Happy birthday to me!<\/p>\n
Another year, another day of reflection. Not overly humped about this particular milestone, the big 34, because life is good at the moment.<\/p>\n
This morning greeted me with the beautiful sound of my children laughing (presume they were watching one of my shows), before they gathered up my cards and presents and simultaneously began opening them for me while commentating what was inside prior to the big reveal. A number of the envelopes I\u2019d been sent had \u201cdon\u2019t open before the 29th<\/sup> on them\u201d, which has been proudly emblazoned on the majority of birthday cards since I was he-man waving seven year old. Bit disappointed there were no badges, cheapskates.<\/p>\n In a conversation with a comedian at one of the shows, I was told how one person approached the stand up after a gig and kept telling him how brave he was. That\u2019s annoying, bravery simply validates that you went up there, which you already know you did. It\u2019s not the kind of praise you are looking for. I haven\u2019t had that yet, but what I do find is that there is a freakishly common reaction when people learn I\u2019m doing stand-up comedy.<\/p>\n Standard fare, is a confused gaze before an \u2018oh right\u2019. Having had a second or two to gather their thoughts, I\u2019m then advised that they are a little surprised that I haven\u2019t come to them sooner. I mean, haven’t I seen the hilarious emails they forward? I politely explain that you are not allowed to steal gags for your set, particularly those that have been the subject of millions of chain emails and texts, and which aren\u2019t particularly funny in the first place.<\/p>\n The look of shock that you can\u2019t just cut and paste a good routine into your blank set page actually shocks me. I\u2019m then tipped off about some Jimmy Carr\/Peter Kay\/Frankie Boyle\/Jason Manford nugget that I\u2019d be able to sneak in because they are \u2018sure they wouldn\u2019t have heard it before\u2019. It\u2019s a bit like giving an unsigned music wannabe \u2018Wonderwall\u2019 and telling him to roll with it in the confidence that nobody else would be aware of it.<\/p>\n On the whole though, people have been amazing about it. My wife isn\u2019t just the butt of a lot of gags, she provides the most committed critique I have and is ever willing to hear my latest version. My mum is taking a day off work to look after the kids so Liz can come to the Northampton gig. On top of the usual support, my Dad has offered me plenty of his back catalogue (which I\u2019ve somehow refrained from using). My brother has been, strictly for research purposes you understand, feeling out venues in Camden\/Kentish Town to let me know if I\u2019m likely to get happy slapped for a bad gag. Friends and colleagues have become (sometimes) willing and soundboards for new gags I write. The comedians I\u2019ve met have been supportive and ridiculously uncompetitive. The interest people are showing is great and I really hope to see as many of you at gigs as possible before long.<\/p>\n Very quiet on the gig front in terms of performing, a deliberate hiatus to allow some writing time. I have come up with a ten minute set which I\u2019m sure is stronger than the original five, but time will be the judge of that. Now to learn, tweak, learn, tweak, learn, tweak… I talk a little more about my wife, but have added some material about the kids, particularly Carys. With relationship lines, most people can relate to them but I have been very conscious that the kid stuff could alienate large chunks of the crowd if I dwell on it too long. The new finish is more about a night out before I met my wife, and I\u2019m really happy with that part in particular.<\/p>\n I have a few more dates after July, I\u2019m in Northampton in mid-August, and am delighted to have got a spot on Sian Doughtys Ickenham comedy mic show \u2013 where acts are vetted before they can perform, a nice \u2018first\u2019 (thanks Sian!!). I will be at the Comedy Compass night in October. Another superb moment was confirmation of a gig in Enfield in early August, gently creeping closer to the London vicinity from which I hail. I think it might be time a have a bash some of the more central venues, providing the new material doesn\u2019t let me down.<\/p>\n So off to enjoy the day with my wonderful family, and test out some gags on some unsuspecting victims.<\/p>\n Thanks for all the birthday wishes and keep smiling!<\/p>\n James<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Happy birthday to me! Another year, another day of reflection. Not overly humped about this particular milestone, the big 34, because life is good at the moment. This morning greeted me with the beautiful sound of my children laughing (presume they were watching one of my shows), before they gathered up my cards and presents …<\/span> Continue Reading<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51,"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions\/51"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}