Last night I went Back to We Are Funny Project in Dalston for the first time since they took their August break. Feeling confident after a good night at Angel Comedy RAW last week, I decided to go bareback and do my current set without any notes at all.
The MC gave me a nice intro, something along the lines of “This next guy is proof that we believe in freedom of speech at this venue – I don’t know what he’ll do tonight but he’s usually pretty far over the line…” It’s always interesting to get an idea for how other people view your material, and if that’s the kind of reputation I’m getting then I’m happy with that.
The set went pretty well I think – I didn’t forget any of my stuff and I felt comfortable enough with the material that I was able to concentrate a little more on delivery and stage presence. Almost everything got a laugh (although I still need to figure out how to end Racist Baby properly) and the set was almost exactly 5 minutes long.
A lot of the stuff in this set is condensed versions of longer bits, so I think I could comfortably make the same material run to 7 minutes if I needed to, and even 10 minutes or more when I add in other polished stuff I’ve got on the same topic.
It felt like a strong gig, and the MC, who’s seen me performing for about a year, told me I looked like I’d stepped up a level, which is good to hear.
I was the fourth act of the night, so I could kick back and enjoy the rest of the show. It was a pretty good night all round – Mouch and Helena, who I know through this blog, were both there. Mouch was MCing the second half of the show as he recently did WAFP’s MCing course, and did a decent job of it (when he could be bothered to remember the acts’ names). Helena is still pretty new and smashed her 16th gig with some really strong bits.
Apart from the headliner, Brandon Palmer, the act who really stood out for me was Mary O’Connell who blew the room away and earned an instant invite from the MC to WAFP’s polished material night. Keep an eye out for her.
I don’t want to jinx it, but there’s a chance I might have been offered a paid 10-15 minute middle spot at the end of the month. More news on that if/when the details firm up, but in the meantime I’m trying to get as much stage time as possible before then. Next week I’m at Heavenly Comedy in Shepherds Bush on Wednesday and Battersea Power Comedy on Thursday, then the week after I’m doing Sam Rhodes Comedy Explosion in Shoreditch and Comedy Virgins in Stockwell.