26/08/06
I saw the Durham Reevewe -
Categories: I saw the Durham Reevewe (is that the right spelling?) today finally. Great show - can heartily advise it. Some really good ideas, and a lot of near-the-knuckle stuff which I am never happier with. Part of the fun is watching the audience responses to these bits - they get a fairly broad cross-section of society into their shows, but given the early hour of the show (4.15 @ Underbelly) and their affinity to such a prestigious University they naturally attract a few touristy middle-class posh folk who struggle to keep their mouths from dropping. Their last show is Sunday - don't say I sent you.
Another word about the Underbelly - I asked three members of staff where the baby belly was and not one of them told me. Not one! They all told me to go somewhere else and ask there. Turned out I had been standing outside it before starting my hunt, but as there had been no announcement of the show starting, I missed the first few minutes of the show. So did at least eight other people. Made me realise how lucky I have been with my front of house crew (Jen, Julie and baby Gareth - who has recently become a teenager - happy birthday dude). They are fantastic and have been a major help in getting me through this fucking trial.
Speaking of which...
So, tonights show was better than last nights which was rubbish. Not perfect tonight, but where would the fun in that be?
As I was hanging out of the back of The Hut waiting for my audience to get organised I had a little chat with Ed Byrne. I like Ed Byrne. I thought he was a twat when I first met him about eight years ago, and he held me in as high a regard also. But not for long and now I think he is great and he, erm, tolerates me - he's a fantastic prospect and should definitely be playing bigger venues if he manages to get a slot at The Pleasance again next year. I let him announce me onstage from the backstage mic as a little taster for what it will be like when he 'makes' it. you should have seen his excited little face as he nervously tried to remember not to mention the fucking Carphone Factory or whatever it is he's always banging on about in the adverts for Big Brother.
So my show was eventful then pedestrian. Another great famous comedy mate of mine (whose name I shan't mention as we have already had Ed Byrne in this post and it will look wanky if I start dropping in other successful comedians names) once said to me that if you are doing a gig and it is going great guns without doing a word of material - stick with that plan. Don't try and go back to material if the audience are loving you fucking about and the gig couldn't be going better because that's when you truly start to find your comedic self onstage. Then he said he wasn't even a comedian but an entertainer. And then he probably said something about a monkey.
I don't know if these were wise words, I have seen said comedian follow his own advice to the point of gig destruction on several ocassions. At the same time I've seen said comedian follow his own advice to the point of achieving comedic and theatrical brilliance the like of which I could never dream of on several ocassions too. Perhaps it should be regarded as an ocassional rule rather than a universal one. Time and a place and all that.
It may (probably would) have been the best rule for my show tonight, but I didn't take it. After a hugely enjoyable twenty minutes interlude of audience interaction about halfway through my show (particularly with a wonderful elderly lady called Greta who had been brought to my show by her daughter), I returned to the show I had written. It dipped a bit but re-found its feet in the final story (about me believing burglars were in my house) to peak nicely at the finishing line. I overran by fifteen (maybe twenty) minutes but the way I see it I have earned that time in lieu after cancelling Wednesdays show. I presume I will still be charged for that night...
I enjoyed my show on many levels tonight, particularly given the shitty couple of days I've just had up here, and it was nice to feel my confidence begin to bubble again (if not surging as it should...).
Tonights show, however, will predominantly live in my memory eternally for the look of amused horror on Kats face (my sound and light lady/girl/angel) at the back of the room on hearing me ask an octagenarian (apologies if this is over-estimating) lady if she was "all right for cock?".
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