Edinburgh Festival - 21st August 2013

21st August 2013  Pleasance Court Yard 

19th show in the run

Length 55 mins

Before Show

Busy day today running about, meeting people, doing other gigs before my own show. I have already performed twice today and am in the performance groove before the show starts. I should feel exhausted, but instead, I feel energised.  

During Show

I introduce myself on the off stage mic and as I do so one man starts applauding even before I have said “please welcome to the stage...” The audience feel warm. I open with an enquiry of who gambles but almost right away I hit a problem. I call the “Grand National” the “National Grand... National” and then rather clumsily adlib my way out of this faux pas. It is hardly the ideal start but the mistake serves to break the fourth wall with the audience. Far from losing faith in me, it endears me to the them. I also have an increased confidence in the show and the slip up doesn’t really phase me in a way it would have done earlier in the run. A slip up can also focus the mind and so when I launch into the lottery stuff  I hit it note perfect and the audience react voluably as though we were mid way through a gig and not at the start. If only those earlier unappreciative audiences could see this show now. I am accompanied by a feeling that I am one step ahead of the audience at all points. Every twist, every turn, every development.  Indeed today all the problematic bits of material, all those little weak links in the chain, seem to be fixed. At last I know how to perform this show. The often problematic “Bookies Shop” is a cake walk. And buoyed up by the audience reception so far, I do set it up slightly differently, and it really lands. I have managed to convey the wonder/disgust I felt the first time I walked into a bookies shop. I often feel this rountine is too confusing , that there are too many dies to it, but today, I nail what I want say about it.  Each routine is really building upon the energy of the last. 

By the time I get to “Possessed by Demons” I am getting round of applause breaks. I haven’t had such fun with this show, ever. “Mirapex” continues this build but for the first time feels really completed and there is almost a feeling off the audience of “at last a voice of sanity” I feel almost sage like here. 

But it is all the Sugar material and “Trying to Understand” addiction that I am most proud of. This story telling passage about my childhood takes on a different quality today. The show is going well and this gives me the confidence to stretch my wings and really get into the story. It doesn’t feel like I am clinging to the jokes in it today to sustain it. It feels like I really commit to it and the performance feels different to anything I have ever done on stage before. I can’t fully describe it but it becomes a different thing today. 

“Dad Embarrassment” Is a strong end to this whole section and it feels like the perfect gig at the moment.

Ironically given how good the gig is going, I am more aware today than ever,  of the 40 minutes slump. I have not really been plaugued too much by the infamous 40 minutes slump during this festival but I am now. Despite the energy in my performance and in the room, there is a noticeable dip around the 40 minute mark and  for the time being I cannot really pull it out the dip. 

“Scrapyard” “Adults are Weak” “Kid” “feel the fear” there is a noticeable dropping off and I start wondering if I am putting as much into this gig as I think I am. I try altering the moods, of reducing unnecessary movement on stage, of resetting my voice and position at key moments but only with limited success. I am tiring now and my attempts to get out of this temporary slump are tiring me further.  I wonder if my voice is too much on the same level and I try altering it. My voice is starting to annoy me a bit, perhaps it is annoying the audience.  Probably the audience aren’t noticing this slump but I am. 

At “Tipping Point” the gig lifts. There is something about the “Von Staffenburg” material that really connects and I find I am always able to perform this section with conviction and intent. This turns the corner of the gig and it at “Probability” the energy lifts again and it strong all the way through to the end. “Nate Silver” is working well again,  having hit a lull a few days ago. I pitch the end well and it is time to get off stage but  I don’t really want to get off the stage at the end. I force myself off, otherwise the show will dip instead of finishing on a high. There is strong applause. I take three bows instead of two. This is it now. I have worked out how to do it. It will be this good from now on.  

After Show

The best show of the run so far. Very pleased with the performance today I think I have really hit my stride with this show now. 

Later having watched back the video of the show, I believe the audience have been a bit on the generous side. The delivery lacks a certain energy and there are moments when the delivery is down right sloppy. Timing slightly out, key words not emphasised correctly. Not as good a gig in reality as it was in my head. 

Despite feeling energetic I looked tired in the performance.