read the 1^st one!

I was picked from the hat to go 8^th (2^nd to last as one of the 10 scheduled acts did not show up)

I am not too naive to know that going at this time was beneficial, the crowd of a little more than 100 people were warmed up and lubricated by the time i was going on, this helped. Long story short i beat the gong but did not win. The crowd were built of an older age group than i had seen before, average age maybe 40? There was one crazy woman at the back who booed almost everyone! She was a numpty but the rest of the audience were friendlier than last time. 5 people from 9 beat the gong including a Peter Conlin who was debuting (brave!!) Jerry Buchan won, a character act played by Rob Gilroy who is a protest singer, very funny! Running him close was Rich Massara, he was a lot more chatty than in Manchester so im glad, he’s actually a very nice bloke and a very good act. Danny Cox who is only 18 was the other gong survivor, very likeable guy with an intelligent head on his shoulders. Matt fong was unlucky not to get through, he was on course to beat the gong but he tried a song and his singing not his comedy let him down.

My set was slightly different than usual gong stuff, i was not ever going to win after watching Rich and Rob i knew this so surviving the 5 mins was my aim so i changed my approach for that reason and i did ok. I was not nervous oddly and i knew my placing in the running order was on my side so i just casually ran through my set getting a few moments of good laughter but also being booed by the worst comedy audience member i have ever seen.

I felt good at the end, the clap off was a waste of time for me in that i knew i had not won but being in it was nice enough and despite not winning (as if i was ever going to) i just felt good, like i am steadily going in the right direction.

MCing at the madness of king George