11/02/07
A jinx , Bracknell and some musing -
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I reckon this post may jinx my career but as I am in one of my proper 'fuck it' moods I am going to go ahead with it anyway.
I am kind of half asleep as I dropped off at about 8.30 last night and just woke up, more in need of my back being massaged then I think I ever have been before. In a throwback to my teenage years I have been properly hitting the weights since watching Rocky Balboa the other week and it is beginning to take it's toll (although you want to feel the size of my arms).
Anyway, here's the jinx bit: I don't recall a time that I had so many good gigs so close together.
Oooooh that's fucking asking for it...
It's true though. In the last few weeks, I can recall immediately quite a few nights that were simply a joy to behold from where I was stood onstage (Olver's gig in Bristol, XSMalarkey, EDComedy, etc etc - all of them rocked) could this continue at my gig on Friday night at The Comedy Cellar in Bracknell?
You mention that gig to any comedian who has played it and their face will properly light up - it is genuinely that good a gig. It is pretty difficult to put a foot wrong in front of such a delightful audience.
And as I have already demonstrated to you my tendency towards superstition on these matters, that fact is enough to fill me with dread before a performance - when you know that you would have to fuck up dramatically to not have a brilliant gig somewhere. On my way over to the gig I was filled with caution about assuming it would be a walk over.
Even as I sat in my car in the car park at the South Hill Arts complex, watching the audience arrive, all of them seemingly full of life and happiness and ready for a night of comedy, I maintained my apprehension. It's like when a top sports team are drawn against a rubbish one and take for granted the win - that's when they end up getting turned over (ironically, as I was constructing this metaphor in the car on Friday, my rugby league team St Helens were doing just that against London, which of course royally pissed me off when I got home).
Further concern came from the fact that I last performed there just four months ago and I really couldn't properly recall what treats from my fantastic repertoire of comedy musings I had offered them then.
I realise that the manner in which I am writing this entry would seem to imply that I am about to tell you about how it all went wrong, but that is not the case. In answer to my vague tease a couple of paragraphs ago about whether the run of form could continue at The Comedy Cellar, it did with a vengeance. It is so rare that when I do my compering (sadly and mistakenly not nominated in the prestigious Chortle awards for a record fifth year) that I actually begin to look forward to going back on, but this was the situation I found myself in on Friday.
I wish the night had been filmed. But from the stage. I'd have sent a copy out to every comedy night in the land with instructions to play it on a big screen before gigs so the audience can see exactly how they should behave to get the most from their evening.
They entered into the spirit perfectly, there was heckling without any bad blood, there was enforced interaction without any need for crowd control, when I came on they played and when the acts came on they listened and laughed.
That sounds like they didn't laugh when I was on but they did. Just want to make that clear.
When you get to the last section of a show as a compere and think to yourself "Right, I'm going to do a little bit of material now", not out of neccessity but by choice, then you know that everyone in the room has contributed in the correct way and it has been a good one.
I want to make special reference to a gentleman in the front row named Brian. Now, without meaning to sound rude, it would be fair to say that he was an elderly gentleman, and I mention this because it is the crux of why I am drawing attention to him here. See, I have always taken issue with the lack of respect for the elder generation. You may think that this is just me showing signs of middle age (as I am 33 now and I think 66 will be my high score as long as I play a tight game towards the end), whining about the lack of respect shown to senior citizens, but I have always had a gripe with it. I think perhaps it may be as a result of my having been very close and respectful to my own grandparents (all very much missed from my life) or maybe it is just an inherent common decency, but whenever I have seen comedians make lame jokes about old people smelling of piss and all of that fucking lazy bollocks, it has annoyed me no end.
Not saying that they are beyond mockery, I suggested that the end of the road was nigh for Brian on several occasions throughout the evening on Friday, but just the manner of doing so has always felt important to me. I don't think that I disrespected the guy at any point, we just had a great night teasing each other, and his comebacks to my mockeries were as sharp as fuck.
The night ended with him onstage with me, miming as I sang the Clive Dunn classic "Grandad" behind him. It may sound rubbish when I regale it here in words, but live on stage and in the moment it was utterly magical. I have never seen a more generous, spontaneous and non-patronising outpouring of applause and cheers as I did in that audience when I added Brian's name to the list of performers at the end of the show. It was actually pretty touching, especially as I could see the flushed delight on the dude's face when he saw that the audience were ovating for him.
I get myself into all sorts of situations on stage - partly down to staving off boredom on my part and the fear of finding myself doing the same old stuff night after night, partly because I have a mischievous confrontational streak inherent in me, but mainly because - every so often - something like that happens.
I can't be fucked with just regurgitating the same old bollocks on every stage I step foot on. I look at certain comedians who have been doing the rounds, with material as old as their careers and cannot begin to understand what they get from it. I'm not even criticising here, if that works for them and the audiences go home with a smile, then job done, who am I to judge? I'm just saying that I personally can't even begin to relate to the notion that doing this could be rewarding on any level other than financially, and that has become a foreign desire for me as my 'career' has 'progressed'.
It's the reason that I ultimately felt I didn't do myself justice in my Edinburgh Fringe show Out Of Character last year. Even before I got there I had people saying that I should allow time within it to do some of my 'fucking about', but I didn't (or hardly did) because it all felt as though it had to be slicker than that, and better planned, but the more evenings I did the compering at the Free Beer Show after my own show, the more I realised that my true strength is in going out there and throwing caution to the wind. I always had the material to back it up with should that be needed, but I rarely have to resort to it when I go out with the right attitude. Matter of fact, I don't think that beyond the first night of the Free Beer Show I ever did a word of material. In my own show (with the exception of a couple of isolated nights) I never wandered off-script. The audience response was almost always better at the Free Beer Show.
On Monday night I am going to be performing in a showcase for the Montreal Comedy Festival at the Comedy Store in London. I have seven minutes and I don't know where to fucking start. It's not so much the actual time constraint (which I am happy to respect...no really), but more the constraint that this stops me doing what I do best as I need to do just material - the only time I am ever 'punchy' as a comic is when I am interacting with audiences, but I am under (sound) advice not to enter into that on this occasion. My material, such as it is, is far more laboured and 'building'.
I don't know...it's starting to concern me this gig on Monday.
I just wanted to tell someone...and perhaps make an excuse before the fact.
We'll see.
I'm trying to learn like.
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