The festive period is in the mid Christmas and New year lull and I have managed to remain busy although sadly not always gigging as gigs have been difficult to come by despite hundreds of emails. I put this down to the fact that there are more acts than spots, that I am not quite good enough for certain promoters liking yet and that promoters have their minimum standard which I understand, but it does read a bit like 'Act required who is good enough to pay, for unpaid spot'. That sounds bitter but I am not, I will keep plugging away and hopefully become bookable for all promoters. The paid work is coming in on a weekly basis now too so I really can't grumble.
The day after my last blog I took to the road to take part in the Kenilworth Gong show, an annual Christmas gong show where Hilarious comedy look at the newer acts out there. Kenilworth is near Coventry so the 2 and a half hour drive may not seem worth it for a gong show but my theory is I am still learning and any gig is a gig, I had actually given up doing gong shows but I need them (annoyingly) and can see the benefit to doing them where some comics do not, this is not to say they are wrong, just that they work for me occasionally.
Hilarious are a midlands based booker that run some pro and amateur nights around Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton Walsall and such areas. I have seen that there have been some disagreements between some of the acts in the Midlands and Hilarious, however, while I am aware of this, it does not concern me and i am not sure why this has happened.
Upon arriving at the gig I was greeted by a couple of other acts and we chatted about the prize at steak, a paid gig at one of Hilarious' pro nights, the reason why some 6 months ago now, I booked in for this.
Phillip who books for them arrived and immediately engaged in conversation with the acts present and was good enough to thank me for making the journey from Leeds. He also explained why this gong show exists, basically stating that we need not win, just impress and do our best. I felt this was a fair statement as they use this annual gong show to look at new acts they may not otherwise get to see.
I moved from my spot at the bar to the room where the gig was to take place and immediately saw my chances of winning take a hit (i had not assumed to win anyway) as stood at the bottom of the short stairway was Pat Draper, it is odd to see an act i like and really enjoy watching and yet think 'oh no'!
There were other great acts there too, Pat may be one of my favourites but quality like Jo D'Arcy and Mister Andy among many many others were also taking part. Mister Andy for anyone who does not know him is a blind comedian who has his guide dog with him, the relevance of this to me will be revealed later.
I also took part in another gong show recently, Worcester gong, one of Spiky Mike's gigs. Worcester a very long drive from Leeds, however, with Dave Marshall, Si Finnigan and Dave Rivers on board for the journey it was as much about car share conversation as it was the gig. As it happens the gig went well for me, my 5 mins interrupted 3 times with applause from a very receptive audience. The winner Jack Campbell we all identified as the best act long before the vote, but once again in a clap off with Spiky Mike I feel like I had been a little overlooked when the audience had given me a very warm applause (the Sheffield gong the last time this happened) a small niggle but nothing major to worry about.
Other gigs I have done include a boxing day trip to Darlington and a superb fun Panel show in Bawtry which really got my comedy ad lib muscle working (if that is such a thing)
I have had a lot of success lately getting booked for gigs from the Facebook comedy forum which is nice, but one thing I have noticed is its the same people post regularly on the forum and often mention the silly stipulation 'No Yoghurts'! now this is intended to be a lighthearted way of saying don't apply for paid work if you are not ready, or don't apply for a 20 spot if you have only 10 or similar such ideas. It seems however, that some acts are using this to intimidate in a way, lesser experienced acts. It's only a small numbe of people and I'm not convinced they are even aware they are doing it, that said I did a gig with an act w few gigs ago and the act in question looked at a poster of forthcoming nights and proceeded to state how 'shit' all the acts lined up are. There is no need for this and I feel that this, and when acts alienate other acts (something I find amusing when they have material claiming to stand up for the little guy) is just a self esteem issue that is smoke and mirrors when they suffer self doubt. I guess all I'm saying here is i think that newer acts need to take this with a pinch of salt and more experienced acts should consider how they come across sometimes.
Another thing I experienced this month was a Christmas function with friends I have not seen for a while. during this night I had numerous chats with my non comedy pals about how the comedy is going. They all told me their favourite comedians, things I should put in my set, that my comments on the evening 'weren't funny' all standard, annoying but harmless. One thing that came up was when asked who my favourite acts were I listed several. All actsI have gigged with, none famous and all very very funny with great futures. 2 names among the list are Amy Gledhil and Harriet Dyer and no less than 6 of the blokes I chatted to said "i just don't find women funny" Seriously!! I know there is sexism where comedy is concerned but I had no idea that it was so blatent. It is almost always a case for me spend the 1st 2 mins trying to win an audience over, but all I am fighting is the audience thinking, is he any good? It seems that females are in some instances fighting the, oh god its a woman thing! really harsh but I am no authority to speak any more on this as it's the 1st time I have seen such gender discrimination up close.
So going back to Kenilworth gong, the night had been going badly for some really strong acts, the audience were subdued and were not shy at gonging off anyone for just one bad joke. When it came to my turn the mood was still somewhat dull, the vibrant buzzing atmosphere that you can get at the frog or one of Spiky's was not there but they were a lot more forgiving when I was up in front of them than it seemed. My set was going ok, not brilliant but they were laughing, however, the key moment for me was when I setup a gag and mid punchline the guide dog stood up and shook like a wet dog diverting most of the attention very briefly, enough to ruin one of my best jokes. It was frustration but funny and it seems my flippant response to this (just a simple line about being heckled by a guide dog) got me the nights only real applause break. This piece of luck was enough to allow me a win, although not total win as Pat Draper was of course in superb form as ever (seriously if any bookers are reading this... book him!!) and a comic from London who embarrassingly I forget the name of both took joint victory with me and we will next year all 3 of us take a paid gig from Hilarious. Phillip stating that if we do well there we could gain more gigs so I hope to have some good form next year.
This year I have done 211 gigs, next year I aim to do 250 and get somewhere with one of the bigger promoters, lots of work to do and my 1st gig of 2014 will be in Amsterdam for an American company so I hope to start the year with some improv proving I am capable! (I may not be) I may even head to Edinburgh in 2014 and my solo show (which i think needs work) has been booked by JH Events, a company that usually promote music, and pushed for a mini tour!! not something an act of my level should do?? well they asked me and its worth trying.
I may have some other exiting things to get stuck into in 2014 as an event planner for a comedy festival has been in touch too although i made him aware of my level as an act and I may not be what he is looking for, he still seemed keen to have me involved after seeing my show at Hull comedy festival, so that could be fun too. Another thing for next year is to try cut the swearing from my set, its a new act tick that I don't need and can try iron out, not to say that swearing does not have its place as it does, but I'm going to try go without.
I really hope 2014 is a busy year and trust me I will go all out to make sure it is and will continue to try improve.
Have a great new year everyone!!
Saturday 28 December 2013
Wednesday 11 December 2013
Back blogging
It is with regret that for a while I had to leave the blogging behind but I am now working a pattern that allows me time to as someone once put, spout my unfettered opinions!
Well yes.
So, I have advanced since I last blogged, or to put it more accurately I have done a shit load more gigs!
I was able to count up all the gigs thanks to my Iphone saving all the diary dates and its 347 to date which surprised me to be fair but I do try and ensure I have at least 4 a week if not 5 meaning the quality of gigs I do is not always great but I'm continually adding to my set and tweaking things. I have just come off the back of a busy few months including 43 gigs in 55 days. In that time I have done my 1st solo show although it was only 45 mins but all brand new stuff and this is exiting for me as my writing has started to improve and I'm beginning to tackle subjects I wanted to when I 1st started but had neither the skill nor intelligence to manage.
My solo show was at Hull Comedy festival, it went ok but having watched it all back now I can see massive glaring errors and gaps in funny, far too much swearing something I know Steve Walker does not like, and above all too many hacky ideas following some quality ones. I am not being to self critical either, there were some bits that I am very proud of, but I'm so so so far away from where I want to be its almost painful. Hull comedy festival taught me a lot though, Hull is a great place to gig with exiting things going on at both my level, with Steve Rimmer running some lovely gigs as are Jed and Andy but also the more pro level with C69 running things and Jed thoroughly deservedly taking his place as resident compere at fruits pro night featuring some superb line ups every Saturday.
My presence in Hull is small but I am welcomed and I have used that welcome to work on loads of new ideas to friendly audiences. From the phrase re-inventing the wheel I have come up with some ideas about cars that I believe have potential to be a really strong set. I have to learn to make what I have funnier still though and I'm frustrated with myself for not progressing fast enough.
When I 1st started my stuff was really cheaply written shite, I mean I just wanted to get to the laugh as quick as possible for fear of being hated!! I knew all along that the key for me was be funny 1st albeit cheaply, then be clever or more skilled later. This worked massively in my favour recently after a spell of gigs with all my new material going well, no mention of flat caps (I tend not to even wear it now) no mention of hen nights, my grandparents or any of the open spot checklist (incest, homophobia, Peado, Sexism, then I shot him, that was just the teachers, wanking, you know basically my set!!) none of my quick get to the easy punchline bollocks!! but then I was booked for a charity gig.
Now, call me uncharitable but I hate the idea of charity gigs, lets assume that I have no other job and I'm a pro comic (surviving on £180 a month as it would be with the paid gigs I get!!) Someone then asks me, hey Jim, can you come do your job in a really difficult environment, where no one is there for comedy, where people will not care how much work you have put into your set, where the audience will assume you're shit if you don't take the roof off, where the booker will have little clue how comedy really works... can you come do that and for free as its charity, well I am not keen thank you. Now 2 things, I believe charities have great people involved doing hard work often for no money themselves, and I know not all charity gigs are like this, so when approached to perform for a charity that I already do work for and support I said yes where I would normally say no. I was to be on with 2 vocalists (both were paid) and a magician (also paid) so I asked to bring another act, that being Gregor 'Monty' Burns. I was told this is fine please both do 15 mins, so we agreed Monty would go on 1st, and as it turned out I'm so glad he did. We arrived to find one of the vocalists was on and we were due on next, the room was huge but half empty with a large dancefloor directly in front of the stage meaning audience were some distance away, and speaking of audience the average age was 87 I'd guess!!! Not to be ageist this, for a skilled act would be no problem! Monty and I are new however. Now monty is great, he is a real joy to watch as he gets into gear and belts out his comedy at 100 miles an hour. He has audiences crying laughing and for one so new seems like a seasoned pro. His act is full of shall we say language though and he had decided not to use any on this occasion for fear of audience disgust. It was not helped that he had to follow 40 mins of bingo!
To be fair he nailed it, the foulest of language coming from an elderly heckler who called him a porridge wog I believe!! not nice! but Monty kept calm and did a great job with what he had to work, when I came on I thought, no way is my new stuff going to fly in here so reverted to hack mode and sure enough that worked. They even shut up and listened for a while!! It was the second time in recent weeks I had seen a room go with a certain style of comedy and reverted to my old shite, both times to good effect and I now feel I have a bit more about me when judging what to say and thankfully I have a couple of directions in which to go.
I will leave this return to blogging there for now, don't take my word for it on charity gigs as i'm sure there are some lovely ones, and while on the subject of lovely gigs I have 6 between now and Christmas that all seem grand so no doubt I will have plenty to talk about in 2 weeks when I return to this (yeah I have decided to blog every 2 weeks)
Thanks for reading
Well yes.
So, I have advanced since I last blogged, or to put it more accurately I have done a shit load more gigs!
I was able to count up all the gigs thanks to my Iphone saving all the diary dates and its 347 to date which surprised me to be fair but I do try and ensure I have at least 4 a week if not 5 meaning the quality of gigs I do is not always great but I'm continually adding to my set and tweaking things. I have just come off the back of a busy few months including 43 gigs in 55 days. In that time I have done my 1st solo show although it was only 45 mins but all brand new stuff and this is exiting for me as my writing has started to improve and I'm beginning to tackle subjects I wanted to when I 1st started but had neither the skill nor intelligence to manage.
My solo show was at Hull Comedy festival, it went ok but having watched it all back now I can see massive glaring errors and gaps in funny, far too much swearing something I know Steve Walker does not like, and above all too many hacky ideas following some quality ones. I am not being to self critical either, there were some bits that I am very proud of, but I'm so so so far away from where I want to be its almost painful. Hull comedy festival taught me a lot though, Hull is a great place to gig with exiting things going on at both my level, with Steve Rimmer running some lovely gigs as are Jed and Andy but also the more pro level with C69 running things and Jed thoroughly deservedly taking his place as resident compere at fruits pro night featuring some superb line ups every Saturday.
My presence in Hull is small but I am welcomed and I have used that welcome to work on loads of new ideas to friendly audiences. From the phrase re-inventing the wheel I have come up with some ideas about cars that I believe have potential to be a really strong set. I have to learn to make what I have funnier still though and I'm frustrated with myself for not progressing fast enough.
When I 1st started my stuff was really cheaply written shite, I mean I just wanted to get to the laugh as quick as possible for fear of being hated!! I knew all along that the key for me was be funny 1st albeit cheaply, then be clever or more skilled later. This worked massively in my favour recently after a spell of gigs with all my new material going well, no mention of flat caps (I tend not to even wear it now) no mention of hen nights, my grandparents or any of the open spot checklist (incest, homophobia, Peado, Sexism, then I shot him, that was just the teachers, wanking, you know basically my set!!) none of my quick get to the easy punchline bollocks!! but then I was booked for a charity gig.
Now, call me uncharitable but I hate the idea of charity gigs, lets assume that I have no other job and I'm a pro comic (surviving on £180 a month as it would be with the paid gigs I get!!) Someone then asks me, hey Jim, can you come do your job in a really difficult environment, where no one is there for comedy, where people will not care how much work you have put into your set, where the audience will assume you're shit if you don't take the roof off, where the booker will have little clue how comedy really works... can you come do that and for free as its charity, well I am not keen thank you. Now 2 things, I believe charities have great people involved doing hard work often for no money themselves, and I know not all charity gigs are like this, so when approached to perform for a charity that I already do work for and support I said yes where I would normally say no. I was to be on with 2 vocalists (both were paid) and a magician (also paid) so I asked to bring another act, that being Gregor 'Monty' Burns. I was told this is fine please both do 15 mins, so we agreed Monty would go on 1st, and as it turned out I'm so glad he did. We arrived to find one of the vocalists was on and we were due on next, the room was huge but half empty with a large dancefloor directly in front of the stage meaning audience were some distance away, and speaking of audience the average age was 87 I'd guess!!! Not to be ageist this, for a skilled act would be no problem! Monty and I are new however. Now monty is great, he is a real joy to watch as he gets into gear and belts out his comedy at 100 miles an hour. He has audiences crying laughing and for one so new seems like a seasoned pro. His act is full of shall we say language though and he had decided not to use any on this occasion for fear of audience disgust. It was not helped that he had to follow 40 mins of bingo!
To be fair he nailed it, the foulest of language coming from an elderly heckler who called him a porridge wog I believe!! not nice! but Monty kept calm and did a great job with what he had to work, when I came on I thought, no way is my new stuff going to fly in here so reverted to hack mode and sure enough that worked. They even shut up and listened for a while!! It was the second time in recent weeks I had seen a room go with a certain style of comedy and reverted to my old shite, both times to good effect and I now feel I have a bit more about me when judging what to say and thankfully I have a couple of directions in which to go.
I will leave this return to blogging there for now, don't take my word for it on charity gigs as i'm sure there are some lovely ones, and while on the subject of lovely gigs I have 6 between now and Christmas that all seem grand so no doubt I will have plenty to talk about in 2 weeks when I return to this (yeah I have decided to blog every 2 weeks)
Thanks for reading
Sunday 5 May 2013
So little time
I have not blogged for a while due to not having much time spare, but I shall blog as I have done no less than 11 gigs since my last blog, some were good, some awful, some I died, some I did well & one of the 11 has been my favourite gig thus far even eclipsing the slimming world one.
So to keep an update of what is to come I have done
World of comedy:- Blackburn
Pigeon Hole :- Leeds
Mayan comedy :- Bolton
Help for heroes charity gig :- Birmingham
Polly B's comedy :- Clapham London
Portion of quips :- Pudsey Leeds
Hot water :- Liverpool
Cask corner comedy :- Doncaster
CAN comedy :- west Bromwich
Shirley comedy club :- Shirley Birmingham
NuVar comedy :- Newcastle
I have also been reviewing myself and figuring things out, I am always open about what I am doing as secrets are pointless in this world as most comedians have a bitchy streak that is born out of their own insecurities (or so I believe) a lot of comedians only have this in tiny doses though and generally it's a supportive friendly environment. So this is why I have approached 2 very strong writers of comedy and asked for assistance writing my set to move forward with.
Assistance the key word, I don't expect things to be written for me (well not in full anyway but jokes and or concepts that suit me are what I'm seeking assistance with)
So there is that project going on along with my hunger to progress. I now feel I'm starting to get to a position where everything on stage flows organically and with a slight swagger of confidence that actually isn't really there. My aim to learn to be a comedian with materiel that would never be considered well written but is at least getting laughs is showing dividends at last. I feel I'm ready now to move up a gear and write some meatier stuff while cramming more funny into what I have. Trimming the fat would help too but I'm a story teller so there will always be some slightly convoluted bits to my stuff.
I mentioned in a past blog how I felt I did not fit a type that Leeds gigs book (but then was asked to fill a drop out at pigeon hole as I was being considered by them anyway which is nice) but I feel now like I can perform for any night with belief... Soon with strong materiel too.
My attack on the comedy world is draining a lot of my energy but I am determined to keep going and get the result I require... Regular paid work.
Check back soon for the blog detailing the last 11 gigs
My next gig is fox and newt Leeds for Chortle Kombat
So to keep an update of what is to come I have done
World of comedy:- Blackburn
Pigeon Hole :- Leeds
Mayan comedy :- Bolton
Help for heroes charity gig :- Birmingham
Polly B's comedy :- Clapham London
Portion of quips :- Pudsey Leeds
Hot water :- Liverpool
Cask corner comedy :- Doncaster
CAN comedy :- west Bromwich
Shirley comedy club :- Shirley Birmingham
NuVar comedy :- Newcastle
I have also been reviewing myself and figuring things out, I am always open about what I am doing as secrets are pointless in this world as most comedians have a bitchy streak that is born out of their own insecurities (or so I believe) a lot of comedians only have this in tiny doses though and generally it's a supportive friendly environment. So this is why I have approached 2 very strong writers of comedy and asked for assistance writing my set to move forward with.
Assistance the key word, I don't expect things to be written for me (well not in full anyway but jokes and or concepts that suit me are what I'm seeking assistance with)
So there is that project going on along with my hunger to progress. I now feel I'm starting to get to a position where everything on stage flows organically and with a slight swagger of confidence that actually isn't really there. My aim to learn to be a comedian with materiel that would never be considered well written but is at least getting laughs is showing dividends at last. I feel I'm ready now to move up a gear and write some meatier stuff while cramming more funny into what I have. Trimming the fat would help too but I'm a story teller so there will always be some slightly convoluted bits to my stuff.
I mentioned in a past blog how I felt I did not fit a type that Leeds gigs book (but then was asked to fill a drop out at pigeon hole as I was being considered by them anyway which is nice) but I feel now like I can perform for any night with belief... Soon with strong materiel too.
My attack on the comedy world is draining a lot of my energy but I am determined to keep going and get the result I require... Regular paid work.
Check back soon for the blog detailing the last 11 gigs
My next gig is fox and newt Leeds for Chortle Kombat
Friday 12 April 2013
Bear pit, gigs 125-126
It is nice to be getting offered gigs in far away (relatively speaking) places and see how different crowds react to the same jokes. I know my accent can be helpful away from Leeds (as this is the feedback I have had) and that it allows me to play about with the truth a little more, for example I have a bit about Sir George Cayler being (the guy who in vented seatbelts and gliders) from near Otley... he was from Scarborough!!
The other plus point from taking these gigs is that most of them are in front of proper comedy audiences. By that I mean that these are people who attend comedy regularly as all audiences are proper audiences and I suspect the arena comedy audiences do not attend comedy that often as they only want to see Peter Kay, Micheal McIntyre or Lee Evans (which is fine).
I guess I just want to be put in front of all audiences and try all gigs while I still tweak my set and continue to try and tighten it.
Gig 125
So this week I was off to Wincanton (near Bristol 420 miles from home) I set off at 1pm from Leeds and went into economy drive with no electrics running and not above 60mph... to quote the guy at Shell filling station Harrogate rd, fuel is expensive innit. After a long slow drive during which my bum died I arrived at a lovely little pub named the Nog Inn. There was a roaring fire in the main room and I stood by that warming up and chatting to fellow act Phil Cooper who arrived a moment after I did. This gig was one that used to be a fully pro night but as the pubs budget was slashed they now have 9.. yes 9, open spots and 1 pro act.
I had a lovely slot being on 1st after the 1st break and relaxed on finding out how many open spot acts there were too. I watched the 1st section which went well, including Phil going 3rd (or last in that section) doing a great job and a lovely callback to the previous act. The break seemed to last for ever as my standard pre gig doubts crept in. The MC, Kevin Sheppard, was awesome and seemed to be really enjoying himself. He did however forget my name twice during my intro and had to check his phone, this was great for me as it allowed me a chance to mock myself a little pretending also to not know my own name and needing to check my phone. This was cheap really, not comedy gold, but it was effective and got a bigger laugh than perhaps it deserved. I knew from that I could relax and just go through my stuff slowly, taking Mark Hayden's advice to breath and slow my pace..... what... Mark gives good advice! My new bit based around scuba diving went very well but the silent gaps spoke volumes as this crowd were laughing at anything. I moved away from the new bit and into my standard set and just enjoyed the laughter that filled the small room. They were very supportive and just went with it, I even noticed one lady creased over... ok I'm not that good yet but it was nice to see them enjoy it so much. All the acts following did a great job too although one seemed to have 'borrowed' some of his jokes as they were ones I knew I had heard and given how new this act was I cant imagine that they were his, nicked and put on Sickipedia or something but then I could be wrong these days given the way jokes are passed round.
Special note for the staff at the Nog who were so welcoming and friendly and the venue itself which is lovely. I had a great night and took loads from it.
Gig 126
This was the 2nd part of my 2 part appearance in a pro night doing 9 open spots in order to keep costs down. If there was any doubt about how good an idea this is then this pub gig in Barking should assist opinions. I was picked up from Barking station by the only pro on the bill Andrew Simmons, he was very chatty and amid the conversation we talked about quality of gigs, Andrew said he would be able to tell me if tonight would be a good gig within 5 mins of arrival... it took much less than that! We arrived at a beaten up looking pub with a door that had a smashed glass frontage, inside there was a speaker at each side of a sound system with a Mic and stand but no stage. There was no seating and the burberry cap brigade of punters were drinking heavily and chatting. It was clear this would be a struggle and so it proved. Andrew announced the gig would be taking place but this was met with 'banter' or abuse possibly a better word.
The time for starting the gig was put back but this and several announcements did not stop the chatting. So the gig began. Andrew did everything possible to bring about quiet and get a gig going... it did not work and the morons among the crowd just kept making jokes among themselves and talking shite. Omar Hamdi went 1st of the acts and was actually very impressive given how hard it was. He is a lovely guy off stage too and it was a decent start in comedy terms but really the talking never stopped and so the night did not really get going. Both the following acts did fine but who heard?? only the other acts I think plus a handful of others, one of whom was hilarious, so funny, you see when he was asked his name he said Fred... but it wasn't Fred!! brilliant!!!!.
I guess the Pub staff were trying as they did a bit of shushing during the interval but one lady sought to abuse them for this stating that she'd paid her fucking 2 paand and could do what she fuckin likes!!! classy bird that one. The Landlady did a school teacher style announcement in the Mic and no one gave a shit so the next section was just the same. The 3rd section was a tad better and I was on in that section but really this gig was best forgotten and during the drive back to London Andrew was muttering about how he was stll winding up doing gigs like that!! He was lovely enough to take me back to victoria bus station and offer a little advice although he prefers not to be an advice offerer as he thinks its condescending and he is respectful of peoples ability to do things their own way.
So another night over and another gig down, I can only take experience from that one though! next for me a week off!!
The other plus point from taking these gigs is that most of them are in front of proper comedy audiences. By that I mean that these are people who attend comedy regularly as all audiences are proper audiences and I suspect the arena comedy audiences do not attend comedy that often as they only want to see Peter Kay, Micheal McIntyre or Lee Evans (which is fine).
I guess I just want to be put in front of all audiences and try all gigs while I still tweak my set and continue to try and tighten it.
Gig 125
So this week I was off to Wincanton (near Bristol 420 miles from home) I set off at 1pm from Leeds and went into economy drive with no electrics running and not above 60mph... to quote the guy at Shell filling station Harrogate rd, fuel is expensive innit. After a long slow drive during which my bum died I arrived at a lovely little pub named the Nog Inn. There was a roaring fire in the main room and I stood by that warming up and chatting to fellow act Phil Cooper who arrived a moment after I did. This gig was one that used to be a fully pro night but as the pubs budget was slashed they now have 9.. yes 9, open spots and 1 pro act.
I had a lovely slot being on 1st after the 1st break and relaxed on finding out how many open spot acts there were too. I watched the 1st section which went well, including Phil going 3rd (or last in that section) doing a great job and a lovely callback to the previous act. The break seemed to last for ever as my standard pre gig doubts crept in. The MC, Kevin Sheppard, was awesome and seemed to be really enjoying himself. He did however forget my name twice during my intro and had to check his phone, this was great for me as it allowed me a chance to mock myself a little pretending also to not know my own name and needing to check my phone. This was cheap really, not comedy gold, but it was effective and got a bigger laugh than perhaps it deserved. I knew from that I could relax and just go through my stuff slowly, taking Mark Hayden's advice to breath and slow my pace..... what... Mark gives good advice! My new bit based around scuba diving went very well but the silent gaps spoke volumes as this crowd were laughing at anything. I moved away from the new bit and into my standard set and just enjoyed the laughter that filled the small room. They were very supportive and just went with it, I even noticed one lady creased over... ok I'm not that good yet but it was nice to see them enjoy it so much. All the acts following did a great job too although one seemed to have 'borrowed' some of his jokes as they were ones I knew I had heard and given how new this act was I cant imagine that they were his, nicked and put on Sickipedia or something but then I could be wrong these days given the way jokes are passed round.
Special note for the staff at the Nog who were so welcoming and friendly and the venue itself which is lovely. I had a great night and took loads from it.
Gig 126
This was the 2nd part of my 2 part appearance in a pro night doing 9 open spots in order to keep costs down. If there was any doubt about how good an idea this is then this pub gig in Barking should assist opinions. I was picked up from Barking station by the only pro on the bill Andrew Simmons, he was very chatty and amid the conversation we talked about quality of gigs, Andrew said he would be able to tell me if tonight would be a good gig within 5 mins of arrival... it took much less than that! We arrived at a beaten up looking pub with a door that had a smashed glass frontage, inside there was a speaker at each side of a sound system with a Mic and stand but no stage. There was no seating and the burberry cap brigade of punters were drinking heavily and chatting. It was clear this would be a struggle and so it proved. Andrew announced the gig would be taking place but this was met with 'banter' or abuse possibly a better word.
The time for starting the gig was put back but this and several announcements did not stop the chatting. So the gig began. Andrew did everything possible to bring about quiet and get a gig going... it did not work and the morons among the crowd just kept making jokes among themselves and talking shite. Omar Hamdi went 1st of the acts and was actually very impressive given how hard it was. He is a lovely guy off stage too and it was a decent start in comedy terms but really the talking never stopped and so the night did not really get going. Both the following acts did fine but who heard?? only the other acts I think plus a handful of others, one of whom was hilarious, so funny, you see when he was asked his name he said Fred... but it wasn't Fred!! brilliant!!!!.
I guess the Pub staff were trying as they did a bit of shushing during the interval but one lady sought to abuse them for this stating that she'd paid her fucking 2 paand and could do what she fuckin likes!!! classy bird that one. The Landlady did a school teacher style announcement in the Mic and no one gave a shit so the next section was just the same. The 3rd section was a tad better and I was on in that section but really this gig was best forgotten and during the drive back to London Andrew was muttering about how he was stll winding up doing gigs like that!! He was lovely enough to take me back to victoria bus station and offer a little advice although he prefers not to be an advice offerer as he thinks its condescending and he is respectful of peoples ability to do things their own way.
So another night over and another gig down, I can only take experience from that one though! next for me a week off!!
Wednesday 3 April 2013
I would drive 500 miles Gigs 120-124
So much has happened in my 13 months as a comedian in that I have gigged a lot for a new act but then I am 33 and do not have as much time as some of the younger acts around. This is one of the reasons why I'm happy to travel, another reason I am happy to travel is to put myself in front of gig bookers across the UK and increase my chances of progressing. I am also having to travel to further afield as the gigs that run in Leeds seem to not suit my style and as a result the bookers for those tend to avoid me where I see names such as Liam Pickford, Fern Brady and Robin Parmiter to name a few appear regularly on the posters so I know that I am a far cry from those acts which is why I have to move around to gig as often as possible. This opens all kinds of doors for me and has led to me being involved on pro nights as middle open. The latest of these gigs took me all the way to Haselmere (near Portsmouth) with gigs in Pudsey, Hull, Keighley and Leeds, obviuosly all a lot closer to home, following.
So Haselemere gig 120 , well this was a 4 hour drive each way almost 500 (well nearer 440 but the proclaimers didn't sing they would walk 440 miles now did they) mile round trip for 10 mins stage time. This is something I'm prepared to do this year as I try and ensure I do at least 2 gigs a week if not 3. The drive and £70 fuel cost will hopefully prove worthwhile in the future as I start to push into paid work and gigs like this are a catalyst for that as I was in front of a proper comedy audience with professionals either side of me. Arriving a the venue I noticed that the layout of the room was a little odd with lots of buffet style seating and long tables all pointing towards the performing area (there was no stage). It looked a lot like many of the open mic gigs that I have done but as I went and sat in the area set aside for the acts I could tell this was like no open mic night as the 4 other performers all pro's chatted of gigs past and what they had coming up. They were very welcoming and warm with me as I came and sat with them and mad idle conversation before the gig started. The gig coincided with an England world cup qualifier which may be why most of the audience were women but at least the place was full. The Mc Neil Cole set about his work with cool precision and was quickly establishing the level for the night before opener Neil McFarlane took to the stage and delivered his deadpan jokes superbly. There was then a break and middle act Guy Manners with a shorter set got the best reaction from the room with his amiable style. I was next and really did not get much, my jokes perhpas too obvious or not well delivered and certainly the performance was not tight at all with me even finding myself waffling utter nonsense that is not in my set at one point. I came off stage a little early as I could see I was not to their liking and I knew exactly why, it was piss poor lacked conviction and I was way off my best.
Closer Mark Felgate who had been to the Solihull Debacle with me the previous week was on next and he showed me ow its done with confidence and ease as he used his charm to win them over then his ventriloquism with no dummy was very funny. I took plenty from the night and the good thing about being so poor is that they will not remember me so I can bounce back.
gig 121
Pudsey Bojangles gig is essentially no longer my gig as the responsibility for booking it and promoting is falling on the Pudsey based event planner James Hardy. But I will remain resident compere and I was in charge for this night that boasted a fabulous line up. There is a problem with Bojangles as a Venue, there is no door from the down stairs bar so the noise from downstairs was filtering up and becoming a problem. This was a small issue in January too although only for an hour but tonight it spoiled things a little which I am disappointed with. Take nothing away from the acts that were all superb with Callum Scott opening and in top form followed by Jon Newell who despite my email asking not to, did new materiel however, it was as always with Jon, superbly well written and the audience seemed to really enjoy the 1st section. In fact someone (who i think missed the point) asked Callum if she could be his best friend (maybe she did see the point and was trying to be funny?) After the break Mickey Sterrett with his awesome new face wig strode through his set with the same professional style that so many of the pro acts I have gigged with recently and he was in the kind of form that makes him so highly regarded by so many other acts. Chris Grundy went 4th and was performing in front of an army of his friends who had come to support him. He looked a little nervous possible due to this but has enough personality to overcome that and deliver a decent set. The Major disappointment of the night for me came when a 3rd of the audience left before the headliner as did all but 1 of the other acts. Tony Jameson is a superb act and his set was one of a man who has total control over what he is doing so was a shame that people did not stick around (acts sometimes have to get trains etc fair enough) and it is poor etiquette in comedy to come watch only your mate then leave but never mind, Chris himself was the only act that stayed (with some of his other friends) and it was worth staying for. Even with the background noise filtering through Tony was excellent leaving the room wanting more. From a personal point of view I was happy with my own performance to a degree, could have done a bit more to warm the place up but they were a nice enough crowd to not require to much warming so I was also able to experiment with bits.
Gig 122
this was the middle of my 3 MC gigs and was at the national in Hull, one I have been a paid MC for before but tonight was relegated to open spot MC due to poor performance last time out (well due to it being a charity gig). It was quiet this time and the night was slow to start, I could tell from the audience that they were up for doing comedy but they was little energy and I tried to inject some but it didn't really seem to work. That said there was enough attention in the room and everyone was up for it so I brought opener Steve Rimmer to the stage and he went through his 20 min set with casual confidence and of course a wink and a smile. He got the most out of a quiet bunch and we went into the break feeling like things could lift. I did a little more materiel working in my new bits and trying to get laughs from the audience so that I could introduce Rich Austin to a warm reception, and so my mind began to think about his set and not calling him Steve Austin..... which is exactly what I then did!!! Fail!! I was gutted about the error but Rich just took it in his stride and went through his jokes totally unphased, another act that has cool professionalism about him. Billy Lowther was next and he was doing some new bits that I had not seen before, his Steven Hawking joke was excellent as was his memory foam stuff. Billy has such a high hit rate of jokes it was a shame there were not more people in to enjoy them. The final section was headliner Big Lou Jones, I have never met him before but he was a very nice guy back stage and was a very funny guy on stage with some great stuff about how he resembled a notorious gangster and was also mistaken for a notorious prisoner. Lou clearly had the room in the palm of his hand as he went about his set with style rounding off the night brilliantly.
Gig 123
This my 3rd MC spot in a row was at Keighley Exchange Arts centre. Now I did the 1st night there and there was originally a regular MC in Robin Leitch however, he has found success with his music I understand and so they now book guest MC's in each week. I was in good company as MC too as Mark Rough had once taken on the job so that is a high standard. Acts performing tonight varied from experienced acts doing some newer stuff to acts performing for only 5th of 6th time. There was meant to be a headliner as an easter treat bu this was not arranged and possibly with good reason as the venue is still building the night so only about half the number of people that I expected, were in. That said it was a nice audience of 25 or so and they were good sports in particular one young lad who was about 12 in appearance yet had a pint and assured me he was 18, he became the victim of a little bit of audience banter but was a great sport. getting going was tough and I was not too well prepared in fairness but I just produced some average ad libs and did some materiel readying the crowd for their 1st act. John Pearson or JP went 1st and spoke confidently about things that had some people cringing and other in tears laughing, he was very full of personality and gave a great performance, following him was the youthful Josh Walker who I had seen a few times when I 1st started. His materiel was much tighter now with a one linery style although he still needs a little more confidence or self belief but still very good. Barnsley boy Johnny Greatrex who now resides in the midlands was next and arguably the act of the night. He told with great detail the story of his naturist article that he wrote and how he researched it. Following on was relative newbie Jennifer Banks, she was very confident and gave a relaxed performance with some neat jokes. The 1st act after the second break was doing some darker stuff, his set was about getting cancer and in particular in his manhood. Sadly the audience just did not go with it and he really struggled, I tried to make light of the situation and make the audience aware he was not being nasty about cancer but instead I offended the act in question who promptly left although I contacted him by email and he is cool now he knows it was not an attack on him, he also informed me that his best gig ever was the one he did previously in Sheffield and he did the same set so it further proves that not every room will get you. The final act of the night was from Burscough think (near Liverpool) and was only doing gig 6 but he is definitely one to watch as he had some nice stuff and a real presence about him closing the night nicely. I was very pleased with how things went from a personal point of view and in terms of the night. I hope to return to keighley again soon.
Gig 124
The verve Comedy Cellar..... its on my doorstep and I can quite possible book myself in here fairly regularly so I have no idea why I haven't as I spoke at the top about local gigs not being the sort that would book me this gig is one that offers stage time to anyone and is a great little gig in a lovely venue run by dedicated people. Eddie and Pat now gaining assistance from Alistair Greaves and James Christopher. I arrived this evening to find the place rammed, a large portion of the crowd to support Gregor 'Monty' Burns which was nice. Performing tonight would be James as MC, Myself up 1st then Anthony Murphy and after the break Cormac Friel and Monty himself. The night started in the most bizarre fashion with the 1st issue being the microphone not working very well. James was able to overcome that issue but not to a level that everyone could hear too well and so began 1st of all a guy in the front who just did not shut up, he was answering every word that James was saying and with such odd responses not allowing James to carry on. This prompted some of the audience to begin talking among themselves, some heckling the heckler with everyone else just yelling shut up or trying to hear James. One lady yelled just get the 1st act on... I responded no dont... I was without a clue what to do, I had planned to just do all new stuff but going 1st and being given a longer set I figured I would do a bit of old and new. James did a sterling Job getting the focus back although I feared that if I showed any weakness then I would lose them so I hammered into some jokes, one topical and one brand new that seemed to work with walking like madness as the punchline. I worked the new bits about begging from a beggar and being stuck under a glassbottom boat in between tried and tested Jager bomb stuff and the big Julie sketch that I rely on so much. It went ok but I know that both new bits can be really tightened up. Anthony went next doing a little over 10 mins including a nice ringtone bit that reminded me of Ivan Brackenbury.
Cormac was up next, he has not done many gigs but showed a lot of charisma on stage and was very comfortable trying things out before heading off to Edinburgh this summer to do an hour show!! brave boy!
Next acts was Monty and I think I can sum him up well by saying he is strong minded, very confident, has some lovely anecdotes (not all worked though) and some great little rescue lines (his words, I though they were just nice jokes) but my god do not heckle him!!! he will rip you apart!! He did a lovely job and would have been the final act if not for the fact that Mark Hayden had been spotted lurking in the darkness. Mark went on to the stage invited up by James who had conceded, fuck it its a free night you get what you pay for, after some former Mr Bens regulars asked him to let Mark perform. It was what I have come to expect from Mark really, a performance that was interrupted briefly by him saying " I once opened for Joe Rogan you know" something which was lost on this audience as they did not know who that was. As it was Mark got all the men laughing and all the women cringing as he rounded off the night.... The Verve, I really need to be there more often!!
Next for me another couple of long Hauls as I make my way to Wincanton and Barking
So Haselemere gig 120 , well this was a 4 hour drive each way almost 500 (well nearer 440 but the proclaimers didn't sing they would walk 440 miles now did they) mile round trip for 10 mins stage time. This is something I'm prepared to do this year as I try and ensure I do at least 2 gigs a week if not 3. The drive and £70 fuel cost will hopefully prove worthwhile in the future as I start to push into paid work and gigs like this are a catalyst for that as I was in front of a proper comedy audience with professionals either side of me. Arriving a the venue I noticed that the layout of the room was a little odd with lots of buffet style seating and long tables all pointing towards the performing area (there was no stage). It looked a lot like many of the open mic gigs that I have done but as I went and sat in the area set aside for the acts I could tell this was like no open mic night as the 4 other performers all pro's chatted of gigs past and what they had coming up. They were very welcoming and warm with me as I came and sat with them and mad idle conversation before the gig started. The gig coincided with an England world cup qualifier which may be why most of the audience were women but at least the place was full. The Mc Neil Cole set about his work with cool precision and was quickly establishing the level for the night before opener Neil McFarlane took to the stage and delivered his deadpan jokes superbly. There was then a break and middle act Guy Manners with a shorter set got the best reaction from the room with his amiable style. I was next and really did not get much, my jokes perhpas too obvious or not well delivered and certainly the performance was not tight at all with me even finding myself waffling utter nonsense that is not in my set at one point. I came off stage a little early as I could see I was not to their liking and I knew exactly why, it was piss poor lacked conviction and I was way off my best.
Closer Mark Felgate who had been to the Solihull Debacle with me the previous week was on next and he showed me ow its done with confidence and ease as he used his charm to win them over then his ventriloquism with no dummy was very funny. I took plenty from the night and the good thing about being so poor is that they will not remember me so I can bounce back.
gig 121
Pudsey Bojangles gig is essentially no longer my gig as the responsibility for booking it and promoting is falling on the Pudsey based event planner James Hardy. But I will remain resident compere and I was in charge for this night that boasted a fabulous line up. There is a problem with Bojangles as a Venue, there is no door from the down stairs bar so the noise from downstairs was filtering up and becoming a problem. This was a small issue in January too although only for an hour but tonight it spoiled things a little which I am disappointed with. Take nothing away from the acts that were all superb with Callum Scott opening and in top form followed by Jon Newell who despite my email asking not to, did new materiel however, it was as always with Jon, superbly well written and the audience seemed to really enjoy the 1st section. In fact someone (who i think missed the point) asked Callum if she could be his best friend (maybe she did see the point and was trying to be funny?) After the break Mickey Sterrett with his awesome new face wig strode through his set with the same professional style that so many of the pro acts I have gigged with recently and he was in the kind of form that makes him so highly regarded by so many other acts. Chris Grundy went 4th and was performing in front of an army of his friends who had come to support him. He looked a little nervous possible due to this but has enough personality to overcome that and deliver a decent set. The Major disappointment of the night for me came when a 3rd of the audience left before the headliner as did all but 1 of the other acts. Tony Jameson is a superb act and his set was one of a man who has total control over what he is doing so was a shame that people did not stick around (acts sometimes have to get trains etc fair enough) and it is poor etiquette in comedy to come watch only your mate then leave but never mind, Chris himself was the only act that stayed (with some of his other friends) and it was worth staying for. Even with the background noise filtering through Tony was excellent leaving the room wanting more. From a personal point of view I was happy with my own performance to a degree, could have done a bit more to warm the place up but they were a nice enough crowd to not require to much warming so I was also able to experiment with bits.
Gig 122
this was the middle of my 3 MC gigs and was at the national in Hull, one I have been a paid MC for before but tonight was relegated to open spot MC due to poor performance last time out (well due to it being a charity gig). It was quiet this time and the night was slow to start, I could tell from the audience that they were up for doing comedy but they was little energy and I tried to inject some but it didn't really seem to work. That said there was enough attention in the room and everyone was up for it so I brought opener Steve Rimmer to the stage and he went through his 20 min set with casual confidence and of course a wink and a smile. He got the most out of a quiet bunch and we went into the break feeling like things could lift. I did a little more materiel working in my new bits and trying to get laughs from the audience so that I could introduce Rich Austin to a warm reception, and so my mind began to think about his set and not calling him Steve Austin..... which is exactly what I then did!!! Fail!! I was gutted about the error but Rich just took it in his stride and went through his jokes totally unphased, another act that has cool professionalism about him. Billy Lowther was next and he was doing some new bits that I had not seen before, his Steven Hawking joke was excellent as was his memory foam stuff. Billy has such a high hit rate of jokes it was a shame there were not more people in to enjoy them. The final section was headliner Big Lou Jones, I have never met him before but he was a very nice guy back stage and was a very funny guy on stage with some great stuff about how he resembled a notorious gangster and was also mistaken for a notorious prisoner. Lou clearly had the room in the palm of his hand as he went about his set with style rounding off the night brilliantly.
Gig 123
This my 3rd MC spot in a row was at Keighley Exchange Arts centre. Now I did the 1st night there and there was originally a regular MC in Robin Leitch however, he has found success with his music I understand and so they now book guest MC's in each week. I was in good company as MC too as Mark Rough had once taken on the job so that is a high standard. Acts performing tonight varied from experienced acts doing some newer stuff to acts performing for only 5th of 6th time. There was meant to be a headliner as an easter treat bu this was not arranged and possibly with good reason as the venue is still building the night so only about half the number of people that I expected, were in. That said it was a nice audience of 25 or so and they were good sports in particular one young lad who was about 12 in appearance yet had a pint and assured me he was 18, he became the victim of a little bit of audience banter but was a great sport. getting going was tough and I was not too well prepared in fairness but I just produced some average ad libs and did some materiel readying the crowd for their 1st act. John Pearson or JP went 1st and spoke confidently about things that had some people cringing and other in tears laughing, he was very full of personality and gave a great performance, following him was the youthful Josh Walker who I had seen a few times when I 1st started. His materiel was much tighter now with a one linery style although he still needs a little more confidence or self belief but still very good. Barnsley boy Johnny Greatrex who now resides in the midlands was next and arguably the act of the night. He told with great detail the story of his naturist article that he wrote and how he researched it. Following on was relative newbie Jennifer Banks, she was very confident and gave a relaxed performance with some neat jokes. The 1st act after the second break was doing some darker stuff, his set was about getting cancer and in particular in his manhood. Sadly the audience just did not go with it and he really struggled, I tried to make light of the situation and make the audience aware he was not being nasty about cancer but instead I offended the act in question who promptly left although I contacted him by email and he is cool now he knows it was not an attack on him, he also informed me that his best gig ever was the one he did previously in Sheffield and he did the same set so it further proves that not every room will get you. The final act of the night was from Burscough think (near Liverpool) and was only doing gig 6 but he is definitely one to watch as he had some nice stuff and a real presence about him closing the night nicely. I was very pleased with how things went from a personal point of view and in terms of the night. I hope to return to keighley again soon.
Gig 124
The verve Comedy Cellar..... its on my doorstep and I can quite possible book myself in here fairly regularly so I have no idea why I haven't as I spoke at the top about local gigs not being the sort that would book me this gig is one that offers stage time to anyone and is a great little gig in a lovely venue run by dedicated people. Eddie and Pat now gaining assistance from Alistair Greaves and James Christopher. I arrived this evening to find the place rammed, a large portion of the crowd to support Gregor 'Monty' Burns which was nice. Performing tonight would be James as MC, Myself up 1st then Anthony Murphy and after the break Cormac Friel and Monty himself. The night started in the most bizarre fashion with the 1st issue being the microphone not working very well. James was able to overcome that issue but not to a level that everyone could hear too well and so began 1st of all a guy in the front who just did not shut up, he was answering every word that James was saying and with such odd responses not allowing James to carry on. This prompted some of the audience to begin talking among themselves, some heckling the heckler with everyone else just yelling shut up or trying to hear James. One lady yelled just get the 1st act on... I responded no dont... I was without a clue what to do, I had planned to just do all new stuff but going 1st and being given a longer set I figured I would do a bit of old and new. James did a sterling Job getting the focus back although I feared that if I showed any weakness then I would lose them so I hammered into some jokes, one topical and one brand new that seemed to work with walking like madness as the punchline. I worked the new bits about begging from a beggar and being stuck under a glassbottom boat in between tried and tested Jager bomb stuff and the big Julie sketch that I rely on so much. It went ok but I know that both new bits can be really tightened up. Anthony went next doing a little over 10 mins including a nice ringtone bit that reminded me of Ivan Brackenbury.
Cormac was up next, he has not done many gigs but showed a lot of charisma on stage and was very comfortable trying things out before heading off to Edinburgh this summer to do an hour show!! brave boy!
Next acts was Monty and I think I can sum him up well by saying he is strong minded, very confident, has some lovely anecdotes (not all worked though) and some great little rescue lines (his words, I though they were just nice jokes) but my god do not heckle him!!! he will rip you apart!! He did a lovely job and would have been the final act if not for the fact that Mark Hayden had been spotted lurking in the darkness. Mark went on to the stage invited up by James who had conceded, fuck it its a free night you get what you pay for, after some former Mr Bens regulars asked him to let Mark perform. It was what I have come to expect from Mark really, a performance that was interrupted briefly by him saying " I once opened for Joe Rogan you know" something which was lost on this audience as they did not know who that was. As it was Mark got all the men laughing and all the women cringing as he rounded off the night.... The Verve, I really need to be there more often!!
Next for me another couple of long Hauls as I make my way to Wincanton and Barking
Friday 22 March 2013
Brown finger will do Gig 119
Only 1 gig this week but at least it was only a short journey although I did still manage to add 80 miles to my dads car which guzzled the fuel making me grateful for our little 1.1 smart car (which was out of service tonight)
It was Huddersfield bar1:22 for open for laughs. Sadly organiser Sally was not going to be there as she was off being funny in Glasgow at the comedy festival, also missing would be resident compère Peter Marshall so Chris Lumb from discount comedy checkout more than capably stepped in. York's James Christopher and newbie Tom Wilson were joining myself and Dave McAndrew for the trip.
Spirits seemed quite high in the car as everyone chatted about the usual comedy related stuff with the added bit of banter. Dave Mac as usual full of innuendo and jokes which makes the car journey that little bit sillier.
Arriving at the venue I was greeted by a former work colleague who lives in the area and who had come to watch me perform as he had not been to see me before, also sat across the room was another couple, Dean and Helena whom I was best man for but sadly do not see very often were also watching me perform, for the 1st time. I had initially feared this would be all there was however, people were filtering in as I was saying my hello's. One of the acts had brought a few people from his wife's side of the family along to support and there were a handful of others making it quite a nice audience of at least 25 people.
There was a nice atmosphere although one or two of the people stood at the back were chatting and not getting on board with the comedy early on.
Chris had some great techniques for warming the audience up including getting them to come on to the stage to have a photo taken with the mic as if they were performing. I had not met Chris before but know he is a strong act from the work he does with the improv goup (Discount comedy check out as prev mentioned)
so he had suitably warmed up the room for the 1st act a new act from Hull who's name I did not catch. From what I heard this was his 2nd or 3rd gig and he did a very good job.
Next up was Dave Mac and he had a new set. It was only a week or so ago that he txt me saying that his new stuff had... well the context was that it had not gone well! but tonight it all clicked nicely and the audience were loving it. This probably the best I had seen from Dave and I saw him storm it in Gainsborough.
James went next with an all new set, this I think will form part of his Edinburgh show the summer. I would like to see the full set as this snippet was excellent.
Tom was next, he was working through a lot of new ideas of which none were fully crafted into materiel yet. some worked some did not and Tom made the most of his time working out what was best at one point getting a big laugh where he clearly did not expect it!
There was a short break before the 2nd section was kicked off in which the caption competition to come up with a new Bond film title, the acts given the responsibility of choosing a winner, among some fairly weak attempts ( I wanted to sat entries but I'm immature and just giggled at the very word) there was one that was simply entitled BROWN FINGER, after a short deliberation JC said upon slight influence from his more immature colleagues 'Yeah, brown finger will do' which in itself amused me!
And so we baegan part 2 with Chris again superbly keeping the audience focus up and dealing with the guys at the back that were still chatting a little.
I was 1st up and wedged a new bit on scuba diving with some very new one linery type jokes in between some more tried and tested stuff. It seemed to go quite well although I had asked Dave to film it for me but my phone ran out of memory so I could not check, I also forgot to start my watch so I have no idea but I think I ran over my time by at least 2 mins. The newer stuff needs work but it was certainly ok as a possible 2 or 3 min set.
Brummie Eddie went after me and he was aided by having family members in the audience in as much as his brother in law was in and when Eddie was talking of his sex life the wonderful heckle OIIIIIIII, THATS MY SISTER was a highlight.
I missed much of the final act but again I understand he was very new and still finding his feet comedically.
And so another gig down, the car journey home oddly saw conversation turn to skeletons in closets and black sheep in the family stuff (led by my comments I would say but alas car share talk must remain as that and I cannot blog details) Next up for me is a long drive to Haselmere for a middle 10.
It was Huddersfield bar1:22 for open for laughs. Sadly organiser Sally was not going to be there as she was off being funny in Glasgow at the comedy festival, also missing would be resident compère Peter Marshall so Chris Lumb from discount comedy checkout more than capably stepped in. York's James Christopher and newbie Tom Wilson were joining myself and Dave McAndrew for the trip.
Spirits seemed quite high in the car as everyone chatted about the usual comedy related stuff with the added bit of banter. Dave Mac as usual full of innuendo and jokes which makes the car journey that little bit sillier.
Arriving at the venue I was greeted by a former work colleague who lives in the area and who had come to watch me perform as he had not been to see me before, also sat across the room was another couple, Dean and Helena whom I was best man for but sadly do not see very often were also watching me perform, for the 1st time. I had initially feared this would be all there was however, people were filtering in as I was saying my hello's. One of the acts had brought a few people from his wife's side of the family along to support and there were a handful of others making it quite a nice audience of at least 25 people.
There was a nice atmosphere although one or two of the people stood at the back were chatting and not getting on board with the comedy early on.
Chris had some great techniques for warming the audience up including getting them to come on to the stage to have a photo taken with the mic as if they were performing. I had not met Chris before but know he is a strong act from the work he does with the improv goup (Discount comedy check out as prev mentioned)
so he had suitably warmed up the room for the 1st act a new act from Hull who's name I did not catch. From what I heard this was his 2nd or 3rd gig and he did a very good job.
Next up was Dave Mac and he had a new set. It was only a week or so ago that he txt me saying that his new stuff had... well the context was that it had not gone well! but tonight it all clicked nicely and the audience were loving it. This probably the best I had seen from Dave and I saw him storm it in Gainsborough.
James went next with an all new set, this I think will form part of his Edinburgh show the summer. I would like to see the full set as this snippet was excellent.
Tom was next, he was working through a lot of new ideas of which none were fully crafted into materiel yet. some worked some did not and Tom made the most of his time working out what was best at one point getting a big laugh where he clearly did not expect it!
There was a short break before the 2nd section was kicked off in which the caption competition to come up with a new Bond film title, the acts given the responsibility of choosing a winner, among some fairly weak attempts ( I wanted to sat entries but I'm immature and just giggled at the very word) there was one that was simply entitled BROWN FINGER, after a short deliberation JC said upon slight influence from his more immature colleagues 'Yeah, brown finger will do' which in itself amused me!
And so we baegan part 2 with Chris again superbly keeping the audience focus up and dealing with the guys at the back that were still chatting a little.
I was 1st up and wedged a new bit on scuba diving with some very new one linery type jokes in between some more tried and tested stuff. It seemed to go quite well although I had asked Dave to film it for me but my phone ran out of memory so I could not check, I also forgot to start my watch so I have no idea but I think I ran over my time by at least 2 mins. The newer stuff needs work but it was certainly ok as a possible 2 or 3 min set.
Brummie Eddie went after me and he was aided by having family members in the audience in as much as his brother in law was in and when Eddie was talking of his sex life the wonderful heckle OIIIIIIII, THATS MY SISTER was a highlight.
I missed much of the final act but again I understand he was very new and still finding his feet comedically.
And so another gig down, the car journey home oddly saw conversation turn to skeletons in closets and black sheep in the family stuff (led by my comments I would say but alas car share talk must remain as that and I cannot blog details) Next up for me is a long drive to Haselmere for a middle 10.
Wednesday 20 March 2013
Snobby Hens Gigs 116-118
A strange week saw me turn up to 2 gigs that were cancelled due to no audience, drop out of one gig in lovely Hull due to work (Gutted as I was really looking forward to that one) and also turn a gig down only to go to one with no audience as previously mentioned. But the 3 gigs that I did do this week were all great lessons to the open spot comic that I am and another step towards being a strong act.
Gig 116.
This would see me return to the Lescar where I had performed once before but not for its resident comedy night the Last Laugh, this time it would be for last laugh as a middle open for a pro night headlined by Gav Webster and MC'd by Phil Ellis. As I arrived Jools from Last laugh was very welcoming and Phil plus anoth open act Rob Thomas were there and were also very welcoming which helped as I had a little bit of an attack of nerves! The opening act was unable to attend so things changed to myself going 1st after Phil had done his MC bit then Rob with headliner Gav doing a longer set, although he was yet to arrive.
The room filled up very quickly once doors were opened and there was standing room only, I reckon about 70 in the room and a buzzing atmosphere. Phil showed me how to get to the stage and then went up and did his bit. He has a very relaxed persona and was clearly liked by the audience as he worked the room skillfully and with charm. He was great to watch although I was watching most of it from behind as I was ready to go up. My set started steadily, there was laughter but it was slightly muted. It piked up a little as I got going but then I decided to work in a newer bit as there was an aeronautics engineer in the room which suited my bit.... MISTAKE!!! it did not get a laugh as it was clearly too wordy and not rehearsed... I waffled through it for about 2 mins to total silence before blurting out.. Holidays!! lets talk about those seeing as how the car stuff was going so well, this got a laugh of relief I think, almost like they thought.. ok he knows that was shit we'll forgive him. I then went on the the Big Julie set which has recently been criticised by some of my fellow open spot acts and as thus I had lost faith in the set. It was however my biggest laugh of the night and thankfully I had won back an audience I stupidly lost.
Rob went up and was just solid all the way through, he is a scouser and the accent adds to his witty observations and slightly aggressive style. I say slightly aggressive, it is shouty but in no way offensive or too much and he has everything just in the right measure. A very nice set.
Gav Webster went last, minus his ukulele he went straight on the comedy offensive with neatly placed lines and jokes in his opening gambit including an observation about how the room had contravened fire regulations due to how busy it was. As a long standing pro i'm sure he needs little compliment from me so all I will say is, FUCK!!! How will I ever be that good!!! Holy crap!! it was brilliant and yet I think he was barely out of 1st gear!! So yet again working with Pro acts such as Phil and Gav I have seen what I need to do.
I had some nice advice from Jools too, he said where he thought I was on the comedy Ladder (not that high) and what he thought I could do to improve inviting me to apply again for another 10 spot at last laugh in the future. The key thing was my set, and what I should do and I noted that he feels new acts change their set too often or write new sets too often and as a result promoters can't trust they will perform a solid 10, so I no longer feel like I don't write enough and this for me was a great gig even if i fucked things up a little.
Gig 117
I had another chance to be middle open at a pro night as I traveled to Solihull to do a gig for Mirth Control. The gig was being put on by Village hotel and they were responsible for the running of things, I arrived and the manager a pleasant enough guy but a little wet, showed me to the green room where MC Chris Norton Walker was sat waiting. Chris rather like Phil at Lescar was welcoming and showed me the room. There was a stage and DJ box where a rather twatty DJ was doing his level best to not help us organise things claiming that having a stage light would cost extra and that plugging a guitar into his amp was not viable due to liability insurance! anyway stuff him he will die in an accident due to being too busy filling out a jobsworth disclaimer form!!
The gig had sold out at 150 people but the room layout was not ideal with a large number of people facing away from the stage but this was a small problem... when considered against how things went, it was very small. The other acts arrived with Mark Cram 1st to arrive looking very laid back about the whole thing while I was still quite nervy, then opener Neil McFarlane arrived closely followed by headline act Mark Felgate who was keen to be referred to as guy who's going on last in a humble attempt to not be viewed as being any more important. The guys were again all very friendly and easier to chat to than open spots in that they were less tense, or not as soon as a gig is mentioned pouncing on it.. WHO BOOKS THAT!!!!
It was all very casual and Mark even said, we are all in this together I hope everyone does well.
The gig began, it began with a real whimper though. Chris had done his level best to get good lighting but there was nothing much the venue could do, there was a fully lit room, the Mic was a radio Mic that was clearly a Maplin cheapy effort and not really fit for purpose so it was not great sound... and then hen night to the far right of the room from the stage, well they just figured it was time for a chat and could not care less that comedy was happening. Chris worked hard doing all he could to get the room ready for comedy but it just did not ever kick off into a gig. Neil has a slightly deadpan style which with the poor sound system and the chatting hens was difficult for some to pick up, but his jokes were great!! I cant believe they didnt get more!! this was a great comedy set well delivered and yet only half the room were with him!
Chris tried to address this in the break and to be fair in the middle section it was not as bad as Mark did a superb job of trying to keep the noisy hens at bay! then my turn came up and I was immediately aware how difficult it was to hear the comedy due to the laughing (not at us) and chatting from the big table of women who cared not one bit for comedy. One audience member told me she could not hear, one yelled tell them Gypo's to shut up, they did not hear this. My set was incidental really, I got some laughs and some nice bits with a mini applause break started by Chris as he willed the gig to improve.
AS the final section got underway and Mark began his set word had got round the Hens that they were not liked by the rest of the room, suddenly one got up and started yelling who called us Gypo's and began pacing towards a random table with daughter following behind yelling leave it mum!! This classy outburst saw them leave but most of the group stayed and continued to be a problem. Mark now addressed this to large applause before a woman yelled I quote 'There is no need to Fucking swear at us' A, Mark did not swear and B,.... well B is obvious really. Mark did return fire though swearing this time much to the delight of the rest of the audience. AS they left the mother of the bride saw me stood in the doorway watching the gig and collered me, she pointed a wagging finger and said my husband earns more in a day than all you comedians do in a year, the problem in there is they are all snobs!! yet more irony from the lovely ladies. as she walked away she was yelling I live in a big house I don't need this!! Good Lord!! bye then.
And so Mark completed his set and we all returned to the green room to evaluate what just happened.
I still had a lot of fun though and look forward to my next Mirth Gig in Haselmere along with Neil and Mark again.
Gig118
This was a nice gig to get on and the culmination of Chris Heads course for brand new/ novice acts. It would be the 1st time on stage for most of the acts, 14 in total, and I had the pleasure of being asked to Headline, of course taking what Mark Felgate said in my last gig I will go with close rather than headline. Barry Ferns was asked to MC adding the pro element of the night.
This would be hosted at Funny Side of Covent gardens venue the George on the strand and was sold out! the place was rammed!! another lovely atmosphere. I wont review everyones performance as there were so many but I will say that the acts all brought their A game to say how new they were.
The gig was in 2 sections with 8 in the 1st and 7 myself included in the second. The only real down side was that each act was given 5 mins but nearly all went over that time and some went over by 3 mins. This is something they will learn as newbies and not a massive issue apart from that when I went on the audience had lost the desire to pay attention and I really had to work hard to get them back. My slot was taken up ith me trying to get the room to come to life and I had to give some jokes real long pauses as they sunk in! But I got through it and there were even a couple of small applauses which I now mention in every blog because I clearly like to pat myself on the back!
I had done my bit and I felt good but also a little exhausted, It was a long travel and and the gig itself somehow mentally draining. I took a lot from it though, a tired crowd, a long night, how best to work that. A bit of energy and some silliness is all it takes and the confidence to trust your jokes even if they dont seem to be landing. I played back the tape on the train and can safely say I sound like a dick... but that aside I was happy with how it went and what I took from it.
Next for me a quiet week before a trip to Huddersfield for my 3rd Bar 1.22 gig.
Gig 116.
This would see me return to the Lescar where I had performed once before but not for its resident comedy night the Last Laugh, this time it would be for last laugh as a middle open for a pro night headlined by Gav Webster and MC'd by Phil Ellis. As I arrived Jools from Last laugh was very welcoming and Phil plus anoth open act Rob Thomas were there and were also very welcoming which helped as I had a little bit of an attack of nerves! The opening act was unable to attend so things changed to myself going 1st after Phil had done his MC bit then Rob with headliner Gav doing a longer set, although he was yet to arrive.
The room filled up very quickly once doors were opened and there was standing room only, I reckon about 70 in the room and a buzzing atmosphere. Phil showed me how to get to the stage and then went up and did his bit. He has a very relaxed persona and was clearly liked by the audience as he worked the room skillfully and with charm. He was great to watch although I was watching most of it from behind as I was ready to go up. My set started steadily, there was laughter but it was slightly muted. It piked up a little as I got going but then I decided to work in a newer bit as there was an aeronautics engineer in the room which suited my bit.... MISTAKE!!! it did not get a laugh as it was clearly too wordy and not rehearsed... I waffled through it for about 2 mins to total silence before blurting out.. Holidays!! lets talk about those seeing as how the car stuff was going so well, this got a laugh of relief I think, almost like they thought.. ok he knows that was shit we'll forgive him. I then went on the the Big Julie set which has recently been criticised by some of my fellow open spot acts and as thus I had lost faith in the set. It was however my biggest laugh of the night and thankfully I had won back an audience I stupidly lost.
Rob went up and was just solid all the way through, he is a scouser and the accent adds to his witty observations and slightly aggressive style. I say slightly aggressive, it is shouty but in no way offensive or too much and he has everything just in the right measure. A very nice set.
Gav Webster went last, minus his ukulele he went straight on the comedy offensive with neatly placed lines and jokes in his opening gambit including an observation about how the room had contravened fire regulations due to how busy it was. As a long standing pro i'm sure he needs little compliment from me so all I will say is, FUCK!!! How will I ever be that good!!! Holy crap!! it was brilliant and yet I think he was barely out of 1st gear!! So yet again working with Pro acts such as Phil and Gav I have seen what I need to do.
I had some nice advice from Jools too, he said where he thought I was on the comedy Ladder (not that high) and what he thought I could do to improve inviting me to apply again for another 10 spot at last laugh in the future. The key thing was my set, and what I should do and I noted that he feels new acts change their set too often or write new sets too often and as a result promoters can't trust they will perform a solid 10, so I no longer feel like I don't write enough and this for me was a great gig even if i fucked things up a little.
Gig 117
I had another chance to be middle open at a pro night as I traveled to Solihull to do a gig for Mirth Control. The gig was being put on by Village hotel and they were responsible for the running of things, I arrived and the manager a pleasant enough guy but a little wet, showed me to the green room where MC Chris Norton Walker was sat waiting. Chris rather like Phil at Lescar was welcoming and showed me the room. There was a stage and DJ box where a rather twatty DJ was doing his level best to not help us organise things claiming that having a stage light would cost extra and that plugging a guitar into his amp was not viable due to liability insurance! anyway stuff him he will die in an accident due to being too busy filling out a jobsworth disclaimer form!!
The gig had sold out at 150 people but the room layout was not ideal with a large number of people facing away from the stage but this was a small problem... when considered against how things went, it was very small. The other acts arrived with Mark Cram 1st to arrive looking very laid back about the whole thing while I was still quite nervy, then opener Neil McFarlane arrived closely followed by headline act Mark Felgate who was keen to be referred to as guy who's going on last in a humble attempt to not be viewed as being any more important. The guys were again all very friendly and easier to chat to than open spots in that they were less tense, or not as soon as a gig is mentioned pouncing on it.. WHO BOOKS THAT!!!!
It was all very casual and Mark even said, we are all in this together I hope everyone does well.
The gig began, it began with a real whimper though. Chris had done his level best to get good lighting but there was nothing much the venue could do, there was a fully lit room, the Mic was a radio Mic that was clearly a Maplin cheapy effort and not really fit for purpose so it was not great sound... and then hen night to the far right of the room from the stage, well they just figured it was time for a chat and could not care less that comedy was happening. Chris worked hard doing all he could to get the room ready for comedy but it just did not ever kick off into a gig. Neil has a slightly deadpan style which with the poor sound system and the chatting hens was difficult for some to pick up, but his jokes were great!! I cant believe they didnt get more!! this was a great comedy set well delivered and yet only half the room were with him!
Chris tried to address this in the break and to be fair in the middle section it was not as bad as Mark did a superb job of trying to keep the noisy hens at bay! then my turn came up and I was immediately aware how difficult it was to hear the comedy due to the laughing (not at us) and chatting from the big table of women who cared not one bit for comedy. One audience member told me she could not hear, one yelled tell them Gypo's to shut up, they did not hear this. My set was incidental really, I got some laughs and some nice bits with a mini applause break started by Chris as he willed the gig to improve.
AS the final section got underway and Mark began his set word had got round the Hens that they were not liked by the rest of the room, suddenly one got up and started yelling who called us Gypo's and began pacing towards a random table with daughter following behind yelling leave it mum!! This classy outburst saw them leave but most of the group stayed and continued to be a problem. Mark now addressed this to large applause before a woman yelled I quote 'There is no need to Fucking swear at us' A, Mark did not swear and B,.... well B is obvious really. Mark did return fire though swearing this time much to the delight of the rest of the audience. AS they left the mother of the bride saw me stood in the doorway watching the gig and collered me, she pointed a wagging finger and said my husband earns more in a day than all you comedians do in a year, the problem in there is they are all snobs!! yet more irony from the lovely ladies. as she walked away she was yelling I live in a big house I don't need this!! Good Lord!! bye then.
And so Mark completed his set and we all returned to the green room to evaluate what just happened.
I still had a lot of fun though and look forward to my next Mirth Gig in Haselmere along with Neil and Mark again.
Gig118
This was a nice gig to get on and the culmination of Chris Heads course for brand new/ novice acts. It would be the 1st time on stage for most of the acts, 14 in total, and I had the pleasure of being asked to Headline, of course taking what Mark Felgate said in my last gig I will go with close rather than headline. Barry Ferns was asked to MC adding the pro element of the night.
This would be hosted at Funny Side of Covent gardens venue the George on the strand and was sold out! the place was rammed!! another lovely atmosphere. I wont review everyones performance as there were so many but I will say that the acts all brought their A game to say how new they were.
The gig was in 2 sections with 8 in the 1st and 7 myself included in the second. The only real down side was that each act was given 5 mins but nearly all went over that time and some went over by 3 mins. This is something they will learn as newbies and not a massive issue apart from that when I went on the audience had lost the desire to pay attention and I really had to work hard to get them back. My slot was taken up ith me trying to get the room to come to life and I had to give some jokes real long pauses as they sunk in! But I got through it and there were even a couple of small applauses which I now mention in every blog because I clearly like to pat myself on the back!
I had done my bit and I felt good but also a little exhausted, It was a long travel and and the gig itself somehow mentally draining. I took a lot from it though, a tired crowd, a long night, how best to work that. A bit of energy and some silliness is all it takes and the confidence to trust your jokes even if they dont seem to be landing. I played back the tape on the train and can safely say I sound like a dick... but that aside I was happy with how it went and what I took from it.
Next for me a quiet week before a trip to Huddersfield for my 3rd Bar 1.22 gig.
Monday 11 March 2013
Died, Died, did ok Stormed it, Died!! gigs 110-115
lets just get one thing straight then, I didn't really die so to speak at any of this weeks gigs, nor did I or have I ever, storm any gig. I did some new stuff that didn't work to well but that has legs, I struggled as an opening 20 to lift a quiet audience I did ok at a night almost ruined by hecklers and then there was a gig with more acts than audience before I took part in a new act new materiel night that was like an other night of that nature.
I often take to Facebook to keep my friends who I don't see often in the loop about how its going, Someone pointed out the other day as some gigs had gone badly it looked like I was either fishing for love or about to kill myself... tis neither I just use social network to network with my social groups!
Speaking of which, please follow @jimbayes on twitter for random musings in 140 characters or less.
Anyway gigs..
Gig 110
This requires little mention really, I have been doing 9 weeks now of materiel generating workshops with performance and on thi occasion my materiel was all based on pop culture, I went through the topic of TV shows that make no sense to me and how Jim Henson came upon the Munah mun nah thing. Some will become small parts of a bigger set but on the whole I will discard it as shite!!
Gig 111
Nelson is unlucky in Cricket and I seem to love a cricket analogy (for anyone who does not know nelson in cricket is when the score is 111, nelsons column) This unlucky charm really has no bearing on cricket really never mind my comedy but still I had a bad gig in some ways and a good gig in others. The setting for this gig was Bolton's railway venue and I have to state that even though its not run as a paid pro night anymore this is still a great gig made better by Timmy and Tommo who are most welcoming and amiable. Amy Gledhill would provide travel companionship and on the night would also provide the most laughs if we discount headliner Ben Lawes who was superb. I should not take away from the acts in the 1st section either, Barry Meadon, Darren King and embarrassingly I forget the name of the lady who took to the stage last in the 1st section all doing great sets that the crowd of around 20 lapped up. Lee Thomasson did a guest appearance for 5 mins too which included some nice jokes. Amy did her standard set using the night to hone it and was in great form going off to huge ovation which is really what showed me up when I foolishly opted for all new stuff that I had not tightened at all, it showed as I got one or two laughs but in between long silences and bored looking faces. I learnt a few things about myself though, always a positive to take from everything (at least one reader has now vomited) Ben Lawes picked up the room from the lull I left them in and just injected some much needed professionalism, some good jokes and taught me a lesson in how to work in new materiel. I was impressed with his stuff and hope to catch him again.
Gig 112
I did not have to wait long for my next gig as this was a busy weekend for me with Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday gigs keeping my momentum going... thing is I had just had a flat gig, there was no momentum and now I was to be doing an opening 20 at Matt Fongs Hudds uni gig. There was talk of pulling the gig at one point as there was no one in the room at all just prior to kick off. By the time we started there was around 20 people in but the room was so big it looked like nothing. I went on and made the cardinal sin of saying something negative about the gig itself... I just made the audience think.. well if he thinks its shit we will think that too. I really had to work hard again for any laughs and in my mind some self doubt crept in... maybe I'm just not funny?, I wobbled a bit but then my brain went, nah fuck it carry on then you'll be better at the next gig and so after only 18 mins (yea a whole 2 mins too early) I crawled away wounded. Kahn Johnson went next and was in good form producing a nicely worked set that is delivered with Kahn's likable approach. Ross Brieley went up next and was as consistent as ever, Ross just makes the most of any gig and got plenty from a quiet room proving that I was not a victim of a bad crowd. Joe Bromehead headlined, I had heard loads about Joe but never seen him. He was not the prop act I believe he used to be but as a stand up carried an air of control, he did a couple of bits that didn't seem to work but just recovered instantly and was able to identify what they would go for. I quite enjoyed the line about setting fire to curtains for some reason. I always enjoy the gigs with pro headliners more as I am able to take something from how they go about their sets but I will really need to perform better tomorrow.
Gig 113
A return to Flix in Hartlepool run by Nick Banks who will be trotting off on a charity walk along Hadrians wall soon. We had a carfull coming from Leeds and Hudds, Callum Scott, Peter Brush, Sally Jones and myself. Last time I was at Flix it was a bit quiet, not so this time. Peter was the opening 20, most people who read my blog know Peter but for those who don't there is little I can say that will do him justice, go see him he is brilliant. It was hard work for him at the top not helped by a 'lady' requiring all the jokes to be explained to her creating a time delay that was audible to all around her.
I would be next, or 1st after the break. I had decided to do the same set as last time as there was not many in last time and the set has evolved a lot meaning that there are plenty of new jokes in there, it went ok but the 'lady' and another girl were creating attention for themselves and taking away a little from the comedy. This did not trouble Sally in fairness as she just cruised through her stuff with aplomb leading into the next break.
Daniel Carmichael took to the stage with his scouse accent adding to his persona he had the whole room cringing while laughing as he gave detailed description of a knob gag of sorts!! really enjoyable but also horrible to think about hence no details, I should note that this was a sexual reference, as was part of my set, the reason I note this will become clear shortly.
Callum took to the stage and went to work on some of his more clubby material I guess, he was not getting the usual laughs he commands but he went into his gay materiel and this is where things turned. Some numpty woman clearly had a problem with this and decided to heckle, not constructively or in a funny way but just vindictively... and how she wishes she hadn't as Callum slammed her!! and immediately got the crowd on his side. She took issue with Callum referencing gay sex yet had no problem with previous sexual references the stupid bigoted bint!! But Callum just swept her aside and completed his set to raptuous applause.
Headliner Steff Peddie basically did not do a set, he picked up where Callum left off slapping down the annoying woman who now just would not shut up. He then ditched the mic as everyone could hear anyway and proceeded to tell stories rather than materiel allowing for a lot of audience interaction. He did have to dispatch the annoying woman though who left to a chorus of bye bye from the whole room!!
With the main heckle issue of the night gone Steff went back to comedy set mode and finished the night off with style. Nick has himself a lovely gig and next month the gig celebrates its second birthday.
gig 114
Highlight Leeds have stepped in to the hole left by Mr Bens closing and have started a gong show running on Sundays. I originally turned down an invite to perform as this was Mothers day and I had Mother plans (see what I did there)
These plans ended in good time and after a phone call from another of the nights acts I decided I would take part. I'm not sure if i'm glad I did or not?? it was a usual suspects line up of acts who all started within the last 3 years. Jed Salisbury, Andy Woolston, Thom Milson, Si Finnigan, Ross Brierely, Callum Scott and myself. So when we consider that Vikki accompanied me, Mc Jon Lee and sound guy Wayne were present and act booker Dave Rivers were present then its a shame to say that there was NO AUDIENCE!!
It seems word has not yet got round although 3 guys did show up just after we had agreed to workshop the night. I was due to go 6th however, Vik wanted to go home as there was nothing much for her to enjoy about the night so I swapped with Thom Milson who was due 1st (and stayed anyway as Vik felt bad departing before everyone else had been on)
So I just talked bollocks into a mic tentatively testing my car and power rangers stuff, it was comedy gold I stormed it everyone said it was the greatest comedy performance ever and that I should be selling out arena's ! well not quite but I did at least try to include the 3 audience members that had bothered to come.
Si Finnigan was back in cynical mode choosing an attack on his peers, his set was funny and its nice to hear what he really thinks hidden in injoke form but it did alienate the confused people who were not acts. Callum I think went next and had a take on Gay comedy (is there such a thing as Gay comedy?) that highlighted what he despises about it. I had no idea.....
Jed went next and just riffed in Jeds own style bringing back the 3 people who essentially we were there for, this led sweetly to Jeds New York joke (which in the end was the winning joke)
Andy Woolston returned from a comedy Hiatus and had some lovely lines in a shorter set for the evening.
Thom talked about how he'd cancelled a date and then did a little materiel, he used the time to work through things and I think had a bit of a twist on some older/existing jokes but I have not seen him in a while so I am exited to see that howl and Mutant comedy appear to have merged as Thom will no doubt be appearing there.
Ross used the time to try new things, some one liner type jokes and then the incredibly silly John McCririck bit that I enjoyed on hearing about on the drive back from Derby.
So the night produced something for some and perhaps was not worth while for others I can't really be sure what they thought.
Gig 115
Well this was a 5 spot that was to practice what would be showcased in next weeks Covent Garden gig. It was pretty similar in many ways to the Highlight Leeds thing. I realised a few things though, those being how I come across to others and what persona works for me. There was feedback offered almost straight away (as I went last it seemed that way) and this was fair and constructive It's nice to hear to my face the home truths and to be told whats good about what I do too as there is always a nagging self doubt even though I am making no attempt to tackle hard hitting issues or topics of substance. I feel ready to start the second year of gigging like a freight train... I have no idea what I mean by that but this gig was well worth doing for giving me feedback.
Next for me 2 trips to Sheffield in 2 days then midlands and hopefully Hull although there may be work commitments preventing that as March otherwise continues to tick over nicely.
Don't forget twitter @jimbayes ;-)
Wednesday 6 March 2013
Happy birthday to me
I sit here writing this 12 months to the day that the awesome Mickey Sterrett won a gong show at mr Bens, this was a superb performance from a stand up act that I was instantly a fan of, but Mickeys win was not the significant factor of the evening. March the 5th 2012 I set foot on a comedy stage for the 1st time and told some jokes. They weren't all mine, I told two old jokes and one that was from sickepedia, I quickly learnt not to do this and thankfully had written some semi decent jokes of my own.
I have written a lot of stuff since that night and discarded most of it but 110 gigs later I now know my comedy voice and what direction I'm going in. This year taught me a lot about myself. I'm one of the older open spots and one of the least intelligent in terms of writing but what I do works for me and I'm not trying to be anything other than funny and likeable. It sounds quite sad really but my main aim is to be liked. I don't want to be the next Lois CK or Bill Hicks or Daniel Kitson, I want to be the 1st Jim Bayes and mould myself into a bookable act.
In this 1st year I have created a 20 min set that works as an opening 20 and as a result I now get a little bit of paid work. This is great but I am still a million miles from where I need to be to say that I am a real comedian. I have met people along this journey who are superb as comedians and indeed people. If I am to be noticed ahead of these people then only one thing will do it and this is graft. This is why I will be driving to Wincanton in a few weeks (4.5 hours drive) for a 10 min unpaid spot. These are the things that I must do in order to gig as much as I can to be a better act.
I would say I am a better act than 6 months ago and being offered paid work I guess proves this but as a fellow comic stated I have a great ability to perform with materiel that is not so good. It's true and this was a trusted opinion not a bitter attack or anything, I think a lot of other acts like my stuff a d what I do and they would book me if they were bookers but I M not content that I have anything that puts me in the mickey Sterrett ball park.
Mickey has bad gigs too of course but you listen to him talk and live what he is saying, he won that gong show a year ago because he is making jokes from topics with depth which very few open spots do to that standard (although an awful lot of open spots are still of a very high calibre which just shows how hard it is to make it)
So where does my act fit in the current market? Well I can only think the way I think so my act will not change hugely so here's the thing, another year of gigging like hell tweaking what I already have and adding new stuff and I will be ok. I won't win awards, I won't e regarded as refreshing or original or different but as long as I'm regarded as funny then I am happy.
It seems to me some acts forget who they are gigging to, most audiences have middle of the road views on things, most audiences like a knob joke here and there along with the stuff that makes them think. I am the act that balances out a night where someone with intelligent thought provoking humour had just been on, I'm the guy that just wants to be the audiences mate tell some funny stories be silly and go home. I am very aware of how audiences see me and even how some acts see me. This helps me, I know if I'm to be reviewed if it will be good or bad, for example review me this week in Birmingham and I think it would say, likeable with some good jokes but also talks nonsense a lot. It's how they see me and not how I see myself that counts and this is why I wish I could be reviewed at every gig just so I know where I am going wrong sometimes.
More honest feedback from other acts would help too but it's not easy to say 'that knob joke you did was a bit hack' when the audience were laughing their tits off, but the flip side is booked see through that and progression will not happen.
This next 6 months is massive for me, I have some new ideas to work in, some paid gigs coming up, some good for progression unpaid stuff and a whole year of experience under my belt now.
This year I very much am a man with a plan.
I have written a lot of stuff since that night and discarded most of it but 110 gigs later I now know my comedy voice and what direction I'm going in. This year taught me a lot about myself. I'm one of the older open spots and one of the least intelligent in terms of writing but what I do works for me and I'm not trying to be anything other than funny and likeable. It sounds quite sad really but my main aim is to be liked. I don't want to be the next Lois CK or Bill Hicks or Daniel Kitson, I want to be the 1st Jim Bayes and mould myself into a bookable act.
In this 1st year I have created a 20 min set that works as an opening 20 and as a result I now get a little bit of paid work. This is great but I am still a million miles from where I need to be to say that I am a real comedian. I have met people along this journey who are superb as comedians and indeed people. If I am to be noticed ahead of these people then only one thing will do it and this is graft. This is why I will be driving to Wincanton in a few weeks (4.5 hours drive) for a 10 min unpaid spot. These are the things that I must do in order to gig as much as I can to be a better act.
I would say I am a better act than 6 months ago and being offered paid work I guess proves this but as a fellow comic stated I have a great ability to perform with materiel that is not so good. It's true and this was a trusted opinion not a bitter attack or anything, I think a lot of other acts like my stuff a d what I do and they would book me if they were bookers but I M not content that I have anything that puts me in the mickey Sterrett ball park.
Mickey has bad gigs too of course but you listen to him talk and live what he is saying, he won that gong show a year ago because he is making jokes from topics with depth which very few open spots do to that standard (although an awful lot of open spots are still of a very high calibre which just shows how hard it is to make it)
So where does my act fit in the current market? Well I can only think the way I think so my act will not change hugely so here's the thing, another year of gigging like hell tweaking what I already have and adding new stuff and I will be ok. I won't win awards, I won't e regarded as refreshing or original or different but as long as I'm regarded as funny then I am happy.
It seems to me some acts forget who they are gigging to, most audiences have middle of the road views on things, most audiences like a knob joke here and there along with the stuff that makes them think. I am the act that balances out a night where someone with intelligent thought provoking humour had just been on, I'm the guy that just wants to be the audiences mate tell some funny stories be silly and go home. I am very aware of how audiences see me and even how some acts see me. This helps me, I know if I'm to be reviewed if it will be good or bad, for example review me this week in Birmingham and I think it would say, likeable with some good jokes but also talks nonsense a lot. It's how they see me and not how I see myself that counts and this is why I wish I could be reviewed at every gig just so I know where I am going wrong sometimes.
More honest feedback from other acts would help too but it's not easy to say 'that knob joke you did was a bit hack' when the audience were laughing their tits off, but the flip side is booked see through that and progression will not happen.
This next 6 months is massive for me, I have some new ideas to work in, some paid gigs coming up, some good for progression unpaid stuff and a whole year of experience under my belt now.
This year I very much am a man with a plan.
Tuesday 5 March 2013
Ups and downs Gigs 106-109
Well what a week of gigs I have just had.... new material that was horrendous, then 2 brilliant gigs followed by dying on my arse at the end of the week!!
Gig 106
This was a new material night and it was mainly attended by comedians and was a chance for me to just try a different angle. It reminded me of the CUT UP nights that HOWL ran briefly and like those nights I delivered nothing but shite!! in fact to quote a txt Dave Mac sent me, I might as well have done a shit on the stage and pointed at it, said there is my materiel and walked off!! It re affirmed the knowledge that crude does not suit me though and so for that alone I am pleased I did it.
Gig 107
Sully O Sullivan had very kindly recommended that I try get my self on at Chris Brookers Keighley. I had applied for this before an found it difficult to get on but the recommendation helped as I was booked in. I waited since October for the date to come round and was looking forward to it. A possibility to double arose too however the other gig in nearby Bingley wanted me on stage at a similar time so I stuck to just the one gig. Hayley Ellis would open, Dave Twentyman to close and Will Setchell was the other open spot with Chris MCing. The pub was rammed, that being the Cricketers arms, and there was an electric atmosphere. Hayley kicked things off with a brilliant 20 min opening set that the crowd enjoyed ever word of. It was nice to see a more advanced act and how she worked her jokes. The break seemed short and it was soon my turn. There were some nerves, I believed I would make them laugh but I wanted to be good enough to be re booked or considered for progression, what I got I could not have hoped for. My 1st line was heckled, a pleasant heckle really, it didnt add to the joke but it gave me a chance to have a back and forth with the audience and get a big laugh out of nothing, settled by this I went to my staple 10 min set routine and it just seemed to work. I had 3 applause breaks which has never happened before and it was nice to feel I was on form. I tailed off a touch but I think it was due to the slightly wordier story at the end. I wrapped up and came off stage buzzing. Will went next and was strong, he relied on what he knows rather like I do and talked about his upbringing with great results. If they liked me, they loved him!!. Speaking of loved him, Dave Twentyman was the headliner that the night needed, I had to stand at the back to watch him as during the break 4 burly 40 something men wanted to blow fire up my arse, hug me and repeatedly shake my hand!! it was nice and uncomfortable at the same time. Dave's set was slightly disturbed by a row between audience members but he handled that and carried on steadily building into some lovely anecdotes about going out with his mates, relationships and how to make the Asda tag line funny!! his set was about 40 mins but was called back for an en core and the following 15 mins were equally superb. closing off a great night and for me personally a night that made me 100% certain this is what I want to do full time if I can.
Gig 108
This was another away trip, this time to Birmingham for Dave Rhys Jones' laughing lions comedy club at the brown lion. Si Finigan was my travel buddy. Si is in great form as he starts to mould his comedy style to perfection. He had never gigged in Birmingham before and so most of the journey down we talked about why I felt I needed to come to the midlands for gigs and what good it does or does not do to drive for 3 hours do 10 mins to 6 people then drive back at the cost of around £50 in fuel!!! We also discussed materiel ideas and what we would be performing on the night.
On arrival the venue looked nice, brightly lit which doesn't usually work for comedy but nice. Dave came to greet us and gave us some drinks vouchers which is always a bonus. He would MC the night and did so with a laid back style. The 1st act went on after a short warm up. Joe Tree, who just did a short set of what I think was mainly new stuff. The audience were quiet which was not helped by a heckler who introduced himself as Wayne the Wanker!! Gareth Guild went 2nd but unfortunately Wayne the wanker stopped Gareth in his tracks about 2 mins in and he lost his way forgetting his next line which led to him leaving the stage very early. Si suggested we get him back on between myself who was next (1st after the break), and Si. Gareth said he would see if he felt up to it but as Dave pointed out its important to get back on stage asap when something like this happens. After the break went on and just tried to lift the room a little, I did some crowd work, some tried and tested materiel and a fair bit of new stuff. To be fair, most of what I did was shite, but it didn't seem to matter as the heckler had gone, the audience had warmed up and I seemed to blag my way through it. Gareth decided he would go next, this was a massive decision for a new act and took some guts as had it been me I would still be hiding now!! Thankfully he completed his set this time and did a good job.
Si went next and had some great lines about the heckler that still worked even in his absence. The new materiel was going down really well until a slightly wordier bit that Si stopped in its tracks and asked the audience where he lost them? they were on side but upon being asked this they clammed up a touch, so Si turned to a suited guy at the bar and tried a bit of a recovery with him... only this guy had just been to a funeral and responded with a line to the effect of, didn't realise I would be at 2 funerals tonight! this was a way back in that Si has the chops to take and he rounded off the set nicely with biggest laugh of the night so far.
We stayed to watch the remaining 2 acts however sadly I forget the name of the young lad who went next doing I believe his 23rd gig? and doing brilliant with massive laughs all the way through. Masai Graham was to close, he has the one liner comic style that can't really be compared to other one liner comics, often you may say, he is like Tim Vine, or like Milton Jones, but Masai is just Masai and has some great jokes. He tried some new ones tonight too which was pleasing to see as it must be so difficult to write one liners consistently.
The drive home seemed to take forever but there was a tinge of regret that I didn't have a dictaphone because I don't even know why but I laughed almost all the way home. I am certain I should do road trip pod casts as no matter who I car share with its always hilarious!!.
Gig 109
I was booked for Giggles Live to replace Jed who had to drop out of this gig and asked me to step in. Giggles Live is a touring comedy night that moves across venues in Hull mixing music and comedy. This was a Sunday night gig and as such it was nice to see how busy the gig was, especially at a £5er in. The guys had done well promoting it. One of the organisers Gary greeted me as I arrived and explained the night. Steve Rimmer (who in case he does not mention is the Uk's only bomb disposal technician comedian) would host with comedy music from the Custard Chucker and Matt and Me in the 1st section, then 2nd section was myself, Jack Gleadow and the Live Naked Idiots. The final section would be Gary Jennison the pre mentioned organiser and headliner Joe Charman.
The 1st section was more about the music than the comedy, while the acts were silly they were not comedy acts although opener the custard chucker would not be out of place on a comedy only line up.
I opened the 2nd section and it felt like I had interrupted a funeral at 1st!! they were just not in the zone, possibly not helped by me repeatedly asking them whats up?? one guy yelling out, its Sunday night we are tired!! I also did one of those tapping the mic, is this thing on lines that I despise!!!! silly prat!
I started to win them round towards the end of my set and by the last 2 mins they were laughing but it was too late I had already for all intents and purposes, just died on my arse. This was cemented by the belly laughs that Jack Gleadow and the Live naked idiots got from the room. Jack's set was only short but was neatly delivered from a guy who was very nervous and the idiots just used their 2 available performers to sketch out some sillyness.
Gary J went on after the break and went for an all out crazy attack which was funny and scary at times!
Headliner Joe is headline quality indeed but for me possibly not to all tastes?. The guy is very very talented and produced some really nice stuff with his human beatbox, in fact the only act that would have broken the language barrier given that there were 2 Germans, a Fin, a Frenchman and a Brazillian in. His take on how German Techno and Punjab dance sound were nice and the silly sound effects sort of reminded me of Ivan Brackenbury. The night brought to a close with a song created using suggestions from the audience.
Giggles live is a lovely set up and I hope to get a chance to perform there again... only I next time I am determined for more laughs!!
Next for me is another workshop gig on my 1 year comedy birthday.
Gig 106
This was a new material night and it was mainly attended by comedians and was a chance for me to just try a different angle. It reminded me of the CUT UP nights that HOWL ran briefly and like those nights I delivered nothing but shite!! in fact to quote a txt Dave Mac sent me, I might as well have done a shit on the stage and pointed at it, said there is my materiel and walked off!! It re affirmed the knowledge that crude does not suit me though and so for that alone I am pleased I did it.
Gig 107
Sully O Sullivan had very kindly recommended that I try get my self on at Chris Brookers Keighley. I had applied for this before an found it difficult to get on but the recommendation helped as I was booked in. I waited since October for the date to come round and was looking forward to it. A possibility to double arose too however the other gig in nearby Bingley wanted me on stage at a similar time so I stuck to just the one gig. Hayley Ellis would open, Dave Twentyman to close and Will Setchell was the other open spot with Chris MCing. The pub was rammed, that being the Cricketers arms, and there was an electric atmosphere. Hayley kicked things off with a brilliant 20 min opening set that the crowd enjoyed ever word of. It was nice to see a more advanced act and how she worked her jokes. The break seemed short and it was soon my turn. There were some nerves, I believed I would make them laugh but I wanted to be good enough to be re booked or considered for progression, what I got I could not have hoped for. My 1st line was heckled, a pleasant heckle really, it didnt add to the joke but it gave me a chance to have a back and forth with the audience and get a big laugh out of nothing, settled by this I went to my staple 10 min set routine and it just seemed to work. I had 3 applause breaks which has never happened before and it was nice to feel I was on form. I tailed off a touch but I think it was due to the slightly wordier story at the end. I wrapped up and came off stage buzzing. Will went next and was strong, he relied on what he knows rather like I do and talked about his upbringing with great results. If they liked me, they loved him!!. Speaking of loved him, Dave Twentyman was the headliner that the night needed, I had to stand at the back to watch him as during the break 4 burly 40 something men wanted to blow fire up my arse, hug me and repeatedly shake my hand!! it was nice and uncomfortable at the same time. Dave's set was slightly disturbed by a row between audience members but he handled that and carried on steadily building into some lovely anecdotes about going out with his mates, relationships and how to make the Asda tag line funny!! his set was about 40 mins but was called back for an en core and the following 15 mins were equally superb. closing off a great night and for me personally a night that made me 100% certain this is what I want to do full time if I can.
Gig 108
This was another away trip, this time to Birmingham for Dave Rhys Jones' laughing lions comedy club at the brown lion. Si Finigan was my travel buddy. Si is in great form as he starts to mould his comedy style to perfection. He had never gigged in Birmingham before and so most of the journey down we talked about why I felt I needed to come to the midlands for gigs and what good it does or does not do to drive for 3 hours do 10 mins to 6 people then drive back at the cost of around £50 in fuel!!! We also discussed materiel ideas and what we would be performing on the night.
On arrival the venue looked nice, brightly lit which doesn't usually work for comedy but nice. Dave came to greet us and gave us some drinks vouchers which is always a bonus. He would MC the night and did so with a laid back style. The 1st act went on after a short warm up. Joe Tree, who just did a short set of what I think was mainly new stuff. The audience were quiet which was not helped by a heckler who introduced himself as Wayne the Wanker!! Gareth Guild went 2nd but unfortunately Wayne the wanker stopped Gareth in his tracks about 2 mins in and he lost his way forgetting his next line which led to him leaving the stage very early. Si suggested we get him back on between myself who was next (1st after the break), and Si. Gareth said he would see if he felt up to it but as Dave pointed out its important to get back on stage asap when something like this happens. After the break went on and just tried to lift the room a little, I did some crowd work, some tried and tested materiel and a fair bit of new stuff. To be fair, most of what I did was shite, but it didn't seem to matter as the heckler had gone, the audience had warmed up and I seemed to blag my way through it. Gareth decided he would go next, this was a massive decision for a new act and took some guts as had it been me I would still be hiding now!! Thankfully he completed his set this time and did a good job.
Si went next and had some great lines about the heckler that still worked even in his absence. The new materiel was going down really well until a slightly wordier bit that Si stopped in its tracks and asked the audience where he lost them? they were on side but upon being asked this they clammed up a touch, so Si turned to a suited guy at the bar and tried a bit of a recovery with him... only this guy had just been to a funeral and responded with a line to the effect of, didn't realise I would be at 2 funerals tonight! this was a way back in that Si has the chops to take and he rounded off the set nicely with biggest laugh of the night so far.
We stayed to watch the remaining 2 acts however sadly I forget the name of the young lad who went next doing I believe his 23rd gig? and doing brilliant with massive laughs all the way through. Masai Graham was to close, he has the one liner comic style that can't really be compared to other one liner comics, often you may say, he is like Tim Vine, or like Milton Jones, but Masai is just Masai and has some great jokes. He tried some new ones tonight too which was pleasing to see as it must be so difficult to write one liners consistently.
The drive home seemed to take forever but there was a tinge of regret that I didn't have a dictaphone because I don't even know why but I laughed almost all the way home. I am certain I should do road trip pod casts as no matter who I car share with its always hilarious!!.
Gig 109
I was booked for Giggles Live to replace Jed who had to drop out of this gig and asked me to step in. Giggles Live is a touring comedy night that moves across venues in Hull mixing music and comedy. This was a Sunday night gig and as such it was nice to see how busy the gig was, especially at a £5er in. The guys had done well promoting it. One of the organisers Gary greeted me as I arrived and explained the night. Steve Rimmer (who in case he does not mention is the Uk's only bomb disposal technician comedian) would host with comedy music from the Custard Chucker and Matt and Me in the 1st section, then 2nd section was myself, Jack Gleadow and the Live Naked Idiots. The final section would be Gary Jennison the pre mentioned organiser and headliner Joe Charman.
The 1st section was more about the music than the comedy, while the acts were silly they were not comedy acts although opener the custard chucker would not be out of place on a comedy only line up.
I opened the 2nd section and it felt like I had interrupted a funeral at 1st!! they were just not in the zone, possibly not helped by me repeatedly asking them whats up?? one guy yelling out, its Sunday night we are tired!! I also did one of those tapping the mic, is this thing on lines that I despise!!!! silly prat!
I started to win them round towards the end of my set and by the last 2 mins they were laughing but it was too late I had already for all intents and purposes, just died on my arse. This was cemented by the belly laughs that Jack Gleadow and the Live naked idiots got from the room. Jack's set was only short but was neatly delivered from a guy who was very nervous and the idiots just used their 2 available performers to sketch out some sillyness.
Gary J went on after the break and went for an all out crazy attack which was funny and scary at times!
Headliner Joe is headline quality indeed but for me possibly not to all tastes?. The guy is very very talented and produced some really nice stuff with his human beatbox, in fact the only act that would have broken the language barrier given that there were 2 Germans, a Fin, a Frenchman and a Brazillian in. His take on how German Techno and Punjab dance sound were nice and the silly sound effects sort of reminded me of Ivan Brackenbury. The night brought to a close with a song created using suggestions from the audience.
Giggles live is a lovely set up and I hope to get a chance to perform there again... only I next time I am determined for more laughs!!
Next for me is another workshop gig on my 1 year comedy birthday.
Monday 25 February 2013
Posh Doncaster Gig105
I feel like i'm bag on the gig momentum as took on my 3rd gig of the week, this like Tueasdays was for our mothers do ave em run by Matt Fong and was in the lovely Bawtry theatre in posh Doncaster (yeah its really true there is a posh part) There was to be myself doing the opening 15, Matt Fong 2nd then a break with the middle section containing Fran Garrity (or Frank Gravity if the facebook group is to be belived) Andrea Whittaker and Ross Brierley with Alex Boardman headlining and Nick Banks at the helm.
The short trip across Ross and opted for some version of deep conversation and discussed the possibility of the comedy bubble bursting just as we get any good at it amongst other things, Ross is a very self aware guy and also a good comic in the open mic arena. He knows when its going badly the reasons why and seldom blames anything but himself for that and this comes across when chatting en route to gigs with him.
We arrived in Bawtry to see what looked like a lovely little venue, and once inside confirmed it was as Matt was waiting in the doorway. He lead us through to the green room up above the theatre stage where the north east contingent were sat waiting. They were all in good spirits and the atmosphere among the acts was nice. The gig started and Nick who is a strong MC was working hard to get the crowd going, he got into conversation with a guy called Claudio who we were to discover over the course of the evening was a tool!! It was not going to be a problem for me as he hadn't quite got into full tool mode at the point of my timeslot. I tried a new intro today, I was announced to the stage but left it 20 seconds before emerging clutching a Macdonalds bag.... I just got a cheeseburger for 99p... Yeah I wont do that again!! My set otherwise went ok, the new bits were a bit flat and too wordy as I clearly delivered them with no confidence but my tried and tested was going quite well including an applause break (sort of as when it gained momentum I began talking again.. div)
I was relatively happy with the set but I know I have been tighter and better so I say relatively happy but it is tinged with disappointment.
I missed Matt's set unfortunately however, heard he did something with a bottle that went really well... no idea what though!! sorry Matt.
2nd section was when Claudio upped his numpty level a notch, Fran was not really a victim of it as his sort of deadpan laid back style was nice and his jokes about fore exit and I hope you get better soon were lovely. I thought Fran was nic and solid with a quietish crowd. Andrea was more a victim of the Claudio show... it riles me that I have mentioned his name this many times, from now on he is just 'that tool'! Andrea was doing ok but she required a bit of audience input and 'that tool' thought he would try and make it all about him. By now Alex our headliner had arrived and 1st thing he picked up on was the behavior of our new common enemy who clearly was spoiling it for the others with his random heckles that made no sense. During Ross' set he blurted out nonsense 3 times but when Ross addressed it he acted like nothing had happened at all. it really took away from Ross' set which was being raved about by Alex, a nice compliment for Ross. So the middle section was by no fault of the acts a bit odd and a touch quiet. Nick got the audience to focus back on the comedy at the start of the headline section with his lovely Frank Spencer bit before Alex went out and spent the 1st 2 mins destroying 'that tool' much to the enjoyment of everybody else at the gig. This was a 30 min set of a pro and it showed we opens still have a bit of work to do, the subject matter was something I think we are all acheiving but the way it was delivered with technical ability and made exponentially funnier somehow was great to watch as with Sully earlier in the week. It was a great end to the gig that one numpty aside was lovely.
Next up workshop gig 6 and a trip to Birmngham again.
Saturday 23 February 2013
It was rammed last month, Gigs103-104
I once again found myself sat on a megabus, the hellish journey to London made worse by half term and the fact that the bus was full, cramped and smelly. For some reason the bus driver opted to have the heating on... when you can feel the sweat in your bum cheeks you know its not a nice journey! still I feel it is a worthwhile one, I would be performing only 5 minutes of materiel all newly written especially for these shows. I am pleased I decided to do this, I need to write and I need a goal with the writing as I do not have spare time or a plethora of thoughts like some of the talented writers in and around the open mic scene in Leeds and beyond. I had also recently procured some materiel from another act as he had decided it didn't suit him and it fit perfectly in one of my anecdotes. Now this was all fine until I was contacted with a very polite email from another comic who claimed this materiel to be his, he even provided an audio clip to prove it, this clip proved nothing really however, I know I did not write this and I do not want an unfair reputation forming for myself or this other act and his approach was fair although he was tipped off by other acts I had nicked this.... I do not know exactly what was said but unless you are certain and 100% whiter than white then be wary of accusations, I work hard and could do without some miscued accusations stewing in my head.
My latest attempt at a fresh 5 was my best yet I think, I stepped on to the stage with an opening line about the mundane thoughts I have when driving, then escalated them to how my mind works on the Monday drive to work moving on to how much I hate my car and thoughts about cars in general. I was very pleased with the reaction and some nice big laughs where I had hoped... it was the 1st time I felt in control of my comedy and not just saying random shit hoping it would be funny although that is essentially still all it is.
gig 103 down and I felt pleased with progress.
104 Derby Uni
My next gig was a trip to Derby University with Ross Brierely who's company is always enjoyable. The usual chat of how we know everyone better than they know themselves and of course despite having less than a year under our belt we of know how comedy should work (we are very aware we know fuck all by the way, I wouldn't want this blog post reviewing and being misunderstood)
Arrival at the uni was well timed with the hockey team all gathered in the foyer... hello ladies!! however, when we arrived at the gig it was a ghost town!! the standard you should have seen it last month quote followed but from all accounts it was rammed last month, this month.. half term.. just 16! but they were a good 16 to have in as they were confident to laugh out loud, intelligent and attentive. I was up 1st, Matt Fong opted not to do too much MCing and I expected them to be a bit cold, not at all, they were lovely. I enjoyed my 15 minutes and it seems they did too. Rick Wood was next, I unfortunately missed his set as I went to say hello to headliner Sully who had just arrived and then a beer stop but I heard he did well with a shorter set of new stuff. Dan Nicholas went next and as always just made everyone laugh by being there! his awkward appearance and clever usage of pauses, facial expressions and movement were a hit. Ross Brierely who's name I'm never sure if I am spelling right followed and was as ever commanding, entertaining and funny. Ross has a superb attitude and no matter how a gig is going he will do everything he can to remain as professional as an act of his calibre can, I say his calibre as he does not have 16 years man and boy experience that some acts have yet it seems he has and he rounded off the open spot section of the gig in style.
Sully went on after the break and owned the stage, he was able to gauge the level of the room instantly and delivered his set like it was the 1st time the words had ever been spoken, to a room of just 16, t was great to watch... this is the ultimate perk of being a stand up, you get to see great stand up at all levels.
The traditional MacDonalds stop before driving home was included and the workshop of a car journey home was great fun with both Ross and I coming up with a new joke for each others set. Another one of those great nights, next stop London again where I will be doing one liners and also talking about sex baby.
My latest attempt at a fresh 5 was my best yet I think, I stepped on to the stage with an opening line about the mundane thoughts I have when driving, then escalated them to how my mind works on the Monday drive to work moving on to how much I hate my car and thoughts about cars in general. I was very pleased with the reaction and some nice big laughs where I had hoped... it was the 1st time I felt in control of my comedy and not just saying random shit hoping it would be funny although that is essentially still all it is.
gig 103 down and I felt pleased with progress.
104 Derby Uni
My next gig was a trip to Derby University with Ross Brierely who's company is always enjoyable. The usual chat of how we know everyone better than they know themselves and of course despite having less than a year under our belt we of know how comedy should work (we are very aware we know fuck all by the way, I wouldn't want this blog post reviewing and being misunderstood)
Arrival at the uni was well timed with the hockey team all gathered in the foyer... hello ladies!! however, when we arrived at the gig it was a ghost town!! the standard you should have seen it last month quote followed but from all accounts it was rammed last month, this month.. half term.. just 16! but they were a good 16 to have in as they were confident to laugh out loud, intelligent and attentive. I was up 1st, Matt Fong opted not to do too much MCing and I expected them to be a bit cold, not at all, they were lovely. I enjoyed my 15 minutes and it seems they did too. Rick Wood was next, I unfortunately missed his set as I went to say hello to headliner Sully who had just arrived and then a beer stop but I heard he did well with a shorter set of new stuff. Dan Nicholas went next and as always just made everyone laugh by being there! his awkward appearance and clever usage of pauses, facial expressions and movement were a hit. Ross Brierely who's name I'm never sure if I am spelling right followed and was as ever commanding, entertaining and funny. Ross has a superb attitude and no matter how a gig is going he will do everything he can to remain as professional as an act of his calibre can, I say his calibre as he does not have 16 years man and boy experience that some acts have yet it seems he has and he rounded off the open spot section of the gig in style.
Sully went on after the break and owned the stage, he was able to gauge the level of the room instantly and delivered his set like it was the 1st time the words had ever been spoken, to a room of just 16, t was great to watch... this is the ultimate perk of being a stand up, you get to see great stand up at all levels.
The traditional MacDonalds stop before driving home was included and the workshop of a car journey home was great fun with both Ross and I coming up with a new joke for each others set. Another one of those great nights, next stop London again where I will be doing one liners and also talking about sex baby.
Tuesday 19 February 2013
Lost in the midlands gigs100-102
Now anyone who plays cricket (immediately people stop reading and yawn) will know that getting your century is a big thing, so I shall use this analogy, you see when you are on 99 you want to hit Shane Warne or Dale Steyn back over their head for a massive Six. So when you are on 99 gigs you want your 100th to be that massive 6, maybe a pro bill on a Saturday where you rip the room to apart and pull the supermodel on the front row... but my 100th gig was more like that chipped mishit shot that 3rd slip should really have caught as you trudge through for a lucky single..... shit analogies aside I was pleased to get to 100 albeit in the safe environment of the London workshop I have been attending, this is still a gig for those who are sneering as there is an audience to perform to after in a small room and there is a full round up of acts going through their routines. My turn was right at the end, I had written a new 5 as are the rules for this gig. I had opted to write about a run in i had had with a homeless guy after a night out, something i had been toying with writing about previously to say it went well would sound cocky but.... it went well, the laughs happened where i had hoped although it was a very friendly supportive audience. So gig 100 on a Monday night in a tiny room above a pub in London with a battery operated PA, about 14 in the audience and all new materiel... but 100 not out (ok Jim fuck off with the cricket stuff already)
Gig 101 was part one of a double header in Birmingham.
It was run in a lovely little social club in Erdington just outside of central Brum by Andy Nightingale. I was down to do January however the gig was pulled due to snow which was a shame however at that time i was suffering from Tonsilitis so glad it worked out that way and now as I have the final of the roadhouse new act competition in Stirchley (about 20 min drive away) it was nice to double up.
When I arrived at Hollywood social Andy was waiting in the doorway and welcomed me, he directed me to the back room where 2 guys sat chatting along with a lady, they were the other 2 open spots and the girlfriend of one. Both lads were celebrating a year in stand up, although they were a month ahead of me in start time they were a few gigs behind me at around 20 or so each. Headliner Andy White and the MC Dave Dinsdale arrived shortly after as did opener Pete Teckman. They headed for the green room (or pool room) and so I went to join as did Shaun and Gareth the other two open spots previously mentioned. In the green room I found myself talking like i was performing materiel... I didn't mean to I just came across as that twat that never stops!! it was actually nerves as I am not gigging regularly at the moment, I cant get booked locally which is fine but booking myself into this long haul gigs means I am not as match fit as I should be. This was largely evident in my set, I was nervy in my delivery and did not land every punch line... I was fixated on a lady in the front row of the 30 or so strong crowd who was hating me!! her boyfriend not too keen either and I believe he was Andys brother.. oh well. I dropped my new bits on the homeless guy and handshakes in and they went ok but on the whole i was well below par. I could not stay to watch the others so i said my goodbyes and dashed across Brum to Stirchly.
Gig 102
So I had entered a new act competition (in June I think) the heats were held over a few months with some 300 acts I'm told taking part? I had heard nothing so assumed no success so when I received an email congratulating me on making the final I was chuffed. What was even more pleasing was seeing what the prize was, for being a finalist I would be performing at GlastonBudget on the comedy stage that was going to be debuted this year. GlastonBudget is basically a scale down version of glastonbury with tribute bands taking the place of real bands (of course tributes are still real bands) There are 2 stages, the main stage and the less main stage i guess? 15000 people will attend and now, for the 1st time, there will be comedy... and im on!! awesome. The final will decide who headlines the show as all finalists will be performing at the festival and have free VIP weekend passes to boot. So I arrived, late as I was at Erdington. When I arrived there was a young man playing acoustic guitar and singing both covers and his own songs, He was doing 10 mins and I was to follow a fact I discovered as i arrived. I was immediately worried, I had performed badly once already tonight and now I am following a musician... shit!! I was beckoned to the stage by Jamie Tipping the host, and the 1st thing I did was fuck up the mic stand!! but this brought a huge laugh as i tried to recover!! thankfully I was able to ride off that laugh and was in my stride quickly. My jokes were landing this time where they were not so much about an hour earlier. I took confidence and grew a little in stature during the performance. It was great fun and I could not be happier with the reaction as I got to my closer with 15 mins exactly on the clock, I was pleased but still a long way off my best, I had performed much better at Mr Bens new act final. there were 3 more acts following me, the next one straight after me was Graham Milton (i think) he flutted from general comedy to creepy audience interaction which worked nicely and there were big laughs for him. The final break was next before Jonathan Hipkiss took to the stage with his impersonation and voice comedy. He had a new bit which was lovely that involved a lot of facial expressions and was about the ages of boy to man. Masai Graham was last, a headline spot for a headline quality act and he delivered much like he did at Mr Bens. One liners do so well at these things and I could not deliver that many jokes which is why i waffle, the baby Due joke and Black country ones were the big hits with the joke rate meaning laughter was almost constant.... think we have seen our winner!! Jonathon told me that David Tandy was strong from the earlier acts as was Maggy Whitehouse and they were in with a chance but I was very much expecting Masai to win, so I was shocked to hear him announced as 3rd place!! really?? then 2nd place, I forget who tis was now but I remember feeling a little frustrated that I hadnt even placed, then the winner was announced.... and holy shit it was me.. I did not need to do false oscar night surprise, I was genuinely surprised... WTF I won?? so I get to headline at a festival?? that will look awesome on my CV!! galavanting off to Brum has paid off. So pleased with this. So much so I hugged all 4 judges (what a knob). I would have driven home buzzing but the M6 was closed and I wound up driving round in a big figure of 8 back to spaghetti junction 5 times!! Birmingham your roads are confusing enough without closing seemingly the only route home i have, and what the fuck is that roundabout thing at Walsall?? I nearly died the 1st 2 times I had to endure it!! Christ on a bike!!!
Next for me back to London town for more workshop comedy at the coffee house.
Tuesday 5 February 2013
99 but no flake Gigs96-99
Gigs have dried up for me a bit since becoming a
homeowner but I have managed to get a few in during the january transfer window
(a completely uneccasasry reference)
GIg 96
One of these was to be my 1st closer gig. I was selected to close not just on last which was nice. A 20 min set too which I have
not done on purpose much before (I did 20 mins at the Lescar once just riffing
which I must point out was not for last laugh). Doing the closing 20 was in no
way a measure of me against the other acts, in fact I was one of the weakest on
the bill!! but it was my style that meant the the lovely Amy Gledhill who
organised the night felt I would be a good closer. Opener duty went to one of
the best openers I know, certainly on the open mic scene however, this guy is
pushing into paid and rightly so. I am of course referring to Jed Salisbury. He
went through the gears nicely focusing on his more inappropriate stuff which was getting the laughs however, it did lead to a priest leaving!! I shit you not!!
I am sketchy on the order of the middle section so apologies to those involved if I remember this the wrong way round but I believe it was Anna King-Jackson 1st of second section, gigging in Hull made her accent stronger but it suited this gig perfectly and the jokes landed with the warm supportive crowd enjoying themselves. Si Finningan was next and riffed nicely, n fact it could easily have been material which was lapped up by the crowd. Next was Jon Newell, sadly I missed most of Jon's set as I was pacing nervously. I know that he did perform my favorite routine of his and he seemed in control with a new air of arrogance in a way.
I went last, I was looking forward to this but I just never got going, I was slow out of the blocks in a performance sense, I did zero crowd work and I did not time my jokes well... and that was just the positives!! But I relaxed a bit more as I got going and I thought I was able to cover up the below par performance a bit. I got some laughs though, some newer bits worked and all in all I was happy to get the experience of a closer spot.... although I will not be putting 'headliner' on my CV just yet!
It was a lovely gig to play and I hope Amy who did a fab job as MC keeps this going.
Gig 97
This was not so much a gig as a comedy testing ground, the audience made up of new acts. I did my 3 minutes based around the guy that sells sofa's and tried to create a ludicrous version of him... it went ok, lets just say that. Not much more I can say on this night other than the input of Geoff Whiting was the most invaluable comedy advice I have heard yet.
Gig 98
My Pudsey gig, sold out (although a few people did not turn up) and a strong line up from York.
There was something missing from the past few portion of quips nights though, some of the atmosphere was not there. Maybe it was the problems I was having the PA system, maybe it was because I was so tired, maybe because of nothing and it was just one of those things?.
Johnny F monotone opened and was, as ever, superb! just such an enjoyable act to watch as the audience laugh and also cringe as he stares around the room. Very good start after my fairly lack luster MCing had barely warmed them up. Simon D Heaven went next, He was a little self conscious tonight it seemed which meant his timing was not to its usual high standard, a few comments after were that he had by far the best jokes but did not wait for the audience to clock on quite long enough... Pudsey crowds need that extra second.
There was then a break before I returned to pick up the pace a little with the Mcing, it went a bit better for me the second section and the crowd seemed to wake up a bit. Alistair Greaves took to the stage next, he did a nice musical bit but it wasn't always clear what was being said. Sir Dickie Benson followed and put in one of the performances of the night, always a joy to to see sir Dickie in action and the Pudey crowd really enjoyed it.
James Christopher brought the night to a close with a set that included some great jokes along with James's geek chic style, there were 2 great moments with applause breaks, those being Gap year and def Jam! I like the way James presents his comedy and it was a pleasure to have all these acts, just a shame it was a bit flat compared to past nights but I took a lot from it personally and vow never to allow that to happen again..
Gig 99
This was my return to London, I was presenting my brand new never performed 3 mins on the awkwardness of greetings, I would say it needs a little tweaking and polishing but the feedback was good and my Debra nhams off the cuff joke worked although that kind of joke has been done before.
it was a no frills performance at a no frills night but I am glad to be getting some exposure to London and meeting the acts based there.
My next real gig is the Final of the roadhouse competition in Birmingham with a headliner spot at Glastonbudget up for grabs i better be on my A game, my last final at Mr Bens I was on my A game yet was not even top 3 so work to do and one of the guys who beat me, the man who came second that night Masai Graham is also in this final!
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