Hope everyone has been doing well since my last update. Things have been moving along nicely of late. I now have something of a portfolio for one thing, the result of combining a talented colleague with a well-used lunch break.
Sunday evening saw The Compass Theatre in Ickenham play host to my sixth appearance on stage on a night ran by Sian Doughty. It is a great venue and there is so much potential for the night, if you are anywhere near Ickenham on a Sunday that it’s on, go along to support the evening: http://www.compasstheatre.co.uk/index.php/events/?genre=23. From a comedian’s perspective, it’s very well run with Sian sending all the information you need without you even asking!
M25 and a rain-lashing later, I arrived at the gig. I was down for a 5 to 7 slot, which in my case means a 7 slot. I picked the better gags from the last couple of sets and then added two which fitted into the story.
I finally met the lovely Sian in person, and then saw that Pamela Hilton had come along to lend her support to the night. Daphna Baram and MC for the evening Charley Lucy Harrison kindly invited me to sit with them for the pre-show chinwag, and the other acts filtered in after that.
Marc, who’d come to my last show with his daughter Eleanor repeated the feat this time around, and went one better by taking responsibility for the footage. Well, I say take responsibility for the footage, when I looked down from the stage he’d delegated the task to Eleanor (who did a brilliant job – thank you!!). Very grateful to you both, great to have travelling support, I owe ya’s.
Sheraz Yousaf was the first act on, with me following soon after. The audience was a little different to those I’d performed at recently and I suspected some of the ‘edgier’ stuff, which basically means the rudest bits, might not go down as well as I’d hoped.
I opened my set and found the audience warm to the first gags, but there were two gags that didn’t work as well. I’m getting a terrible habit of making eye contact with elderly women as I get to the most adult parts of my set. It leads to them showing me a disappointed face which somehow reminds me of parents evening. However, I was really pleased with the non-scripted sections, which I think saved the set. And thanks to Pamela and her hubby-to-be for laughing along loudly!
Unusually, I had to peg it quite soon after I’d been on and it meant leaving quickly without saying anything to anyone but hopefully that won’t be held against me. It was Sunday night and the M25 awaited my arrival J Will try and come as an audience member for the next show, hope to see some of you there.
Now all thoughts to my next, and probably most challenging gig to date. Some amazing acts there, one has 66k+ followers on instagram, one was the first Brit to perform at the Hollywood Comedy Store and was main support act for Kevin Hart during his recent tour. If you don’t know Danny Slim Gray, then you are missing out. The set I am linking to here was one of those sets that made me want to try out stand up. Look at his control, his timing, his all-round genius funnydum. Watch it, and then free up and hour to watch more of his stuff. His delivery is impeccable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLqiTRVRdOw
Throw in the viral legend that is Prince Harry aka The White Yardie (and his 66k+ followers: http://instagram.com/WYARDIE ) and the brilliantly funny Junior Booker (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxjq5x01jyY ), and I’m in fantastic company. Now I have to write some material that will stand up to another different audience, and this time there will be more of them, with a higher expectation. Hope the others don’t let them down!
Even as a joke that sounds wrong. Lots of work to do, this is only going to be gig 7! I just need to make sure I don’t let anybody down. As my two year old said to me earlier, ‘aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggh’.
Keep smiling peoples
James