I hope you all have been well and not suffering significant pains of withdrawal caused by the inactivity on this blog, and indeed my wider comedic adventure. I can run off a number of factors (excuses) for the break but essentially, I\u2019ve needed a humongous kick up the arse to get me going again.<\/p>\n
Initially I wanted to step back and enjoy Christmas, then January apparently takes a couple of weeks to pick up. Meanwhile the day-to-day drudgery of life required some of my attention and it wasn\u2019t until the start of February that I actually started looking for a gig. By this stage, I\u2019d largely forgotten my set and sometimes you look at a gig and find nonsensical reasons not to apply, meanwhile (shockingly) those you have applied for don\u2019t immediately respond to snap up 5 to 10 minutes of time from this good thang. It\u2019s a bit early for me to start the \u2018don\u2019t you know who I am?\u2019, but y\u2019know, really,\u2026. Don\u2019t they?<\/p>\n
Fortunately a new night has started in Colindale at the Chandos Arms on the first Thursday of every month and I was delighted to get booked into the second outing, which took place last night. The organiser was, as I found out yesterday, in Australia now so I wasn\u2019t sure where that would leave the night but the show must go on. It had been left in the capable hands of Peter White to manage, while Miryam Muller took on MC duties for the first time.<\/p>\n
The comedians mingled as we waited for the audience to arrive, and I spoke with Peter and Andy Gleek (a great act who\u2019d been on at Ruislip when I was). Then I saw Stevenage comedy royalty as I introduced myself to Steve Adams. Now normally when I go to a gig, I can be sure of being the funniest person there – from Stevenage\u2026 any yet even that was taken away from me last night!<\/p>\n
I was on third. I had worn a jumper with blue and black deliberately so I could open with a gag about it being white and gold, but I just skipped over it and went straight into my routine. I began with some tried and tested lines (with a few tweaks), and then finished with two and half minutes of new material. I\u2019m really pleased how it went down. Of course, still a million miles from the finished article, but progressing very nicely \u2013 especially considering the hiatus from which I was returning.<\/p>\n
Other acts on included Steve Hili, Valerio Miconi, Simon Swain, and the wonderful Rosie Martin, before Steve Adams closed the show brilliantly.<\/p>\n
I always enjoy talking with the other comedians. It never ceases to amaze me how varied they are, springing up from all walks of life, all professions, and most have fantastic tales to tell. It\u2019s very rare that they aren\u2019t incredibly warm, welcoming, and encouraging, and last night was no exception. Also had some great feedback from others in the audience, which was superb.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d seen Steve perform a year ago while in the audience and been very impressed, and yet far from initiating a turf war after I got my Stevenage-bashing out first, he couldn\u2019t have been more helpful. I also enjoyed speaking with Andy and Peter, learning what I could from two guys out there doing it, and doing it, and doing it well (see, LL Cool J reference, I\u2019m still hood).<\/p>\n
The night itself is full of potential, bound to grow and become an integral part of the dazzling Thursday night Colindale scene J\u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s really got my juices flowing again and I can\u2019t wait to work on the set again, ready for my next gig, in Welwyn next month. I can\u2019t wait. Let me know if you are interested in coming to that one, and I\u2019ll pass you the details once I have them.<\/p>\n
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the sun this weekend. Oh yeh, and Happy New Year…<\/p>\n
Mwah.<\/p>\n
James<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I hope you all have been well and not suffering significant pains of withdrawal caused by the inactivity on this blog, and indeed my wider comedic adventure. I can run off a number of factors (excuses) for the break but essentially, I\u2019ve needed a humongous kick up the arse to get me going again. Initially …<\/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-83","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\/83","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=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84,"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameshoward.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}