04/11/07
The Reluctant Closer -
Categories: Lately I've been closing at several gigs for the first time. I don't expect to be headlining, yet somehow I now am. Fair enough. Pays better and has more kudos to it, although you don't get home so early and you normally end up facing a drunker crowd. But won't grumble or nothing.
A few other comics mentioned they've noticed similar things. So why is this? Have I graduated to headliner at the rowdier clubs cos I've improved over the last year or so? I don't think so. I reckon I've pottered along really. Maybe improved stagecraft a little, but not a lot. Instead it seems to be that lots of former headline acts have left the circuit now. A year or two ago, you'd regularly see closing comedians such as Andy Parsons, Tim Vine, Mark Watson, Frankie Boyle, Lucy Porter, Alan Carr, Marcus Brigstocke, Sarah Kendall, Michael McIntyre, Mitch Benn, Russell Howard... and yes, most of these still play clubs occasionally, but they've gone from doing 4 gigs a week to doing mostly their own tours. So suddenly comedy clubs find they can't book the established acts any more. Instead, me and my peers get a phone call.
It's all good. It's natural selection. It might mean that it takes time for the circuit to adjust - some comedians are headlining at the mo that probably aren't as bankable as a headline act might have been a year or two ago. But anyway, I think I've stepped up to the plate and am hopefully proving myself. It's an ongoing improvement process, but I'm doing what I can, and I'm getting good feedback from audiences. The danger is that I'll start catering too much to the stags and hens at these later, drunker gigs, but I'm trying where possible to not dumb down too much. The other day I was thinking, while naked, that I don't want to end getting too hack. And then I got off the bus...
RSS Feed