Edinburgh Festival - 15th August 2013

15th August 2013  Pleasance Court Yard 

14th show in the run

Length 55mins

Before Gig

I watched the video of yesterday’s gig and decide that I really need to smarten up my delivery. And this is my main thought  before my show together with more facial expressions. I watched the American Comedian Al Lubel yesterday and was very impressed by his bravery as a performer and his command of the stage. In particular his determination to just start without any preshow talking or hellos with the audience. I decide I should “just start” my show too.

During Gig

I just start my show. But I get the examples in the opening section the wrong way around. I mis-speak, I say the wrong word at the start of a sentence and now I am committed to the rest of a sentence. I could correct myself but it would seem incompetent to correct myself at so early a juncture so now I am now locked into not the best example to start with. It works OK but it would have worked better in the correct order. The correct order is the optimum order that is why I have it that way. But I really get them with “National Lottery”. Initially i wasn’t maximising this routine, then I was over egging it, now I believe I have got it to the correct length.  “Scratchcards works well.” Today the “we all gamble section” really works and I have upped the delivery here. 

Things are going well up until “The Bookies Shop” section which kills the momentum a bit. I am coming to the conclusion that it is in the wrong place but also needs rewrites. It doesn’t help that I miss out the bit about growing up in a female environment. But then this routine has always lacked a strong through line and when I am apt to forget bits of a routine it is because there is a wider problem with the routine. This whole bit. “Bookies”, “Professional Gambler” “Risk is Manly” slumps. And it feels like an up hill struggle till I get to Mirapex when suddenly they are back on board. “Risk is Manly” I should do a voice for Ian and this would help animate the section. 

“Possessed by Demons” automatically reverts to an earlier version. This is not through choice but out of habit. My memory seems slightly unreliable today but I am thinking so much about delivery and performance that my concentration feels at full tilt and certain slips in the material are occurring. 

In setting up the “Dentist” routine today I find a new angle which is the idea that Natural is automatically good and man made automatically bad. I have fun ad-libbing this but having now had the idea if I actually sit down and write it, it will be better still.  

All the kids material works well but strangely the kid ofefring me sweets works the least well. I am not sure why? Perhaps as I am more familiar with this routine I revert to type and don’t think about the performance as much? It is a warning that I can’t take my foot off the gas at any point of the show. 

I am starting to sort out the end now. From “Tipping Point” things really start to build. The Von Staffenberg example is a strong ending of “Tipping Point” and this is partly because I do have a very definite and strong point of view and this comes across in the delivery. The weaker parts of the show, I often think, are parts where I lack a strong position and emotional commitment to the topic. 

Onto “Probability” which as a strong point of view and thus works well. “Petrol Station” has a warped sense of logic which goes down well but I am unhappy with the ending on this. I can often fake it to the audience but in my heart I know it needs a better ending. 

The “Nate Silver” routines has built even from yesterday although I forget the line about me being older but no wiser. But the rant is building day by day. I particularly like when I say that I am “not in the centre of the court yard down by the perimeter fence like some embarrassing uncle who has been banished from some non specific misdemeanour.”

Indeed the Nate Silver routine is so strong today that the “Conclusion” is almost a comedown by comparison. I need to work out how to link these sections better now or perhaps it is a question of delivery and not breaking the momentum? 

After Gig

I love the ending to this show now. It is my favourite bit of the show.

I have ideas about improving and adding to the Mirapex section on the subject of Australia. 

I need to sort out the “bookies” “professional gambler” “risk is manly” section. It dents the momentum of the gig relatively early on.

The middle of the show needs work. 

There is always something wrong with the show. As soon as I fix one bit something else now seems weak in comparison. It is just and endless battle until eventually you give it and record it onto DVD.