My 8 spot for winning the Mr Bens gong show last time fell on a night when there were only about 14 people in so i had hoped for better for the 2nd one and indeed i got better, the place was full.
I would be sharing 8 spot duty with David Marshall who was doing his 7th gig and had once again brought a lot of mates to Mr Bens to support him.
on the bill were some great acts including Jed Salisbury, Andy Woolston, Jon Newell, and John Taylor.... oh yeah and Si Finnigan!
There was a nice buzz in the room and a boisterous audience seemed to be in laugh mode as they lapped Lewis Charlesworth's ever enjoyable MCing (remember my 1st gig when i said i didn't like him? well that doesn't count any more)
David asked me to go 1st citing that he had mates coming from London that were not here yet, clearly not true but i didn't mind going 1st and kinda thought i would do well especially when i hear Jed stormed it with his opening 15, 2 weeks back, i'm not saying i'm as good as Jed hell no but i am saying that i thought opens were very difficult but now i know you can do well.
So on i went, and i should have known i would struggle from the outset as there was lots of talking as i walked on and began. Talking yes but laughing.... sadly no, even my new improved chicken routine (often a banker) got little, i tried to ignore the lack of response and just gig through it but my delivery was starting to fail, i rushed out 2 jokes overstepped myself and had to reel it back in, i was die ing on my arse!! and not only that but i over ran too, time to get the hell off and go cry in a corner.
Oddly however i did not feel too worried when i came off, i just thought oh well, there will be next time.
David's set was full of derogatory jokes about women on dating sites and some self depreciating stuff, not the worst for only 7 gigs but he does sound like he is permanently pissed when delivering the lines, i'm sure he means well but he did tell me i need to find a voice and stop doing both one liners and stories..... ok i died tonight but 52 gigs v 7 i'll just carry on as i am for now thanks.
a brief run through of the gong show then, 1st up was Liverpudlian John Taylor, very funny opening set very dry delivery and some intelligent writing too, i saw John at CSCDDC and was pleased to see his stuff again, very much one to watch out for, Dave Tandy followed, Dave is still fairly new and he was better tonight than in Telford where i 1st saw him but still needs to polish up a little maybe? his jokes were nicely thought and he like John beat the gong. Next was Sam Price (hopefully i get the 2 Sams right way round) he was a young guy seemingly very new and did not take the opportunity to engage with an audience member who had a ridiculous delayed laugh, his stuff was ok but i think he had 2 cards and was perhaps fortunate to survive? this means that the next act will have to be really on it to survive as 3 acts through already and the audience were after a loo break, i think Andy Woolston knew this and i doubt he will mind me saying he lacked energy as a result, almost like he was consigned to the gong already, a shame as he has great stuff. the other Sam was next, he was doing anti jokes, they were unnecessarily wordy for me and his set while clever did not have enough jokes but he survived the gong.
After the break Jon Newell opened section 3, i missed the 1st min or so and arrived back to my seat to see him on his knees yelling damn you diabetes, Jon was nailing it tonight and looking more confident which was awesome, he did have a card go up but dealt with that and a heckler nicely.
Julie Jones followed, with 250+ gigs behind her she looked totally at ease in her character role as a chav, the audience loved it.
Dave Pollard followed, always hard to follow an act who did well and Dave struggled, i suspect he is very new too so i'm sure he will bounce back but this time it was a gong. Jed was next, normally so very reliable Jed was doing fine until a new bit didnt quite work and he seemed to be knocked off rhythm by that, normally ths would have been ok but there was a complete tool on the front carding almost everyone and not once laughing, he waited for Jed to turn away and carded him goading the others to card and annoyingly they obliged.
Si Finnigan was next, Si was going through the gears older stuff to new, he had just done a great bit about french lessons and was on to dating when a card went up again goaded by the tossbag in the front row, but Si launched into a brilliant response on why the ad went up and began bantering with the audience, it was awesome and more than enough to beat the gong.
The final act Keiron Casserly i did not see much of, but sadly he too was gonged and it was vote time.
The audience had already decided before the vote was being cast and Julie Jones went on to win.
i was able to reflect on my disaster of a performance and perfect it in time for Thursdays trip to Bolton.
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