Gig 54
Having done a gig in
Bolton for radio fallout at the railway venue the organisers Tim and Lee
invited me to take part in their pro night at Bleachworks in Bolton. This is a
pro night in the sense that their is a pro headliner, all the other acts are
still amateur acts. Liam Pickford would be opening and he would be paid for 15
mins while the rest of us did 10’s followed by 30 mins from Phoenix nights star
Archie Kelly in the headline slot. On the bill were Ryan Brown, David
Harltey-williams, Lindsay Davies and Myself with opener break, 2 acts 2nd
break, 2 more acts 3rd break and then headliner. In between there
would be a text joke competition where the audience text in their jokes to try
and win a pint and a hat!!! It was a bit of fun that kept the interest up.
The venue itself
looked very posh, it’s a member’s bar and kind of gave the feel of a strip club
when I 1st walked in. The layout of the room was a kind of L shape
with the bar at the top of the L and the entry at the bottom, nice but the
audience were not close enough to the stage so the worry was that they would
talk at the bar although this proved not to be an issue. MC Lee Tommo welcomed
the audience to the night and explained what was happening before introducing
Liam on to the stage in an unorthodox manner which Liam was able to reference
as he started his set. The room was very cold and this made life a bit
difficult for Liam although he was doing a better job than it seemed and this
being the 1st time i had seen him i was loving his whimsical stuff.
Liam finished his set and the audience had warmed a little ready for the next 2
acts. 1st after the break was 1 liner merchant Ryan Brown, his jokes
followed by a little giggle were warmly welcomed and Ryan had done well, David
followed, it was his 1st gig for over a month and the small signs of
rustiness showed in terms of deliver but his confidence and charm made up for
it ending the 2nd section nicely despite sound issues at the beginning
of his set.
I went next, i had
support again from old school pal Ian Adamczyk and his beautiful girlfriend
Laura (who we established can tuck her feet behind her head pre gig so it was
nice that he stayed to watch me having learned this!!!!) i too had some small
feedback issues but i decided not to let it become a problem and tried to
engage with the audience before moving into my set. I feel it went ok but i had
to work hard for the laughs and really get into the audience for some energy
which in fairness they responded nicely to. I was happy enough with an ok
performance. Lindsay was next, she just goes out there looking all innocent and
sweet then delivers filth!! And some good jokes too, this very well received by
the 50+ crowd and they cheered her off at the end.
Archie Kelly then took
the stage and gave us all a lesson in stand up, his materiel was similar to a
lot of the Peter Kay brigade, it could have easily been Dave Spikey, Paddy
Mguinness or Justin Moorhouse in terms of content but the timing, delivery and
way he dealt with the rooms quirks and audience interactions were sensational
to watch. Very enjoyable
Gig 55
My 6 month anniversary
gig was in Keighley at the Exchange arts centre. With me in the car were Kappa Llewellyn
a really lovely guy from Wales (what with a name like that??) who now lives in
Rotherham.... why Rotherham given how beautiful Wales is i’ll never know! Also on
board was the mental and great fun Dave McAndrew. We got a bit lost in Keighley
as sat nav took us to within half a mile of the venue but we couldn’t see it,
we asked a guy in a kebab shop but his response of never heard of it filled us
with confidence, although we were actually just a left turn and 300 yards away.
Upon going inside we saw it was a bit like a community club or working mens
club set up with a lovely stage to work with. Local act Robin Leitch would be
MCing (his debut as MC) and Dave Mac would open, there were about 20 in which
is good for a Monday. Dave did a mix of materiel and winging it with stories
from his holiday, he didn’t do his uncle routine (on the way home it became
clear he didn’t remember he had an uncle routine) but did his holiday stuff and
opened the night nicely. Following Dave was Danny Cox, Danny was in usual
casual form, he went through his jokes old and new with a confidence i never
had at age18. Mc Robin called the 1st section of 3 to a close doing
a lovely job on his MC debut. 2nd section was opened by Kappa, this
was only his 8th gig but i thought he had done more. Kappa was doing
mostly new stuff and looked more at ease on stage than he does at gong show’s,
kappa has a likeability and is moulding a comedy persona nicely. Daniel Kennedy
went next, it was fitting that i gigged on my 6 month anniversary with a guy i
gigged with on day 1, Daniel has confidence, delivery and good jokes so it was
no surprise he looked like he belonged up there on the stage. He is doing gigs
for Silky and going nicely, tonight’s performance was no different keeping the
standard high.
I was next straight
after the final break, i was determined to perform well to see how i had
developed in the 6 months i have been gigging. It was a good start, my opening
joke the main survivor from gig 1 but now i know how to deliver it. There was a guy in the audience who
coincidently when thinking of the previous gig looked like Justin Moorhouse,
that was belly laughing at all the acts, i gigged towards him for the 1st
minute to gain confidence but i made sure i looked all round the room to see
what all the audience were like and if they were enjoying my stuff, it seemed
to be going ok. I did the chicken routine which went well, i did the Otley
stuff, went nicely, then i did the arrested bit which went a bit flat, got it
back a little bit with the hen night routine. It was clear i had moved on from
the crap i was spieling 6 months ago but it is also abundantly clear i need to
work harder and harder to tighten the set up and add more jokes. Overall i was
pleased though.
Headlining the gig was
James Christopher, James showed me how it’s done, timing, jokes, no overly
wordy bits, and above all a stage presence. This was the 4th time i
had seen James in action and he stormed it. This capped off a great night
nicely.
There is always one
final part about gigging with Dave Mac that is great fun, the drive home... and
with a Smart car carrying 5 people, Danny cox, James Christopher and the 3 that
came out with me this was a crammed comedy drive home that included a post
mortem of the evening and Dave’s comedy stylings!! I should film the next car
share and post it on you tube!!
Next gig for me is
HOWL with team Awesome.
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