A new experience was
waiting for me in my 46th gig, performing on a stage the size of my
coffee table, but a stage is a stage and it was not as much an issue for me as
it was for Dave McAndrew who fell off it!! This gig was Southport at a lovely
little venue called Bar Humbug. Once again my travel buddy Dave was in the car
but just the 2 of us this time, no Ben Gibson needing a wee for 10 miles, no
Quinny stopping off and having a massive all day breakfast and No Jed and Andy
passing in a separate car waving at us but still plenty of journey banter.
This gig is run by
Kirst Murdoch who’s husband Bobby, Dave and I gigged with in Tyldesley. I
believe they also run other gigs but neither would be present for this one
instead Sean Riley would be looking after us/the gig
The drive was around 1
hour 45 mins the journey bathed in sunshine and most of the way there the
conversation was based around gigs past and where we are going or want to go in
comedy. It was during this chat the reality that i want to go into pro comedy
began to show in my head, a million miles away from achieving this if i even
ever do but i now know what i want from performing comedy. But part of the chat
was about would it be as much fun if i relied on this for a living? Would i
enjoy long road trips if they were not a hobby? Well lets be honest... how much
do i enjoy answering phones for Debenhams as per my current job? (nothing
against that as a job but its not enjoyable by definition).
We also chatted about
possibly going to Edinburgh next year for experience, i will most definitely
still be an open spot act next year but one with more experience and
confidence.
On arrival at the gig
i lost the tenner Dave gave me for fuel and made an arse of parking the car but
we like children decided we must go see the Sea after the gig (not sure why)so
there was that to look forward to.
The venue was small
but cute if that makes sense, there were no punters though but we were assured
there would be some so Dave tagged along as i went and bought myself some seaside
grilled chicken to prevent me from doing my standard mcdonalds stop off. By the
time i returned my old school pal Ian Adamczyk who now lives and works in the
north west arrived to support which was awesome, Chiki as he was known was a
great footballer, fast runner and general mischief causer at school, but it was
the mischief he was best known for!! He was now a business owner and a genuine
hard working guy, very nice to see him, not least because he doubled the
audience!! 2 girls who just ambled in making the rest of the audience of 4 at
this stage and it seemed the gig would be called off, but Dave and i wanted to
do it despite the other 2 acts having not turned up (they turned up but a
little late in the end)
After the MC said he
would pull the gig if we wanted we were worried it would not be on so talked
him into allowing us to do it one way or another either just myself and Dave
doing 20 min spots or the other 2 guys turn up and we all do 10 (they did turn
up as mentioned) so Sean was happy for us to go ahead. The door was closed,
blinds pulled down, curtains shut and off we went with Dave Mac going 1st,
he was doing his ugly bastard bit which is funny enough as it is but added to
it by mentioning no need to close doors curtains and blinds!! Brilliant! Dave’s
set saw him fall off the tiny stage as mentioned above and involved him talking to a guy who had
just been on holiday in Tupilow, i had decided to use that when i go on and
some how make a 2 pillow joke (i opted to suggest it must be nice to holiday in
Tupilow as where i go you struggle to get a second bed sheet never mind 2
pillows!! Not great but it worked)
I just attacked my set
as if the place was full, the other acts and the 6 staff members (they were off
duty but came to support i guess) made the room busier. I added some ad libs
referencing the curtains behind the stage that looked like fitting room
curtains. There were not laughs a plenty and it was not my greatest hour but i
guess i did all i could so was not too worried.
Like the ignorant prat
i am i neglected to note the name of the next act, he was seemingly newer than
Dave and I but had some nice stuff, he just seemed to lack conviction which i
can empathise with. I’m sure that wont last long as he had good jokes.
Next on the final act
was a guy i had seen about 3 times called Adam Blaize, he was laid back in his
approach and his delivery was nice with material that worked well. It rounded
off the night nicely.
So with the gig over
Dave and i decided to mooch across the pier to see what was going on (turned
out nothing but we did get to see the sea... its still wet) however we were
chatting but it ended up in us just taking the piss out of everything ever!! As
always i laughed more after the gig, if ever you meet dave ask him about the
work he does with adults with learning difficulties and in particular a shower
incident!! Hilarious!!
Next gig for me would
have been MCing the George but as i have had complications with the venue that
is off which is a shame as Danny Razzle, Martin Hastie and the legend that is
fingerless Nick (even though he is fully fingered... wait i worded that wrong,
he has all his fingers!!) would all have been joining me. I’ll re schedule asap
Next for me is Hull
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