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
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