Has it been a fortnight already? Time for Chapter Three!

Seem to be getting the hang of this writing malarky. I even have a plan for Chapter Four already!

[Read Chapter Three]

[Novel Main Page]

After a couple of months getting a really solid 5 minutes together, I thought I'd try to get some semi-new material on track.

It was a pretty good night to try stuff out, the crowd were lovely, and whipped into a frenzy of excitement by Renata Muss, our wonderful compere for the evening. On the other hand, I went on first.

I got a nice reception (being friendly with the audience really does help), but nowhere near as good as some other recent gigs. A few of the "good habits" I'd been working on went out the window as I struggled to remember what I was going to say next. This hammers home how important it is to know your material, and how much rehearsal I really need to be doing. And unfortunately, I didn't quite manage to find time to rehearse my new stuff as much as I would have liked.

Now is possibly the time to get tactical and set up something of a "conveyor belt" for material. Have several sets on the go at once: sets I'm performing in public (some polished, some with a view to polishing), sets I'm rehearsing in private and sets I'm still writing. Rather than letting an idea languish in the back drawer until I think I have time to use it. This way I have a clear route to getting ideas out there.

On the plus side, I got some good feedback from other acts on which of my new gags they liked and ones they didn't quite get. Even better, it gave me some inspiration for new gags and improvements on the ones already there. Win!

A question that has plagued mankind since possibly before time began.

Who would win in a fight: The Doctor or the Pope?

Cast your votes in the video above!

An interesting gig this Wednesday, wherein I learned something about myself I didn't know before. As it turns out, I'm actually rather uptight.

The room was packed and the audience were lively, if a little laddish; some of the particularly good gags were met with cheers of "go on, my son". This was an atmosphere I wasn't entirely used to, and it made me a little uncomfortable. Maybe its something to do with going to the theatre a lot over the last 7 years, or maybe it goes back further, to school assemblies kept in line by conservative-types with a combination of hard stares and the phrase "we show our appreciation by clapping".

As a result, I felt a bit out of my comfort zone and didn't really give enough to my opening. I felt strangely insecure when faced by a crowd who verbalised their appreciation, perhaps in fear that this might distract from my act. After a few lines, I caught myself not really making much contact with the audience, and the slightly muted reactions to this point really hit home how important it was. I managed to get back in touch a bit, and the latter parts went much better (I even managed to get a callback to the previous act in with just a look at an audience member, which was fun). But suffice to say, it wasn't my best gig of recent weeks.

As it turned out, the audience members I was most worried about turned out to be incredibly friendly guys who were eager to thank the acts at the end of the show. And aside from the impact on my own confidence, they had been good for the atmosphere and energy in the room. The lesson here is one I've heard before, that you should always treat the audience as friends. Every audience will react in their own way, and I shouldn't set myself up to fail by assuming they won't like me from the start.

That, and I need to write some knob gags. 

Hot on the heels of my Laughing Horse heat, was a 5 minute spot at the William IV Comedy Night in Kensal Green. A night I can recommend wholeheartedly to stand ups looking for a friendly open mic.

The room at the William IV had a great atmosphere, with loads of comfy chairs to put the crowd at ease. And although the majority of the audience were acts, there was a sense of cameraderie that made for a really friendly crowd. I was on last, which ordinarily would make it harder to enjoy the rest of the show (worrying too much about my own spot), but being in such a friendly room helped put me at ease.

I toyed around with a new opener, which is still in need of some polish. Luckily, I was able to get some laughs from it mainly through the delivery, which shows all the practise is starting to pay off! And once I'd got going, I can honestly say it was one of the best gigs I've had, even thought the audience was small. There's something about having to wait for a laugh to subside before continuing that makes you feel like a comedy demi-God (like Hercules, but with less of the centaur blood poisoning thing).

Being relaxed certainly helped, and gave me the confidence to try out some ad-libbing. Which a fellow act remarked really helped make the act more friendly and accessible. Definitely something to try more often; I should probably aim to trim my sets a little to allow room for it.

All in all, a great sociable night of comedy. Congrats have to go to Fred Barber and Simon Barker for putting it all together! Certainly a night I'd do again.

After a few weeks of warm-up gigs and polishing my set, last Saturday was my heat of the Laughing Horse New Act of the Year contest, at the Tournament in Earl's Court.

Competition aside, it was a great gig. The room upstairs was packed, probably the biggest crowd I'd performed to.

They might not have been the warmest audience ever (I noticed one or two stern faces in the room), but the numbers more than made up for it and the reaction I got was brilliant. The energy I was getting back seemed to give me a boost and help me put even more into the rest of my set. I even felt confident enough to throw in an extra gag I'd been unsure about. Probably as good an argument as any for putting your best material early on.

Unfortunately, I got some mild heckling towards the middle. Nothing malicious, but it was enough to eat up a few seconds so I ran over, which I really hate doing (really isn't fair on other acts, for a start). Two things I could probably learn from this. Firstly, I shouldn't be afraid of dropping gags off the end if I'm running out of time (still need to learn to be less precious about material). Second, I need to be more concise when ad-libbing, which will probably come with time, but I have to keep it in mind.

In the end, I didn't get through, but then again I wasn't really expecting to. The five folks that got through all did fabulously, particularly Mark Stevenson, who won the night overall and is still better every time I see him.

My second gig of three this week (my busiest week so far, go me!), and my last chance to polish my set a little before Laughing Horse.

The evening was ably MCd by Pete Dobbing (who I'd heartily recommend to anyone looking to book a guest compere), and for once I went for an earlier spot. Partly to give me chance to try my set in a slightly different situation (read: sober audience) and partly because nobody ever wants to open.

Once again I recorded my performance and it seems like I'm getting there. The energy was nice and high and I managed to fit the whole thing into 5 minutes quite comfortably (ok, 5 minutes and 1 second, but what's a second amongst friends?). The first couple of gags seemed a bit rushed, but still got some good laughs. I think once I'd settled into the pace, I could keep the momentum going without it sounding forced, which was useful. I'll do some dry runs in front of the mirror to tighten the opening up a bit.

Directing particular lines at particular audience members seemed to work really well, and helped me get a good rapport with people. It felt like I was telling a gag directly to the person in question, which seemed much more natural than trying to address a whole room at once. That said, to keep that kind of focus was a bit tiring, especially making sure I was giving each part of the room enough one-on-one time. Something to keep practising methinks.

Its getting to be a tight 5 now, but I think I'll need to give myself a little wiggle-room. I've been finding it hard to cut gags that I like, even when they don't get as many laughs as other material. I really need to learn to be less precious about material and be more methodical in tweaking a set. So I'll be sitting down with the whole routine written out, and running through recordings to find which lines I can do without. A couple of my favourites will be on the chopping block, but if they only work for particular audiences, they're not worth keeping in a short set.

So its all hands on deck for the Laughing Horse comp on Saturday. Not really expecting to get through (there are some top-notch comics on the line-up), but want to be able to say I did my best, and having something to work towards has been great for getting me to focus.

Wish me luck!

I've been scribbling away over the last couple of weeks and got the second chapter of my as-yet-unnamed novel together.

Methinks the next installment will be a little more challenging, seeing as I don't have any notes for chapter three yet...

[Read Chapter Two]

[Novel Main Page]

I was fortunate enough to have been invited to perform at the first We Love Comedy of 2010 (run by my good friends Sean Brightman and Renata Muss), and what a great night it was!

The upstairs room at the Blue Posts isn't huge, but that made for a brilliant atmosphere and a really intimate show. The audience was fantastic, really friendly and (mostly) attentive, a joy to perform to.

With Laughing Horse not far off, I was working on my contest set, and took another recording. I had a lot more energy than last week, and only went a little over. There were a few points at which I add-libbed somewhat unnecessarily, and if I can resist the temptation, I can probably get under 5 minutes quite easily. That isn't to say I shouldn't react to anything unexpected, but it would have to be something really obvious to everyone.

I got the feeling that my eyes were roving a little too much, and I was moving from one part of the audience to another too quickly. Eye contact is good, but done badly its probably distracting. I think I'll experiment a little this Wednesday, and try delivering each joke (or at least the ones with clear set up and punch lines) directly to one part of the audience, to really use the rapport built up through eye contact.

Being on quite early, I got to enjoy the majority of the show without any pre-set tension, and it was a fantastic night of comedy! I knew most of the acts fairly well, but they still had me laughing embarassingly loudly. They certainly have the art of the funny delivery down. I have to salute Ian Baker in particular, who I hadn't seen perform in a while, and has got insanely good since. Jammy git.

The headliner, Patrick Monahan, was nothing short of awesome. He made interacting with the crowd seem incredibly easy, coming up with more witty comebacks in 20 minutes than I've written jokes in the last 9 months (I imagine some of them were "stock", but it made for an impressive performance). I'd like to think that some of these skills come with that level of experience. Definitely someone I'd see again.

So all in all a brilliant night, and one I'd recommend to anyone. Be sure to keep a lookout for the next edition of We Love Comedy!

Second gig back after Christmas (more on the first later), and I think I'm starting to get a feel for where I need to improve.

I'm working on polishing a 5 minute set for my Laughing Horse Heat on the 23rd, so I videoed my set to review afterwards (certainly a lot more reliable than my memory). The laughs were a little muted, a lot of which I think was down to my energy being a little low.

I went about a minute over time, even though I've previously timed the same material at below 5 minutes. Part of this was down to audience reactions, but watching the video, it seemed like I was wading through the lines. Although on the plus side, I did a lot better with eye contact, which I think helped greatly in building up an audience rapport.

I'm next performing at We Love Comedy on Monday 18th (looks to be a fantastic evening). And if I can keep up the pace and energy, I should have a great spot!