Road trip, gig 16

Hollybush Cradley Heath was a gig I had heard about through the writing course I attended, having read more about the gig on the midlands comedy forum i decided to see if I could get a spot. Dave Francis who runs the gig was more than helpful and allowed me the opportunity to bring a car full from Leeds, so myself, Ben Gibson (doing his 2^nd gig) J.Dunn (doing his 4^th) and Dave McAndrew (doing 60 somethingth??) all took the available slots. A road trip was arranged. I had no idea at the point of organising exactly how much fun I was about to have simply in a car journey to and from the gig as well as at the gig itself. Now I’m aware the novelty of such road trips wares off and I have heard experienced comics say how un glamorous this aspect of comedy is... but we had chosen to do this trip to get some experience, to enjoy a gig outside of Leeds and avoid open spot saturation in the local area ect ect and I was going to enjoy my moment while the novelty exists.

I had met Dave and Ben via the forums (meeting men on the internet isn’t my usual pastime) and gigged for Dave at Vanilla. None of the guys had met each other before so we did introductions and set off. It was almost like we had all known each other years... well weeks at least!!

The journey was filled with banter, jokes and of course comedy talk, who we like who we don’t like and who is nice and who is not so nice, who is funny and so on. The rain battering my windscreen slowing us down was not an issue as we had plenty of time to do the 135 mile trip and it added to the banter. 3hours after we set off we were in Cradley Heath and at the venue. It was a nice little pub with locals already sat in awaiting the regular comedy night to take place. Hollybush Dave sought me out to introduce himself and see that we A, get on early so the place was busy enough after the journey (sometimes its a bit quieter) and B, get us all a drink. We were very well welcomed and it added to the enjoyment of the night.

We were to be 4 from 10 acts, i feel it best i do not review every act, one reason perhaps is that the 13 and a half hour round trip has affected my memory and the other reason being that a couple of the acts struggled a little, one guy forgot his set due to i believe a sabbatical from comedy and although he did attempt to improvise (classics such as didn’t there used to be a table there and how nice is that lamp) he did not recall his set, it could happen to anyone and such a shame. Another act who struggled did however bravely keep going and did his full 10 min set, his comic smile and cool shirt were not getting too much audience laughter however and as he is only very new i’m sure he will bounce back, there was clearly talent he just had not tapped into it yet... he does need to stop doing lists tho as we discussed on the way home.

Now this may sound a bit like i’m giving it the cocky big mister or something but i’m pleased to report that all 4 of us from Leeds were well received by the lovely Cradley Heath crowd, the most pleasing thing is that J.Dunn had struggled in Manchester, improved a bit in Preston but here they really liked him, he was getting good laughs all the way through and at the end one punter came to shake hands and congratulate him, a brilliant performance. Dave McAndrew also went down a treat, his set being flawlessly delivered and he was asked for an en core but modesty prevented. Ben too had some great moments, he was only on his second gig and it did not overly show, his almost Stewart Lee style especially during his random moment. I did ok, i was more flowery i guess than the other acts, my set had a few good moments but i dare say the Hollybush regulars enjoyed the other 3 more. But i always did understand my set was not the comedy gold i am hoping to achieve maybe in a few years?

Unfortunately i did not note down all the names of the other performers but there were some very good acts, my favourite was close between a guy who told a great Thunderbirds Zombie joke and a guy who had a compare the meerkat toy (that cost £100 quid!!) there was also a Lady i think from Solihull who the guys thought was great too. Lots of good acts, the final act had some great impressions and did a cool star wars bit but i’m not sure he realised how racist his mugger impersonation was, clearly not his intention however.

The night for me was fantastic, there were some great acts, we all (the Leeds 4) felt we did well enough, we enjoyed a number of the acts, oddly we enjoyed some more upon reflection during the drive home, we thought the crowd were fantastic and the venue is a great one to play in the early days of a newbie comedian.

We set about the 3 hr(ish) drive home all buzzing from the gig, the discussions about the gig, the feeling of doing well and i guess the as nasty as it sounds the superiority complex that kicks in when someone has not done so well too, yes that will happen to me one day to so i’m not gloating it was just natural to feel that way not a conscious decision and i will always try be fair and supportive of other acts as i would hope to have the same when i bomb... again! But all this added to the flavour of my 1^st big car share road trip in comedy. It was all like a big night out with my mates only a sober one. All of this and i was on stage for just over 8 mins!!! But i am not sure if as i progress in comedy (or IF i progress perhaps i should say) nights like this may not be the same, but i sincerely hope there are many more, i laughed all the way home at the conversations with my fellow performers and i really enjoyed the gig both watching all the other acts and performing myself. The comedy adventure (and it is an adventure at this stage childish tho that sounds) is proving to be the best thing i have done. Nights like tonight even with the 13.5 hour round trip for 8 mins stage time fully cement that feeling.

My next gig is a more local one, i return to where it began to have another go at Mr Bens Gong show.