Another triple gig
blog takes me from gig 46 to 49 as i edge towards 6 months in comedy. This was
to be a week of difficult or poor performances from me starting and ending in
Hull.
GIG 47
My previous 2 gigs in
Hull had been excellent so i guess complacency may have crept in to my
performance although i try to never allow that. The key to being booked would
be to make sure that i can perform the same standard every time delivering
every line perfectly each time while never forgetting a joke and always being
self aware if i’m struggling or running over time. These of course are things i
had picked up from the forums as im not anywhere near being booked yet (when i
say booked i mean for paid gigs albeit i imagine if and when that happens it will
be ad hoc). This next Hull gig was one that hammered home that i must remain
consistent and not just assume a type of audience will react a certain way.
The gig was booked by
Jed and Andy who i love performing with and coming along would also be Si Finnigan
and Thom Milson with fantastic Billy Lowther and Rich Austin making the line up
complete.
The room was small but
quaint and looked very much like a reading room in a stately home. It was Hot
up in there though and the heat played its part in the night. Jed would host
and while he claims not to be a great MC his energy and likeability make him a
good choice. Andy Woolston went on 1st, he was a little ring rusty but did a good job to
an audience that for want of a better word were not comedy Savvy (ok thats 2
words). It’s not that they were a bad audience but i get the impression they
weren’t too sure what was going on. Si Finnigan followed and he was doing some
new stuff, it was a more composed i guess performance from Si and the best i
had seen him with some great lines. We had a short break and re jigged the
running order, Steve Rimmer went next with a very entertaining show, it was not
full of punch lines or jokes but was still very engaging and the audience loved
it, Billy Lowther went next and stuck steadfastly to his time limit and
traditional comedy formula set up punchline after thought, his joke rate is
brilliant and delivery is dry, he stormed it.
Thom followed Billy
but although Billy did not over run it seemed we were behind schedule and the heat
was becoming an issue for the audience so Thom had to work hard to keep the
focus. He did better than he thinks at this but cut his set short sensing the
desire to get air.
I went on after the
break and just did not perform at all, it took me a god 5 mins to get going and
my bankers did not land, but i figured suck it up and keep going so i did and
began to get them back, as i did so i too went over my time by a 1 min 30 (a
faux pas). I felt ok by the end but knew i had not performed too well. Rich Austin
completed the evening with yet another headline performance that was nailed.
Great stuff from him and i enjoyed my night overall.
GIG 48
Bar 122 Huddersfield
was the venue for this, it is a gig run by the lovely Sally Jones. Sally
competed at SYTYF and was the only lady in our heat, i was surprised she did
not progress. She would not be
performing tonight but there were some familiar faces, Dave Rivers who was at
Mr Bens on my debut night, Adam blaize and Joe White who were in Southport plus David Marshall who was in Stockton with
me, also performing was newbie Ian Wood a wheelchair bound act who struggles to
get stage time due to so many comedy gigs being cellars or upstairs rooms,
Peter Nicholson was doing his 1st gig and also Graham Lee was doing
an Edinburgh preview.
It was not too busy
with only 6 in the audience plus the other acts but we all just did what we
could. I followed Ian who went 1st, it was hard work for such a new
act and MC Lee Moore tried to whip a small crowd into a frenzy!! By the time i
went on though it wa still quite flat, i ignored this and just practised
delivering my jokes, there were muted giggles and the odd silence. I took as
much from it as i could and came off feeling like i had done all i could.
From the other acts i
enjoyed Dave Rivers and Graham Lee but i have limited time to review the whole
night.
GIG 49
So i had said i like
Hull.... i take it back!! This was a charity gig at a rugby club and was never
going to be easy from the moment we arrived and saw the kids running around,
but re wind a bit to the journey,
I travelled with 2
great acts and really great guys in Rich Hodkin and Ross Brierley and like with
every car journey and despite the fact we are all total newbies to comedy who
really know nothing we dissected comedy and put the comedy world to rights. We discussed
how to deal with a bad gig or quiet gig, recently Ross and I had been at a bad
gig (that i booked for so i take responsibility) and at this gig 2 of the acts
referenced all of the negatives and were a bit dejected, now this is not criticism
levelled at them but we discussed how to not do that when faced with that
situation or rather how to make the best of it. The outcome was that no matter
what we are faced with we figured just give it our best and do what we can,
worst case scenario shorten the set down and get off!
Well little did we
know how soon we would be faced with that difficult gig!, so forward to our
arrival and i was already worried by the wall between the stage area and the
audience, as MC for the night i thought i would need to get people forward of
that wall. Rich Austin was waiting for us in the bar area, he had booked us but
he was not responsible for the gig it was the rugby club who were to blame!!
Billy Lowther was again on the bill. Im not sure really how to explain the
events that unfolded, i went up to MC, it was hot, there were kids no older
that 3 running around screaming, they were running on the stage and throwing
balloons at me and all the other acts yet their parents cared not one bit, the
sound system was awful, but also the rooms acoustics were and as i conversed
with the audience i could not hear a thing they were saying back to me. It was
just surreal, there was no laughter (i realise that could be due to my not
being funny!) Billy started the night as an act and his brilliant set
struggled, he was interrupted by children on the stage twice at least if not 3
or 4 times. An odd start! There was a birthday boy in the audience, a big lad
called Liam, Rich Hodkin opened his set by hugging him which led nicely into
his new stuff, Rich gets better every time i see him and dealt with this odd
night well. We were meant to have a break now but decided to plow through,
although the next act Ross was in the shitter as he was suffering from gastroenteritis
or something similar!! I had to introduce him to the stage straight from the
toilet! This got some laughter finally for me and Ross as usual improvised his
set to incorporate the dicky tummy, oh and to mention how i somehow wound up in
a rugby club gay off (basically 2 rugby guys were doing press ups to prove who
was gayest, so i adopted a camp walk to join in but they just ran away... odd??)
A new audience member
had joined us before Ross came on, he had 4 teeth, a beard, scruffy balding
hair, he was a slight looking guy but he had a crazy stare.... despite having
both shoes on he had a converse trainer in his hand... which he began talking
to, then he thought it was a phone... then he told me he was Elvis...... what
the fuck is going on!!!
The heat driving most
of the audience outside Rich Austin came on to headline to about 14 people..
the ones who were listening. He did yet another flawless job and i took heart
from the fact that laughter for him was not out loud so given his qualities i
felt better.
And at last the end!! I
tried to thank a few of the audience members but one said if i came near her
she would hit me?? Not sure why but she looked like she meant it, but birthday
boy liam looked like he had had fun although midway through the night i was
handed a pint to give him for his birthday... it was pure spirit one of
everything from the top shelf..... he might be dead now and i contributed
somehow!!
Ah well, next up a
little stint at Mr Bens Gong show!
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