Stand Up

After a bit of a break over August, I'm getting back on the stand up horse (you have to stand up as there's no saddle) and I've started getting spots booked in for September.

Details of nights I'm gigging, as well as links to the relevant websites are up on my Appearances list, why not go take a peek? If you're in the area on any of these dates, you'd be more than welcome to come along. It's always nice to see a friendly face in the crowd.

Here's that link again: [Gigs & Appearances]

Pretty late with this report, as I've just moved and still have no internet at home (sneakily typing this up at work). But enough fumbled apologies, I've got two gigs to report on before taking a break over August - no Edinburgh for Tom, I'm decorating.

Monday's gig was at Jester Jester's. Turned up early and managed to blag an open spot. I was expecting to be put on fairly late, but ended up going on second due to a surprising level of trust the compere placed on me. I revived a couple of older gags - one short-form and one to replace my current story - as I needed to get in some clean material for later in the week. More on that later. One of the two I revisited I had rewritten a little to try and make the turnaround clearer, which worked to some extent, although it wasn't amazing. The story was ok, but I'm a little rusty with it. I think there's some life in it, though, as the humour for the tale is mostly observational, which should be a nice contrast to the puns and such earlier on in the set.

Keeping up the pace still seems to be working nicely, I probably should be aiming to come off stage exhausted, or at least a little worn, and in need of a drink (but for good reasons). The newer material I debuted the previous week also went down great. It also seems I've discovered a new tool: setting up a pattern so people can fill in the punchline themselves. There's something about people laughing at what you might say next that makes you feel clever, and probably makes the audience feel that way too.

The second gig of the week was a bit of a special one. My sister got married on the Saturday (another thing I'm behind on, getting piccies on Facebook!) so she'd arranged for her vocal group, The Harmonettes to put on a show at the local pub the night before. Methinks this was a sneaky way to avoid getting herself too stressed about the wedding itself beforehand. This was the first time I'd seen them perform live and have to say I was massively impressed. If you need a harmony group for an event, give them a call!

Surprisingly enough, they'd asked me to introduce them (guess they hadn't seen any videos of my previous compering). Initially I was hugely flattered to be asked, but then realised I had a serious lack of family-friendly material - even if I didn't swear there were far too many overt sexual and drugs references.

 I figured I only needed to do a few minutes to get the crowd's attention and warm them up, most of which I could pad out with an "applause level check" (which always seemed to work for open mic nights). Even so, I was still left with pretty much just two puns. I'd done my best to bolster this over the previous weeks' gigs and managed to get together about 3 minutes' worth of short gags, including a few I'd written on the day - bad habit I know, but they went down pretty well.

This was technically the first gig I'd done that wasn't an open mic (nor a pure comedy night) and the difference in atmosphere was shocking. Being a free night's entertainment in a village pub/restaurant, there were a lot of people not really paying attention and even those that were chatted a bit throughout, but surprisingly, this didn't phase me at all. I think having a lot of friendly faces in the audience helped, but it just goes to show that you really don't need 100% of everyone's attention to get by.

Another thing that struck me was how differently this audience reacted. Jokes I'd previously thought were my "A" material raised a few titters, while some of my "weaker" gags got a huge reaction. Guess this is where a truly skilled performer would be able to read the audience and choose the best jokes for the crowd. I have a long way to go.

In the end, I was pretty pleased with my warm-up, I got everyone's attention and whipped the crowd up into a nice frenzy for the Harmonettes. I even dealt with a few friendly heckles. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed compering. I should ask around some open nights to see if I can fill in one evening.

So all in all, a great week to go out on before my little August break! And congratulations to Sarra and Ross for tying the knot on Saturday, was a fantastic day.

A busy week for me. Not one, not two, but three whole gigs! Three changes for me to hone my comedy craft, or crash and burn in a holy trinity of public humiliation. Thankfully (and surprisingly) there was a lot more of the former!

First stop was Carnivale on Monday night. The second time I've been here and I daresay I'm keen to book in again. A well run night with a really friendly crowd of regular comics, and plenty of gags about unisex toilets (something of a rarity in your typical London pub).

I was beginning to feel that the Olympic Mascot material was getting a little stale, having lost its topical edge, so I replaced it with a story about drugs I've had on a back burner for ages. I spent a good chunk of Sunday evening honing and re-working the tale, as well as rehearsing and tweaking the run of shorter gags in the opening few minutes. I've also dropped the one about selling hotcakes, as while its a nice clever thought, its proving more charming than funny.

I wanted to focus on keeping the opening few gags punch and firing them off as quick as I can, so there's no dead space. This worked surprisingly well. I may have covered over a few laughs, but the energy kept high, and the laughs seemed to build on each other from punchline to punchline. So I think the tradeoff was well worth it. I even got a nice smattering of laughs for a gag I'd written that afternoon (which I know I probably shouldn't have put in, but I got away with it).

I still looked at the floor a couple of times, but not between every single gag. And far few in the way of rubbish afterthoughts, I didn't have time for them. The only downside to high momentum for the first section was that the story segment lost a lot of the energy, and felt like it was falling flat. But all in all, a great gig to start the week!

Second stop, William IV on Tuesday. A bit thin on the ground attendance wise this month, so it became something of a workshop night. Which was fine, as those of us that were there knew each other pretty well.

Having a little wiggle room with regards to time, I had a quick confab with the audience. Which amounted to getting the few (5) non-comics in the room to introduce themselves. This got a couple of chuckles purely through virtue of what they said themselves, which was handy, as I didn't have anything clever to respond with. Hence afterwards I declared this to be a demonstration of why I don't do audience interaction. Still, fun to experiment.

I launched into my short-form gags and managed to keep the momentum up, getting quite a nice reaction. Again, the story fell a little flat, but still kept everyone entertained.

I'm finding that I really need to work hard in a gig to get the most out of these one and two liners. I can't just phone it in every time, which I realise now I was doing before. The great thing is, I'm getting a feeling for exactly where the effort should go.

My third and final gig this week was at We Love Comedy's new Open Mic night in Piccadilly. The night was at the Queen's Head, which has a lot of comedy on over the week, run by a lot of different people, and I've performed there many a time. I can honestly say this was one of the best nights I've had there. Hats of to Sean Brightman for organising and publicising such a brilliant night, and to Al Cowie for some inspired compering...taking audience interaction to its illogical, toe-sucking conclusion.

I was up third in a packed line-up, which worried me a little, as I'd had bad experiences at recent open mics going on early. I was even more worried when the second act didn't turn up and I was pulled up 5 minutes early. There was also a chatty couple in the front row (the over-involved, well meaning pseudo-heckler types) which I was a little worried about. But my quick-fire delivery for the first few minutes had the unintended bonus that they didn't get a pause to say anything, so I managed to avoid getting into an unwanted conversation. I noticed over the course of the night that this was working for a lot of other acts as well. Even amongst the ones that engaged them directly, the best ones were controlling the conversation by cutting them off after a sentence (which would seem rude in conversation, but not when you've got the microphone).

Again, I was a bit naughty and threw in a gag I'd written that afternoon. But it went down incredibly well, the first "afterthought" line getting a laugh even before hitting the key word. Definitely keeping that in. Its nice and clean, too.

The story, again, was probably the weakest part of the set, but it has a nice punchline to it (almost a shaggy-dog story), so think I got away with that. Perhaps its just me getting into the mindset of the quick-fire segment and expecting more frequent laughs. Think I might have some better stories up my sleeve, though.

This was an awesome night to end the week on, and a great week overall. I feel I've stepped up a bit, and just need to make sure I work my ass for all my future spots. And record myself, which I'm ashamed to say, I didn't do for any of these three. There's a lot to think about in this comedy lark!

I was at the Rocket in Acton this week, for something of a special gig. First of all, it was my birthday. And also, the second half of the night featured the delightfully eccentric Paul Foot previewing his Edinburgh show.

I was up first, and unfortunately the response seemed a little muted. I could have put this down to the audience not being warmed up, but watching the video I took, my delivery seemed to lack energy and momentum. I paused a lot for laughs that weren't really coming, and looked at the floor a lot. Part of it might have been due to the lighting, which made it hard to make real eye contact with anyone (not really being able to see their eyes). I really shouldn't be letting things like this phase me, possibly a case for trying to gig in new places as much as I can, to get a feel for different environments.

Chatting to another act after the show, the suggestion was made that I should try just powering through my more "punny" gags both to keep the energy up and avoid dead time if a joke doesn't work very well. I've got a few gigs lined up next week, so I'm going to set aside a good chunk of time on Sunday to rehearse some more, concentrating on keeping my energy high, even without reactions to feed on.

After the first half's open spots, Paul Foot previewed his Edinburgh show. I'd seen Mr Foot perform at ICU about 7 years ago, and if anything he was even more anarchic and eccentric than I remember. It was a real eye opener to see the difference between the open mic level and where he was. He had the audience in fits of almost painful laughter for minutes at a time. Definitely something to aspire to...although it'll be a long slog. This was a performance that was excruciatingly funny, but nobody had the faintest idea why. And that was incredibly refreshing.

On Monday, I was booked in for a five at Comedy at the College, at the College Arms near Goodge Street. They were a little short on acts, so Dave graciously allowed us each to do seven minutes. So I had the chance to try out a couple of new bits without dropping anything.

A good few of the punters from the bar had been coaxed downstairs with the promise of free comedy, and they proved to be a fantastic audience, really eager to have a laugh. Nobody really died, and energy stayed high. While this might have meant I had a slightly easy ride of it, it also meant that jokes that didn't work probably wouldn't work anywhere else.

I'd juggled my material a little to put most of the puns towards the start. I think I prefer it this way, as I can fire them off in quick succession to keep the momentum up, and it somewhat sets an expectation so longer form structured stuff later sets up a nice contrast.

Delivery seemed key with this one. I tried changing around the emphasis on one joke, to set up a rhythm and add a bit of "punch" (impact rather than opposite of setup) and it worked really well. Lines that got a lukewarm response previously were getting some good laughs. Unfortunately, it works both ways, and something new I'd come up with that day (and not really rehearsed) fell totally flat, so much so that I had to abandon it completely. Luckily I had a line in a similar vein that I could throw in to rescue my momentum, guess I'm gradually getting the hang of this thinking on my feet lark.

Listening back to the recording, I really need to work on my delivery more, keeping the energy up and being more sure of myself so I don't throw in too many "errs" and "umms". A lot of people have told me I seem very confident on stage, so I'm partway there, all I need now is to seem competent.

Back at Jester Jesters this week, and with some new short gags in my set. Although I feel I may have gone too far.

I'd reworked my set a little, removing some of the more unreliable gags, and adding in some that I had wanted to try for a while. However, I think I may now have too many puns in the mix. One or two proper groaners in five minutes can be fun, but if every other gag is a horrifically cheesy pun, you might lose the audience a little. No less than three times did I remark on a groan with a variation of "I hate myself". So much for not commenting after a punchline. That said though, there were some good laughs amongst the groans. If I'm going to do them, I really should be completely unashamed.

I'm going to keep modifying this set, try to get a good mix of different kind of gags in there. Maybe a bit of a running sequence on a single subject, or tying something of a theme together. I know from previous sets I can do links if I spend some time on it. I'm taking some time off over August, and July is looking reasonably quiet gig-wise. I should probably concentrate on writing as much material as I can, then keeping the best bits.

All that said, I enjoyed my spot, and the crowd was warm and friendly as seems usual for Jester's. Not only that, but I saw lots of good friends, even getting to catch up with some folks I hadn't seen in a while. Not the absolute best gig I've ever done, but I've learned some things, and had a great time!

Its been a little while since I gigged at a new venue, so on Monday, it was refreshing to be doing my first open spot at Carnivale, part of the Comedy Bin group. And a very interesting venue it was. They had unisex toilets for a start.

With the World Cup in full swing, the night was starting a bit later than they usually do: 9.30pm instead of 8. With the number of acts, there was a lot of potential to run extremely late, but the compere/organiser, Gwilum Argos, managed to keep things moving pretty quick and we were thankfully done before midnight.

I was on early in the second half, following a fantastic character act (which put me in mind of Bernard Manning having a love child with Tony Clifton). I was carrying on with my set of "short" gags, and they went down really well, a few misses, but on the whole I was pretty pleased, especially considering that we were rapidly approaching a point when everyone was too tired to really give a strong reaction.

I'd dropped a few weaker lines, and put in a throwaway joke I'd posted on Facebook the day before, which surprisingly got a huge laugh (despite being cheesy as hell) so I'll be keeping that one in. I need to put some variety in, though, as my opening 2 minutes is just a series of puns. They get a good reaction, but I'd like to mix it up a bit so I don't seem like a hack.

I'm still putting in too many post-joke asides. I think I'm going to try a little experiment with myself: over my next few spots, I'm going to try both extremes, going through my lines verbatim, and spending more time informally chatting with the audience, then see how things go. I'd love to improvise more, but I'm also terrified of doing it badly. Might as well get some practice, see what happens when I'm not doing it half-heartedly, and if its better than not doing it at all.

I've certainly got some room in the routine to keep swapping in new gags. I think I underran a bit, which was a nice change, although admittedly, I did forget a bit.

I've been worrying I might have been losing some of the spark I had at first, and not enjoying gigging as much as I might. I think if I keep experimenting, I can keep things fresh and fun for a lot longer. At least until I get distracted by something shiny.

Back at Touching Cloth this week for a 5 minute spot. After a less than stellar outing last time, I was a little bit nervous of this one, but I was determined to please the crowd this time!

With the World Cup on TV upstairs, audience was a little bit thin on the ground, but those of us that were there were pretty determined to lend each other support. As a result, reactions were a little bit muted, but the atmosphere was still very friendly and welcoming. I was on second, though, so I didn't get chance to appreciate this fact, leaving me with a certain amount of nerves.

I was sticking to my "short form" material, and this time I'd rehearsed, and done a little chopping and changing to throw in some new gags and pull out some of the clutter. Running through, this left me with about 3 minutes of material, which surprisingly turned into at least four and a half on stage. I'd like to say this was all due to waiting for laughs, but I seemed to add an aside after nearly every punchline, not many of which were particularly entertaining. I either need to stop myself doing this, or take an improv course and come up with good spontaneous lines.

It wasn't my best gig, but also wasn't a disaster, so I wasn't feeling particularly suicidal afterwards. I'm liking the shorter gags, its giving me chance to experiment more and be a little more personable with the crowd, rather than trying to fit a "character" around a story. Got a couple of nice comments afterwards, remarking on my being more "myself" and having a "likable" attitude, which were nice boosts.

Not all my new gags went down too well. One joke about my weight in particular got absolutely no reaction. This either means I don't look as fat as I think I do, or the joke wasn't even slightly funny. I'm going to assume it's the former.

Update: There's now a video of this set on the Dead Comedian's Socks YouTube page.

Last Monday, I was at Jester Jesters for five minutes of frenzied joke telling. This is fast becoming one of my favourite nights, a great little space and always a friendly atmosphere.

I brought out the new bits I'd debuted at William IV again, and, again, I'd completely failed to rehearse. As a result, I stumbled over a couple of my gags, which can't have looked good. Luckily, I still got something of a laugh, so if I can actually get my act together and practice them for next time, I might be on to a winner.

I've inserted a few more "punny" gags to this routine, just to see how they go. This set is lending itself well to swapping bits in and out, as it isn't too rigidly structured, being more a series of short gags and observations. A few things fell flat, but I'm getting the hang of reacting to duff reactions, with lines like "my flatmate told me not to tell that one", which seem to go well with the persona I'm slowly creating.

All in all, a really fun night. Just need to rehearse more now.

Its the last week of the month, so on Tuesday I headed over to the William IV at Kensal Green for their monthly open mic. And with brand-spanking new material to boot!

I have this irritating habit of getting bored with material too quickly. I do something for a few months, then feel like I'm cheating by not having written anything new lately. I felt like challenging myself a little this time, so I gave myself a week to come up with a new five minutes to put into rotation.

The week passed all too quickly, and I'd managed not to actually rehearse this new set before Tuesday's spot, so I spent the tube journey over (thankfully a fairly long one) writing notes on my hand, and making a few last-minute adjustments.

The audience was mostly acts for the first half, but, true to form at the William IV, really supportive. I don't think anyone before me had had a bad gig. This helped me drag out a little bit of extra energy when I was on stage, which I needed to really get the most out of what might be shaky material.

I started with a pretty safe opening gag, one I've been doing for ages. Its worked quite well the last few times I've used it and I'm even managing to get some good laughs just from some gestures and expressions, which has taken ages to get the hang of. I'm on the verge of cutting out an additional afterthought that's now seeming quite redundant. This helped get everyone on my side for the new stuff, which went down reasonably well. There were some places where people laughed when I didn't expect it, but most of the gags worked. Room for improvement, but there's something there for sure.

Annoyingly there was a tiny bit of heckling, which wrecked a gag I was quite keen to try. Not that there weren't any laughs at all at that point, but most of it came from the guy in the audience chipping in. It was all friendly, and I'm sure he thought he was helping. Luckily, my incredulous reaction to it all got everyone back on my side (self-deprecating though it was), and I managed to put him in his place a tad with some later audience interaction. Granted what I said wasn't particularly funny, but in context (my desperation that he not mouth off again) it got a great laugh. Got some great comments from other acts afterwards as well. I think I'm really starting to find my feet, and pulling together something of a consistent stage persona.

So this routine's going in the full rotation. I've even got some short-form jokes in there to pop into other places should I need it. Lessons learned? Don't be afraid to try stuff out. You don't need to be witty to put down a heckler, as long as you have ok timing. And comparing anything to a penis is funny.