EDINBURGH FRINGE 11TH AUGUST 2015

   SHOW NUMBER 4

AUDIENCE: 30

WALKOUTS: 2 

RUNNING TIME 55 MINS

BEFORE 

Today is the first day that I haven’t felt stressed before my show. I have found a thermos mug in my flat which now enables me to drink tea on the way to my gig. I am not sure if this is making me feel relaxed or it is just because I have done 3 full performances already?  

The room is exceedingly hot today. 

The audience feel they have energy. 

DURING

I don’t have a tech so I have to get to the stage and switch off the music and say hello and I cock this up today so it is a bit shambolic and unprofessional but I don’t think the audience judge me too harshly. But I will have to do this with more finesse in the future. It is the kind of bullshit that audiences can superficially judge you on. 

There are a few fellow comedians in, but aside from that I can sense that this audience are not naturally my crowd. The audience are going with the start but not with loads of enthusiasm. I am conscious of maintaining my pace at the start and not rushing anything just because they are less responsive than on previous days. Within minutes of taking to the stage I am visibly sweating due to the intense heat. Sweat is running down my face. And this is never a good look as it gives the appearance of being stressed even if I am not. I want to take my jacket off but I think this will look sloppy and may reveal sweat patches on my shirt that will look worse. I decide to sweat it out. Hopefully the audience will interpret this as nothing but good honest graft. 

I know from early on that is never going to my best audience . I just have to hold my nerve and fight for every bit and perform every routine to my best. The routine about the Kitten up a Tree is a a good launch pad but if it doesn’t build up sufficient traction then I realize the show will be hard work. 

There are moments during “God” and “Homophobia” where the material really lands but these are individual moments and the routines never build up sufficient momentum. 

I think I perform Jacket today better than on any previous occasion. When I tell the story about the drug dealer, I deliberately change the tone down to conversational to make it sound as plausible as possible. I am particularly proud of this moment. 

Around about this time two people leave. I sensed they weren’t into it and I was right. The close the door quietly like they are sneaking out from a hapless one night stand. I decide not to reference it. There is also a flank of middle aged people to my right hand side who also don’t seem into the show much either, but then sometimes  they are really into individual bits. I wonder if they will cut and run too and I will loose them? I am ambivalent about it as I don’t feel it is their thing.  However after a few minutes they don’t leave and I realize  that they are here for the duration. 

There is little momentum coming off the back of one section and into the next. I drop some tag lines because I don’t think the initial punchline got enough laughter to warrant a tag. A good laugh at the end of a section can buy me some thinking time but today I do not have that luxury. 

There is a conflict in my head between how I am feeling about this gig and how I am thinking about it and this clash is causing me problems. Logically this gig is hard work and  it should seem like it is taking ages. But paradoxically I am actually enjoying it and this makes it seem like it is going quickly. So I keep getting to bits of the show quicker than I think I should be getting there and this completely throws me. 

At the end of “Jacket” routine I am about to launch into AIDS. Suddenly I feel as though I have missed something out. It feels too early for AIDS. I start scanning through the show in my head. To my horror I suddenly think I have missed out Homophobia. I cant remember doing Homophobia.  How could I have missed out Homophobia? I am quickly rewriting the links to the show to rework Homophobia in now. I am about to launch into Homophobia when I remember I did do it all five minutes ago. I quickly resort to plan A and go straight into AIDS. I wonder if my hesitancy even registered with the audience? It was all over in a second. 

I am worried about the AIDS material as this can be difficult to play to an audience that is not fully on board. And this audience are never fully on board. But in fact they are with it in the early stages . However the piece where I talk about “thinking I am going to get AIDS” I don’t land it properly. And I am annoyed about that because i felt that bit was there for the taking. Up until now the AIDS routine has either really worked or really hasn’t worked. There has never been a halfway house with this one. But today it half works and this is a new experience for that routine. I mess it up in the middle but I get it back on track for the end. This gives me hope that I am now learning to work this routine later. 

And I am conscious of trying to perform the shit out of this show. Varying the delivery to keep the audience interested.  I am doing my level best to maintain the energy in the room right until the end. The climax of the show is solid but hardly fireworks which sums up the whole show today. 

AFTER 

Despite having to work hard today, the show has gone quickly and I have enjoyed it. 

Today was my toughest audience thus far but I think my best performance. Their reticence forced me to perform it better and I didn’t get rattled when they were not going with bits. I feel really positive about today’s show.