Last night I did a spot at Pink Peach Comedy, a new act new material night hosted by Keenan Atkins. I hadn’t heard of the night before I got a spot, and I don’t know Keenan, so I didn’t have much of a clue about what kind of gig it would be, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised
The night is run on Thursday evenings in way-out-west London at the Hanworth Naval Club, which is a venue with a real old school working man’s club or British Legion kind of vibe. It’s a good sized room, with a proper stage, lighting, and PA system, and they manage to round up a decent crowd of locals for the show, even if half of them did seem to be members of the host’s extended family.
The night is split into three sections with acts doing a mix of 5 and 10 spots, as well as a headliner doing 20. There was a real mix of experience – a couple of guys had done less than five open mic spots, while others had been going a few years.
This week’s headliner was Paras, who has a really nice meandering, conversational style, which always feels like he’s just getting warmed up before starting on his material, but about halfway through you realise that’s his whole thing – it’s really warm and charming, and I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of him.
The only other act I knew personally was Felix Parkin, who did my open mic last year a couple of times – so it was good to see him again, especially as his act is progressing really well.
I went up in the final section and only got a 5 spot because they don’t know me, so I just stuck to my tight five, wanting to do a decent job in the hopes of being offered longer spots in future. It’s an easy gig for me to get to, and I like the room, so I want to do more spots there. I think I did OK and got plenty of solid laughs – I’ve been opening with a bit about Baby Reindeer, which seems to go down well, but I’m not sure how long its shelf life will be once everybody’s forgotten about the show.
I don’t have much else booked at the moment, other than We Are Funny next Tuesday, and the Ding Dong Gong show at Big Belly Southbank on Saturday 8th.