MC debut gig 20

Thursday 31st May 2012 the 1st time I would be MC at a gig. I was looking forward to it greatly even though it was not an out and out comedy gig. It was to be a Cabaret night with Leeds Acoustic organising the event. It all came about as I sought a venue to hold a monthly open mic night in order to ensure i get plenty of gig time, instead I met Cal Lister from Leeds Acoustic and he asked me if we could work together. The plus side meant I would not need to organise a new night which is helpful as I hear most new nights fail within 3 or 4 months, the down side was that we would be mixing comedy with music and therefore the audience may not be as patient with the comedians as an open comedy night audience might. This would make my job very important, warm them up let them know what the night is about and get them on side early but i was relishing the opportunity to be an MC and i agreed to trial the night. I then had to choose acts to perform that would suit an acoustic night, i have so many new friends in comedy and such great acts, to choose just 4 would be hard, but i had 8 weeks from booking the event to it taking place and in that time i opted for Steve Goodall, Ross Brierley, Rich Hodkin and Ben Gibson.

The format was to be house band to play 1^st then an hour of comedy followed by 2 more bands, however i discovered on the night we were to go 1^st with the comedy followed by 3 bands, this was not an issue as we were not sure what to expect from the night, the venue was the George on great George street. The room in the basement was a nice room but as there was limited seating it meant that a crowd gathered around the bar with a few people seated at the back, able to hear but out of view therefore of the belief that their own conversations could continue at times. To the left of the stage area was a table where we as acts were able to situate ourselves, however that area may have been better served as a front row seating area for the audience. By the time i got things started it was 8.15 and the place was rammed, around 50 or 60 people squeezed in. I began with some details about the night and tried to figure out who knew what was happening and get them to support our acts, they listened and were very supportive, i did 8 mins of random chatter and threw in the odd bit of rehearsed joke before selecting a lovely lady to be our cheerleader. Charlotte was her name and she was a good front row audience member. Up on the stage 1^st was Ben Gibson doing his 3^rd gig and it was a new set from his 2 previous, he did a set of one liners to the delight of the crowd although they would laugh loudly at one joke and groan at the next i feel they were very receptive to Bens set, more so than he realised and given that more than half were there to watch the bands it was a good response. Bens best joke was one about his uncle, he did 8 mins and was warmly applauded off.

I returned to the stage and did another 4 mins, i tried to pick bits from Bens set to work off and again make a little chatter before bringing on the next act. Rich Hodkin was next, His delivery was smooth his act was slick...and sick!!! Literally at one point! Again the crowd laughed and also groaned.... a groan is a response and one that is not negative. Rich was also in good form and was applauded off, 2 great sets so far. I did another 2 mins before the break, im not sure if it is the done thing for an MC to do a little bit before the break but i went with it, so far i was getting a mixed response but while i was not being laughed at they were at least listening.

After the break i did another 8 mins, i was timing myself to make sure i was not getting the acts on to a cold audience, at the beginning i should perhaps have done more... maybe 10/12 mins but as i do not have that much material i figured i couldn’t do that long, i now realised i could by simply getting to know the audience better, i had a chat with one or two of them, this was not necessarily funny but then i kinda thought i didn’t need to be at this stage. I established that the guy in the front row wearing a hat was an Aussie, there was a Scottish guy some Spaniards, a girl from California and remarkably few Loiners! This was not MC gold but it was me finding my feet in the role a bit more before introducing Ross Brierely, Ross had won Mr Bens with me recently and i knew what to expect, his set would be full of energy and witty asides, i’ll be honest tho in that i do not think he performed as well as he did at Mr Bens, however he was ill so that may explain. That said he was still very funny and entertaining, he has a great ability to adapt to whichever night he is performing at and even with some of the usual energy missing he delivered to the delight of the audience. Ross did a solid 10 mins and again the crowd seemed happy. It was coming to a close, we had one more act left but before i introduced him i tried to fit a little part from my set in. I 1^st had to get them all back round as after Ross they began to chatter and some headed to the bar, i managed to get them back listening even able to interact with one guy... but as Vikki pointed out they were silent, she took that to be a good thing as they were chatting before but they were not laughing so i took that to be a bad thing. It was not a total disaster tho and i did not let the silence bother me which helped pick it back up before i got the applause going for Steve Goodall who was to headline. I chose to call him a headline, not to add pressure but to give the audience a definition of structure to the night, that may not make sense but whatever way you look at it Steve delivered a headline performance. Steve is likable and has a great presence that has warmth and yet he is cheeky, the jokes flow freely and he held the audience throughout his 12 mins. Steve finished the comedy off superbly and my final act as MC was to say a few bits, thank our cheerleader Charlotte and all the guys who performed before bringing the comedy to a close.

This was not the end of the night tho as the 3 bands were to come, i made my 1^st real error as MC tho introducing look yonder as blue yonder, oops.

I was asked to introduce all of the bands which i did but in essence my night was over. The Parliament of birdy Laws were the second band, i cannot review music with any real knowledge but they were fab and i think all of the comedy acts decided we had fallen a little in love!!!!

The last band were the Aristaphonics, i introduced them on, felt a little bad for them however as most of the crowd had now departed.

I too departed and reflected upon my MCing debut, i don’t know how to review myself, i know i had good moments and bad ones but all in all i think i could learn to be able to MC.

The night itself was i would say a success and i think we will try again next month but it depends on Leeds Acoustics two main contributors Cal and Fabia if they want to try again, for me my next gig is one i only found out about recently being a trip to Hull on bank hol Mon.