I did a couple of spots this week – Compulsive Comedy at the Carlton Tavern in Maida Vale, and back to the Comedy Centre at the Milford Arms in Isleworth.
It was my first time at Compulsive so I didn’t really know what to expect, but it’s a nice, well organised gig, run in a back-room of the pub, and on the night I was there the audience was probably around ten people on top of the acts. I mean as well as the acts, not physically on top of, comedy isn’t that much fun.
I bumped into a few friendly faces, including Paul Little, who did a smashing job of closing the show, Sean Little, who I first met when I was running London’s Worst Open MicTM a few years ago, and Anna Little who, to be honest, I’ve only met once before and really don’t know at all – but I like the synchronicity of meeting three Littles all at once.
I’ve been looking for an opportunity to film a strong five minute set because all of my tapes are quite old, and bookers tend to want to see more recent evidence that I’m not shit. But I didn’t bother filming this one because I was doing newish material, the room wasn’t as full at the start of the gig, and it was my first time there, so I didn’t think it was worth bothering. As it turned out, things went pretty well and I wish I’d made the effort.
All in all, it was a nice gig, ably hosted by Ella Clark, so I’m hoping to get on there again, with longer sets.
On Thursday I was back at The Comedy Centre, where I bumped into the omnipresent Don Biswas who I’ve been lucky enough to gig with a few times over the years. Don’s a political comedian, which isn’t for everybody, but he’s got a great knack for going off on what seems like a rant, but then wrapping it up with a killer punchline just when you think he might be losing the audience.
It was a busy night (by open mic standards) – I think at least twenty audience members – which caused me to start second guessing myself. I’d planned to just run through the new set, but then I started thinking I should take the opportunity to get that solid tape filmed, so I set my camera up but couldn’t make my mind up. In the end I panicked and did the newer material.
I made a couple of mistakes – first I opened with a weak topical joke about Prince Andrew being arrested, which got me off to a slow start – I really need to stop doing that unless I’m wildly confident about the bit.
Halfway through my set I got distracted by a drunk guy standing at door at the back of the room – he’d spotted the show taking place and decided to stand in the doorway, lift his shirt and rub his nipples. I tried to address it, but of course I was the only person who could see him, and by the time the audience turned he’d gone on his merry way, so it just came off as weird and nonsensical. And it broke my flow. I should have just ignored him.
Hang on – there was a third mistake. The new stuff I’ve been practicing is only about 5 minutes, and I didn’t go up with a strong plan for what to do with the rest of my 7 minute set. I went into a completely unrelated bit, but didn’t segue very well, and then suddenly realised I was overrunning so I wrapped it up before reaching the big punchline, and my set kind of petered out without a solid ending.
Watching the tape back today, I got some laughs for most of the punchlines, but nothing big, and it certainly wasn’t good enough to send to bookers. It’s a little disappointing – I remember doing my old material at some gigs and getting massive laughs, so big that I’d stand there feeling awkward waiting for the audience to quiet down so I could start my next bit. The stuff I’m doing now isn’t anywhere near as strong, so I really need to put the work into tightening it up.
I should also revisit some of that old material – there are bits I shelved years ago for no other reason than I wanted to do new stuff, but it seems stupid to abandon good gags. I think right now my priority should be getting a good tape – I want more spots and to get in front of more bookers/promoters so I can spread my wings from the same handful of gigs I’ve been doing, and having a tight five on film will help massively with that.