Another 3 gig week saw me take my tally of gigs to 76 with some enjoyable outings including a last minute booking to fill in for Jed Salisbury at My Newt Comedy in Shipley, Mc at my own gig in Pudsey then ending the week at Distrikt in Leeds City centre.
Gig 74 My Newt Comedy
Daniel J Kennedy has started a gig in Shipley that he is currently testing the water with... it is based a a very small venue the waterside restaurant. i arrived straight from 5 a side football (I had showered) so was only in my scruffy trainers jeans and a shirt, not really smartly dressed to be presented to an audience but I have looked worse!
It was a lovely little venue I noted on arrival, Daniel was outside along with one of the other acts Judgement Dave who would be playing the character Gunther this evening. the venue manager was there also (Peter i think) and he was very welcoming ensuring we were comfortable relaxed and as Ryan Brown arrived he got us all a drink. It's great when venue managers are so welcoming but im not surprised he was in a great mood as Daniel had done a great job.. the place was rammed!
Other acts on the bill were the aforementioned with Ryan opening and Gunther in the middle along with Kate McCabe, Amy Gledhil, Karl White and Mark Rough. Daniel MC'd his 1st time doing so and it was immediately apparent that they were going to be a nice audience as they lapped up the jokes Daniel was throwing at them, Daniel is a great act but usually audiences take a bit more warming up... tonight they just went with it and opener Ryan with his one liners was also in great form and again the audience lapped it up, especially his deja vu joke. I went 2nd and after a slowish start I got going. They responded well to some of my new stuff (a couple of newer lines one of which was given to me by Jed Salisbury so ironic it was he I was replacing essentially telling one of his jokes). I came off stage feeling it gone 'ok' but Daniel was pleased with the performance so that was nice and Amy had arrived and she thought it went well for me so again pleased to hear. I could not stay to watch the rest but from what I hear Amy, Karl and Mark all had belters but everyone did well. a great night then I wish the gig well and hope to return one day.
Gig75 Portion of Quips
My second outing for the new portion of quips night in Pudsey and again I was pleased with the turn out.
There were around 40 people crammed into the venue to see Chris McIlroy, Dave McAndrew, Karl White and headliner Lewis Charlesworth. it was a 90% new audience from last time which was good for me in the MC role because I could use some of the same jokes although I opted to be a resident MC so that I can sharpen my act and become a better comic. I feel I was a bit too repetitive with the who are you what do you do for a living shite that I kept on asking... I need to be a bit more like the best Mc's. Sully or Lewis at Mr bens For example find the level of the room and involve the audience by bringing them in with cleverly ad libbed back stories for them, for example they would see a guy with 2 girls and he would become some kind of pimp daddy. I hope to grow in confidence with that kind of MCing as I go along but for tonight I was trying to pick things about peoples names and jobs to work with although I inadvertently racially abused a Polish guy.... best not to do that again despite him seeing the funny side.... I think!
The audience were nice and its turning into a lovely gig but tonight they were a bit quieter than last gig although they were all clearly enjoying it especially given the comments I got after the gig. Chris was in the difficult opening role.... He did a great job with some nicely constructed jokes and a graphically described affair with a henrietta Hoover which was particularly funny. He also did well to say the room wasn't superbly well warmed up by me not least because the Mic had cut out and I hadn't realised although the issue was resolved for Chris... more on that in a moment. Dave Mac came on after the break, He had brought half the audience which was great. Dave was not at his absolute best but even so he nailed it, there were big laughs for his Tape player bit and his bit about the big hairy balls!! It seemed he was enjoying it up there too and the crowd certainly were enjoying him. Karl white followed, a unique act really he is almost jokeless as he just talks at the audience, they were laughing at his 1st word.. Hello!! and it went from there. The response was unanimous that he was brilliant. Lewis is an act I really like, mainly for his ability to just be daft. I know he mocks gong acts at MrBens when he MC's the gong show and some guys arent keen on this.. in fact my 1st ever gig he ripped me a bit and I was like, who's this c**t?? but I now see it as just part of the process of doing a gong and not a lack of respect from Lewis personally. He had to start the set without a Mic as the problems from earlier on my cheap (although still £100) PA system was not working properly still. Thankfully Lewis did not make a divaish big deal of this and went for it without the Mic initially and it was only a few mins before it came back to life. He did a great headline job, he worked the room a little and went through his routine with seamless execution. The audience were sat up awaiting what was coming next as the energy and silliness that Lewis provides were thoroughly entertaining. this was a great close to the show. I plugged next month and also plugged Sam Brady's Pudsey gig too as I do not want to compete with that rather more I want to compliment it. this brought a close to the night and I feel there could be a good future for this gig.
Gig 76 Adonis comedy
This was a new act new materiel night at Distrikt in Leeds. I had no idea what to expect but as I discussed with Thom Milson who is more advanced than me I need these nights still to become a better act. The nights where the audience are all up for it and we come away buzzing are 'easy' by comparison but we learn little from them. More established acts all know this and I am fast catching up with a train of thought that the difficult gigs are the ones where the craft is learnt. Thom does not need gigs like this as much but as he has had a short Hiatus and is in the new act of the year final at Mr Bens he needs the stage time hence also doing this.
There was almost no audience. about 6 or 7 i would say ( I didn't count but it was not double figures I'm sure). I chose just to practice my so called best 10 on this night and really did not learn much about myself as an act. I still enjoyed the gig as I seem to enjoy most gigs but I merely took from it nothing more than rehearsal, which is what promoter Tom basically offers. It is a gig that is worth doing for that reason but little more promotion is needed to get an audience I would suggest. Tom was also talking of starting a Leeds comedy festival for the the little guys, the underground comedy circuit a nice idea as the Leeds comedy festival that exists does not seem to acknowledge the little guy of comedy (I could be wrong). I guess watch this space for that. The other acts on show were MC Steve Garland who had a difficult job and did really well nicely confessing some of his secrets to his newish girlfriend, he had a difficult job to a small audience but did admirably. Thom Milson followed on from me and after a slow start by his standards he gained momentum with his stuff about living in the city being my favourite part. I could not stay so missed final act Mike Hewitson unfortunately.
Next gig for me is Mc at the national in Hull with Callum Scott.
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