I made my debut in
Comedy on March 5th 2012 at Mr Bens gong show, that was 16 gigs ago now and i
returned to the scene of my debut with a different feeling going into the show.
There was still apprehension, doubt, nerves but i knew how it all worked now
and so i was less like a rabbit in the headlights and more like a guy who was
just casual going through the motions, thats not to say i didn’t give it my all
to try and be funny and entertaining.
Lewis Charlsworth was
again the MC, i had not taken to him last time, i thought he was derogatory
towards the acts at times but having seen him more and seen other MC’s i was
wrong to formulate that opinion and there was nothing wrong with his style i
guess i kinda blamed him for standing at the clap-off to almost silence when
most other acts got cheers and applause.
Tonight was quiet at
Mr Bens, the audience was around 25 strong, Vikki was amongst them having
bailed me out of a logistical situation with the car she decided to come
support although she hadn’t had time to go shower after her footy game so was
very self conscious which i feel i should mention if anyone sat near her!!! That
didn’t stop her owning up to selling lube for a living however!!
There were to be 9
acts following an opening 15 from the excellent Fern Brady, i thought the
running order was kind to me placing me in the 2nd half allowing alcohol
to make me seem funnier to the predominantly
student audience. Some familiar faces were on the bill too, Fern was there in
Stockton where i did my 4th gig to the most violent audience to
date, Ross Brielrey, Si Finnigan, Patrick Draper and James Dunn all people i
had gigged with previously and Eji Osigwe i had seen at HOWL, some very good
comedians to go up against and that showed when of the 9 that performed 6 went
through to the clap off. Also on the bill was a guy called Martin who sorry i didn’t
get his surname, John Newall (again i’m not 100% sure i got the right name) and
of course the legendary Mark Hayden, a man no one ever forgets seeing.
After Ferns superb
warm up set the cards were handed out, Vikki was given a card and i tried to
gesture to her that as my girlfriend she could not accept but she was not to
know and Lewis did not ask her if she was here to support anyone, but i think
she gave the card to the guy next to her anyway.. to be safe i told Lewis
before i went on to be certain she didn’t have the card. Martin kicked off the
show with some clever jokes and one liners, he was very funny i laughed a lot
during his set, the thing that let him down was his stage presence and
delivery, but he was only doing his 8th gig so that will come and he
will be great to watch then i imagine. Following him was J.Dunn the 4th
gig in a row i had done with him, he had been ill today and only came as it was
me who booked him in and he didn’t want to let me down, commendable but if you’re
ill you’re ill, he was doing better than any previous gong show and was on
course to get through but around 3 and a half mins in his set vanished from his
mind due to being unwell and he gonged himself of despite a mini recovery that
got him big laughs. Following James was John, his opening joke was that he only
had 4 mins of material and he needed to waste time! He was going well but his
set slowed down a little and that saw him gonged. The excellent Patrick Draper
was next, i saw him in Nottingham beat us all at the Maze gong show by a
country mile, never have i seen such a polished new act. He didn’t disappoint although
the room was proving tough with not many of them willing to laugh out loud. I
thought it would be difficult to follow Patrick but if one man has the
confidence and ability its Ross Brierley, he came bursting on to the stage with
energy and a new set. He breezed through the 5 mins looking totally at ease on
stage and as ever with a gong show i already had a winner in mind, tight
between Ross and Patrick so far but i turned to Eji and said, Ross has won this
already, i told Ross this too but he dismissed it modestly. There was a break
then 4 more acts, Eji was the 1st of those 4, he was doing great,
his set included silly jokes and clever ones, he was through the gong no
problem.
Si Finnigan followed,
i like Si’s stuff, it’s different and he has a look of a guy who will make you
laugh, his set included bits i have heard him do before and bits i haven’t, i
laughed at most of it and really enjoyed the set almost forgetting i am on
next. Again he eased past the gong.
My turn came, i was
sticking to the set that served me so well in Manchester and Preston, i must
try and learn to accept my set for what it is but i read so many things about
comics feeding stag party humour to gong show crowds and not relaying any
messages i sometimes feel ashamed of my jokes, but they are what i have right
now and the sooner i have more belief in them the better i will be at
delivering them. I was not getting the
same amount of laughs as i did in the North West but people were listening and
taking my set in, one guy was really enjoying it i saw him laugh a lot while i
noticed another sit stoney faced, then a card went up, the 1st card
i had received since being gonged off in Preston 4 or 5 weeks ago, i had come a
long way since then i thought and only 1 card from 9 possible since that day so
i’ll just ignore it and carry on, i finished my set and beat the gong. Phew.
Mark Hayden was to
close the show, his set is unique, no other comedian would dare say what he
says, whether or not it is what people view as good comedy depends on the
viewer, this crowd were stunned, they had no idea where to look, there were
guys laughing and girls..... well the girls were not too sure what to do and as
it was now all girls with red cards (the guy who carded me passed his card to a
girl in front row for some reason) the 2 min grace period up saw 3 cards straight
up. Undeterred Mark Continued for a moment or 2 longer getting his Peter Kay
joke in before leaving.
It was vote time, most
gong shows i have been to the winner is deserved, to win you must be funny
enough to keep them entertained for 5 mins and likeable enough for them to want
you to win, only one a few occasions has someone won because they have loads of
friends or family in the crowd or they did not use original material but
generally speaking the right person wins, i say all this because it seems
tonight like the vote was not based on comedy but rather 2 drunk students
opinions that Ross and I were quote ‘sexy funny guys’!! the final vote was
between Martin, Patrick, Ross, Eji, Si and Myself. But it boiled down to just
myself on Ross (a real benchmark when you can be up there with Patrick and Si i
was proud of that alone)
The 2 girls were
making the most noise, it was hard to tell who was funniest or who was winning
a popularity contest? Ross was the best performer on the night for me, but the
vote was so close, now i must add there were more than the 2 girls voting too
so we did make people laugh and had a good reception but they could not
distinguish who won largely thanks to the 2 might i add gorgeous ladies and it
was declared a joint winner Ross and Myself. I’ll take that, a wins a win but i’m
not sure how it reflected on my set if at all. It does however mean i have won
the last 2 gong shows i have been in so the confidence is growing. I’m not sure
if i now get to do an 8 spot at Mr Bens as a winner but if i do i will look
forward to another gig, speaking of which i have a fair wait til my next one as
i have nothing in for the rest of this week or next week, 31st of
May my next as i turn to MCing for the 1st time so some writing and research
to do before then.
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