07/08/07
Words and eyes -
Categories: I never get hangovers, never have; probably will. At least I’ve never had hangovers in the traditional sense. I do, however, get moral hangovers. Where for the following day a cloud hangs over you full of hushed tones whispering “I think you were a bit of a dick last night mate”.
On the way to football Steve Williams said something incredible. I’d congratulated him on a five-star review, assuming that even if he was avoiding all reviews he’d be fine with hearing about an excellent one. He seemed uncomfortable and said “you can’t celebrate the five star unless you’re willing to accept the one-star’. What was amazing is that he didn’t have a secret grin to himself and then try to be all modest, his genuine reaction was one of humility, which is the rarest of wisdoms; one that exists in your eyes as well as your words.
The Zone was really tough for the first time. I made a few basic errors: 1. On finding the audience were a bit quiet I told them so. Never expect excitement; it’s your responsibility to create it. 2. I don’t often use material when compering at the start but sometimes you need to when they’re not chatting, I waited too long to do this, only finding a genuinely funny vein of banter towards the end. 3. I wore a t-shirt with writing on, which I’ve always found can have an effect. It may distract merely 5 or 10 people when you walk out, but that’s enough to turn a good room flat. Also, it was quite a confrontational t-shirt, saying “listen to Frank Zappa”. There’s no reason why someone’s first reaction to that shouldn’t be “don’t tell me what to listen to ass-face!
Anyway, for whatever reason, it was tough, and I think there were press in. Never mind, none of us enjoyed it hugely but no-one really struggled. So by the time it came to do 10 mins at Spank I was determined to have a good gig. I did, a very good one, and it felt like a release, a justification, a redemption. But that is a dangerous thing to feel. I think a big part of being a comic is coming to terms with the constant rollercoaster of thinking you’re better or worse than you actually are. A good gig makes good material seem excellent and a bad gig the opposite. In honesty most of us are somewhere in the middle. What it is unacceptable to do (but hard to avoid) is acting on either of these impressions. You can’t afford to get too down when you struggle, and crucially you can’t get too cocky when you storm.
I wish I’d kept Steve’s mantra in mind after Spank. I didn’t go round telling everyone I was awesome, I was just far too confident in banter to people I don’t know well enough. What a tool. What’s annoying is I like to think I have quite a wise comedy head, in terms of the theory and dealing with the ups and downs, but alcohol, adrenaline and relief are a dangerous combination. It’s just hard to expect people to see that any cockiness only exists in my words, not in my eyes.
p.s following my blog about Phil Kay, he got an excellent 5-star in Metro. “Phil Kay has one of the finest minds in comedy and all lovers of the art should cherish him unreservedly”. Reading that gave me a warm tummy.
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