I’m in a bit of a quiet period at the moment, since it’s the time of year when I’m busiest in my day job so everything else has to take a bit of a back seat. I did one gig on Monday of this week and haven’t got another booked until nearly the end of the month.
It also means that, having made a big song and dance about launching a new podcast with Mouch from Comedy Moochabout, I won’t actually have time to record any new episodes until the middle of next month – but we’ve got 4 episodes live now, so check it out.
On Monday I did a spot at We Are Funny in Dalston. Things didn’t start well because I was having a stressy day and, to make matters worse, ended up running late for the gig so I got even more wound up about the prospect of driving across London for an hour only to get bumped off the line-up.
Fortunately Alfie the MC was in a forgiving mood, and I was only a couple of minutes late in the end. You can’t make a habit of showing up late, it pisses off promoters because they need to get the night’s running order nailed down before the show starts and, if they don’t know whether you’re going to show up at all, it makes their life harder.
The room was already packed by the time I got there – it’s been the same the last few times at We Are Funny Project, even though it’s not a bringer night they’re doing a great job of pulling in a decent audience most nights.
I was feeling on edge with one thing and another, so I wasn’t at my best, but I tried to ease myself into the right mood. I bumped into Lee Hudson, who I’d seen a couple of times before but never really spoke to, and a bit of chit chat with him helped me relax. He went up third of the night and killed.
I also had a chat with Elliot Dallas, who I saw a few weeks previously at the same gig, when he seemed to have a minor breakdown on stage – but this time around he was on much better form and did a pretty decent job.
I was on about halfway through the first section. I’ve been experimenting with trying to be a little more high- energy, especially during my opening bit when I’m trying to quickly get the audience on-board. I don’t know if it’s working that well. It feels a bit forced and unnatural for me, and I can never keep it up for very long so I think it probably sets false expectations for the rest of my set. I tried it again tonight, but really turned it up to 11 – I don’t think it did any harm, but it just didn’t feel right for me.
Most of the set seemed to go reasonably well, they laughed at pretty much everything, and even in a couple of places I wasn’t expecting. I ran through my usual set, but dropped the racist baby bit (which I usually run through just before my punchy one-line closer) in favour of a couple of new things.
I hadn’t really timed things properly, and had about 30 seconds spare – so I dug up an old bit of material about vasectomies which always used to work pretty well. But because my head wasn’t really in the right place, when Alfie waved the light from the side of the stage to let me know my time was nearly up, I completely blanked and lost my train of thought. I styled it out, admitted that I’d fucked up, and jumped straight to my closer, which got a nice laugh for me as I left the stage.
I didn’t really know how to feel about my set – it went well and I got a lot of laughs, but I know I wasn’t feeling good and didn’t do as good a job as I wanted. All the same, the stress that had been building up inside me all day completely evaporated as I walked back to my seat, and I was able to enjoy the rest of the night.
During the half time break I went to get a drink in the bar and a few separate audience members told me how much they’d enjoyed my set, which just goes to show that we’re always our own worst critics. I could list a dozen specific mistakes I’d made, as well as a general feeling of not being on form, but the audience seemed to like it.
Even so, I know I can do better. Since I made the decision to shelve the racist baby bit, I’ve been on a mission to fill the time with some solid new material. I’ve got a few bits that seem to be working pretty well, but I still need to do some work tying it all together so that it flows. I’ve also realised that some existing bits still need work, especially my opener, which takes too long to get to the punchline.
I’m not gigging until the 25th, so I’m going to spend some time focusing on writing and editing my set.