99 CLUB STRAND- 7TH OCTOBER 2017

GIG 99 CLUB STRAND PALACE HOTEL

I wish I can remember exactly what I did right at this gig but I doubt I ever will. It was one of those gigs where everything was flowing exactly right. Where it is so enjoyable that the twenty minutes passed in the blink of an eye but simultaneously the gig seemed to be in slow motion so I had masses of thinking time. Being able to consider three of four ways of saying the next line before choosing the best one. This also meant that I found new ways of saying certain lines, new inflections, that gave the routines different meanings.

I hadn’t done a gig for four days and felt woefully out of practice. The only thing that I can think of is that I ate masses of “jelly belly”  jelly beans before taking to the stage. There are jars of jelly beans in the green room. I found the jelly beans very morish. I started of delicately plucking one out of the jar at a time. But by the end I was taking handfuls of jelly beans and shovelling them into my mouth so that the flavours got mixed up in a demented cocktail of artificial flavours. It probably looked fairly disgusting, like that last decadent days of the Roman Empire but with Jelly beans instead of grapes. And don’t think I wasn’t talking during this jelly beans episode because I was, something about how I see the state of the world.  For me sugar is the new caffeine. Unlike caffeine, sugar cannot induce a panic attack because sugar is my friend.

Meanwhile, at the gig, a drunken couple were thrown out at the interval. As I take to the stage I bemoan the opportunity to have my set disrupted by these louts, getting me into a conversational sound for my set. I am really focused on the meaning of the routines and the punchlines but otherwise I am not caught up in the actual wording and it gives a freshness to my material and I find a very natural rhythm. This rhythm isn’t just spoken it extends to my movement on stage. It all fits together. I don’t think I have ever experienced this before onstage - or off. I don’t think I ever will again. Strangely I am really enjoying the set ups and the links between material the most. I am really revelling in all of that and as for the  punchlines they can sort themselves like the cheap whores that they are.

I think about Steve Martin’s advice about the audience being a sea of individual faces and how the comedian’s job is to make them one giant face. I know what he means, I am trying to unite the audience into one conscious mind. I think the whole giant face metaphor is a bit ridiculous but then it does help me visualise and remind me to look at the audience.

I am perhaps hypnotising the audience tonight. I feel I have won them over to the point where I could do anything. But I actually become more choosy about the material I select. And even when I pick a routine I then specifically edit it for this audience. It isn’t caution exactly but it is a certain judiciousness I haven’t quite experienced before. Perhaps this is professionalism? Perhaps this is what being a comedian is actually about? Maybe everything before was not right? Maybe I won’t be able to recreate? Maybe I shouldn’t even try? Maybe I’ll end of being the sort of comedian who demands to have jelly beans in their dressing room.

Bridport 11 April 2014

Before Gig 

I am trying to avoid caffeine and sugar induced highs before I go on stage. Pre-show food. Water, White Grapes (Green?), Cashew Nuts. The venue is an arts centre but the gig hasn’t sold enough tickets to be in the main auditorium. Instead the gig is in the cafe. The cafe kitchen serves as a greenroom. I stand next to a microwave oven. I can watch the show through a serving hatch. The cafe area is now full and the audience over flow is now accommodated in the kitchen with the audience members looking through the hatch too. The acts hatch not the publics! This kitchen is over subscribed.  I stand in the corridor and watch the gig through the window of a door. The sound if muffled though. I feel cut off from the gig.  I retreat further up the corridor doing voice exercises. I drift into the bar. I chat to the bar maid about the town and obtain local references I will later fail to use in my set. 

During Gig 

I perhaps misjudged the audience before I go on. I overestimate their ability to laugh at themselves and this (to me) farcical set up. I joke that I am not big enough to play the theatre space. That this is the gig everyone wants to play, the cafe bar. It doesn’t quite land. I sound like a man coming from London to complain about being under appreciated. Obviously that is how I actually do feel but I shouldn’t say it. It is a bit awkward at the start but i know to move on to some material. There is a woman in  the front row who is glaring at me, so even as I win the audience over she is staring at me. Her partner, a man with a crew cut, can obviously sense her disapproval and he is stony faced. There is a third man, sitting to the side of the stage. There are only a few seats to the side and it gives the impression that he is some sort of judge. If he is, his face is giving me zero points. He is mid fifties with a fringe and a red face (It is a healthy countryside red face rather than the bloated red face denoting congenital heart disease). His misery is altogether a different order, he seems not only to disapprove of me, but of the entire concept of comedy and it would appear to be all my fault. The rest of the audience are warming but these three characters remain straight faced. I am determined to crack them. There is a row of women sitting in the second row really buying into this but so what, they are not the one woman on the front who is unhappy. At one moment she audibly sighs as I introduce the subject of dentists. I haven’t even done the routine yet but still she seems to have written it off with her stern face. And her hubby, Mr Crew Cut is magnifying her disapproval. He looks like he may go on a rampage with a gun just to spite me. I have a new section about losing some money in a cinema and it is good but not quite fighting fit yet and I am debating whether it is wise to do it tonight. I feel it may be a risk to far but I also sense that when it comes to it I will take the plunge and do it anyway. And I want to do it! 

This new section contains a rant . As I go into the rant there is clear apprehension as it appears to be mildly psychotic but I am confident they will get on board when I turn it at the end. And indeed it gives me the gear change I need. And suddenly the the woman in the front row cracks a smile and it has all been worth it. Mr Crew Cut is still holding out with a grimace but I know I can get him now. He is on borrowed time. He has lost his biggest ally. I will bring him down. I don’t quite know when I get him but I look over at him at the fifteen minute mark and he happens to be smiling. Part of me loses respect for him caving in so easily. But this still leaves the one man to the side. the man with the fringe and the red cheeks. He is of a different order. He is a grand master of the misery. He seems like the sort of person who could be tortured for three days and still not crack. I really intensify my efforts to win him round. 

I am throwing everything at this fucker. Everything. Asides, facial expressions, changes on tone, eye contact. Faking sincerity, the works. I wouldn’t mind ambivalence actually. I think that is the best that I can hope for now. Just stop hating me, you don’t have to like me. Stop hating me and I will count that as a technical victory. This guy is a professional trainer of comedy. He is making me work harder and harder. As an accidental side effect of all this , I am now having a better gig. This wasn’t planned but the rest of the audience think I am working my pants off for them. I am not. I am doing fir him. This is nothing to do with the rest of them now. It is me and him. I run over five minutes longer than I should, just trying to win this guy over once and for all time. It doesn’t work. There is never even the hint of mild approval. I finally concede I cannot win him over. I end the gig. It is easily the best performances I have achieved in several weeks, the audience show their appreciation. I retire to the kitchen area, to stand by a microwave oven, defeated by a man with red cheeks. 

After Gig

The red faced fringe man comes up to me after the show. I imagine he wishes to complain and advise me to quit comedy. “Are you playing the Edinburgh Festival this year?” He asks. “Where are you playing?” I tell him the Canon’s Gait 6pm.  “Then I will certainly be there.”  he announces and leaves. 

Nice and Spikey Islington, 27th January 2014

Nice and Spikey Islington.

27^th January 2014

Before Gig,

I have now finally decided to do the Edinburgh Festival this year. After months or procrastinating and not writing new material and ordering another Americano and gossiping about other comedians and going home empty handed from another day’s “writing session”. I have finally and irrevocably said “yeah alright” and taken the plunge. I am going to the Edinburgh Festival. I suspect I covertly took this decision in August 2013, however up until now I have been concealing this decision from myself, in a highly successful attempt, to justify my lack of progress writing the damn thing.

But now I am going to the Edinburgh Festival. The Festival is no longer next year, now it is this year. I have to write a new show and so tonight I am at Nice and Spikey comedy club to try out new material that may or may not make it into the actual show. I have a new routine about people speaking in the cinema and one about having cow eyes and one about trying to find common ground with my mother on the telephone.

Another thing. At the venue, the Gents toilets stink. And not in a nice normal stinky toilet way but in a nasty there is something seriously amiss with the drains kind of way. I actually report the stench to the bar staff which, given the all-pervasive smell, would seem totally unnecessary. The staff confirm that yes they do have functioning noses and yes they are aware of the smell and yes it is “the drains”. The big stink doesn’t stop the venue selling pizzas and nor does it stop the punters buying them. Sometimes you have to love the perseverance of the British.

During Gig,

I had been warned that they were a very good audience but unfortunately they are far worse than that. They are amazing. They are laughing at anything and everything. They find everything funny. How can I gauge new material in this all-pervasive laugh fest? They are over generous. This is hardly ideal test conditions.  What are these people so up-beat on a Monday night anyway? If I wanted wall-to-wall gratitude I would be trying this out on a Saturday night. I’m looking for a bit of midweek lethargy here. How can I prepare for a rainy Tuesday afternoon in Edinburgh with all this appreciation shit flying about? Real life isn’t like this. I want a bit of a challenge here. I can’t seem to get a footing. I am staggering from one success to another. Reeling from the audience positivity I try to kill it early on by going on stage and starting off with something totally unprepared. It backfires.  I start ranting about the gents toilets and the phenomenon of blocked drains but somehow my rant chimes with the audience and before I know it they are on board.

I decide to move into an old bit of honed material. The idea is to raise the bar with something tried and tested and once they’ve upped their expectation, dash their hopes by moving into something new and substandard. I need to drive their pleasure down to manageable levels. No such luck. They tried and tested works well and so now I launch into my routine about the cinema. It should get clunky here as the smooth élan of tweaked material gives way to the jagged rocks of half-baked ideas. But no. Their gratitude knows no bounds. Even as I move towards my non –ending end, they appear to think my substandard finale will suffice.

I now move into, what for this gig, is the weak link. A routine about talking to my mother on the phone and trying to find some point of common interest. I truncate this routine in the interests of time management. It is usually about 10 minutes long all in and tonight I don’t have that time so I cut it. But in shortening it looses the spirit of it and it doesn’t quite work as well. The audience are still lapping it up but there is a slight dent in their feedback. It goes from say a ten to a nine. But it is enough to know that this isn’t working as well in the edit form. I make a mental note of this. This is genuinely the only lesson I take from this gig.

I finish with a routine about having cow eyes. Now this routine has a bit of history, I have performed it live four or five times. The first time I fluked it and the audience really went for it. I adlibbed it and the words just tumbled out correctly, it almost felt like a fully formed routine. In subsequent runs I tinkered with it and tweaked it and it never really worked after that. The more I tried to rationalise it, the more I screwed it up. I had begun to loose faith in it altogether and was considering confining it to the dustbin of history. However I was then advised by a fellow comic to get back to the spirit of the original version.  So I tried to do just that at a gig earlier this evening - a new material night. Alas the routine still didn’t work. So on route to this gig I rework it again. And now it has come up trumps. Or has it? See this is exactly what I am talking about. Is it really any better? Have I really progressed? Or is it just this audience giving everything five stars? I cannot really tell. This is the futility of this gig. And so I wrap up the gig and give the audience a warm tribute because they have been truly wonderful and that is what they deserve. But as I walk from the stage I feel simultaneously very happy and thwarted. 

After Gig

God this gig was good for the ego but I have learned nothing from this. Nothing! My Edinburgh prep is no further forward. Thanks comedy Gods. Nice one. 

Joke Thieves 3rd December 2013

Joke Thieves 3^rd December 2013 – Downstairs at the King's Head.

When I first heard about the idea behind 'Joke Thieves' I thought it would either be: a horrendous car crash of a gig or a stroke of pure genius. In case you are unfamiliar with the concept of Joke Thieves then let me explain. Joke Thieves is a live comedy format pioneered by Will Mars. In the first part of the show, comedians perform a regular set of their own material. In the second part the comedians swap over and perform each other’s sets and by doing so have free reign to duplicate, spoof, parody, deconstruct or destroy the other comedians set.  Comedians have no advanced warning (i.e. prior to the show) of the material/act they will be asked to replicate. You may have about 10 minutes thinking time but that is about it. Basically it is spontaneous the way all those panel shows pretend to be.

Before Gig
I have previously performed at Joke Thieves on four occasions and every time I have felt pretty relaxed about it. Tonight however I am feeling pretty jumpy. Perhaps it’s because it is a long time since the last one I did? Or maybe because Joke Thieves is now becoming a phenomenon? Even before the show kicks off, there is a real sense of expectation from the audience. It feels as though they have seen this before and know where the level is. I am rather enjoying the nerves; I am feeling like a newbie. Downstairs at the Kingshead is where I performed some of my first ever gigs. Tonight, again, I have that that feeling of excitement/fear/out of my depth-ness. 

During Gig                                                                                                                                                           First off, all the comedians are paraded on stage and paired off by a member of the audience. I am matched with Pierre Novellie. He is a tall man with a beard and a mongrel accent that contains a strong hint of South African but by no means is typical of the usual South African lilt. It is not the most outlandish pairing, he is not exactly an anti-Stephen Carlin. We are both male, neither of us do a character, neither of us possess a frenetic energy. But neither is he similar enough to afford that opportunity to exaggerate tiny differences. I am in a no-mans-land. He is too similar, he is not similar enough. Pierre is up immediately before me. I have to watch his set closely, attempt to remember his material and punch lines, observe his manner, his delivery, his rhythm of speech, try and capture the essence of him in five minutes. I am watching his set. I am paying attention but I am not really paying attention. I am distracted by the fact that I will have to do my own set shortly. I can’t quite focus. I jot down notes but they are the kind of notes that I will look at in a few moments and say “What District 9? What about his Uncle who is a Game Keeper?” Pierre talks about his South African background as a vehicle for moving into observations about London Crime versus South African crime, The Lion King, Margaret Thatcher, the film Blood Diamond. The competing demands of my imminent performance versus my need to watch Pierre’s set is stewing my brain. I am neither preparing nor properly listening to him. Is this what it is like to have kids?

Pierre ends his five minutes of material and now I am due on stage. I haven’t fully decided what material to do even as I take to the stage. I end up doing a teeth heavy set with routines about dentistry and a girlfriend that had teeth that were way too small. Some acts are very strategic and perform material they think other acts will find it difficult to replicate. I don’t do that, either all my material is easy to copy or I am incapable of thinking strategically (tactically?) at all. The set goes well but that is the easy part. Milo McCabe follows me with one of his characters. He is on stage for five minutes and then suddenly I have to go back on with the set of Pierre Novellie. 

For some reason, I think I have ages. In the past there has been an interval before parts one and two and I mistakenly think this applies tonight. I am gripped by a lack of grip quite frankly. It is not until Will Mars reminds me “you’re on next” that I realize I am at DEFCON 1 or whatever the high one is.  I have rudimentary notes of Pierre’s set but I can’t quite decide the angle of attack. Do I try an impression? I decide against attempting the accent. I don’t think I could sustain it for five minutes and besides his accent is too layered and subtle for me to give it any kind of justice. I can’t really remember the set clearly. I am unable to assimilate information. You know when somebody is trying to count and you shout random numbers at them until they loose count. Well I now feel like the person who is trying to count.

I don’t think I have ever done Joke Thieves so unprepared. On all previous occasions, I have had a definite idea of the line I am going to take. Not tonight. 

I start with saying “I am South African” in my usual accent “But I moved to the white enclave of The Isle of Man to avoid accusations of racism” from there on but there is no real plan. I am riding on the goodwill of the audience, possibly a hangover from my previous five minutes on stage. 

At moments I appear as if I don’t know what I am about to say next. This is because I really don’t know what I am about to say next. I find myself, at points, staring at the audience ruminating on what is to follow. This generates laughter, the laughter of expectation. The audience think I know what I am doing. After all only a person who really knows what they are doing would look like they are working it out. Wrong, I really am working it out. I wonder if this is a technique I could use in my set generally? I am making sections of it up as I go along. As I say it, it is as much a surprise to me as the audience. The Joke Thieves audience also get into the spirit of things so I am unsure how much leeway they are giving the performers (possibly a lot?). This performance is more a pastiche than any accurate portrayal or forensic dissection. It seems to work but I am not sure whether I have fluked it or stumbled on a better approach.  

After Gig

I haven’t had as much fun performing a gig in ages. It has highlighted to me how restrictive my regular set can be and the sheer possibilities stand up offers. It is easy to get into a tunnel vision idea of how to perform my material so when I see somebody else perform my set the possibilities open up.  And when I perform their set, there is no historical legacy of the material to me so I am constantly just thinking, “make this funny”. Everything feels really vital and in the moment. What is great about Joke Thieves is that it forces comedians to go for broke and this to be honest happens relatively rarely. Once ensconced in the world of paid weekend work I find myself invariably playing the percentages and rarely taking these kind of outlandish risks. I had less of a game plan at Joke Thieves tonight than on previous occasions and it appeared to work better. I can’t wait to do it again and find out if this is an aberration or not.

My main regret is that I went for a “South Africans are racist angle” This in itself is racist. While this line of attack worked a treat, it seemed to initiate a racist motif that went through the rest of the evening.

Edinburgh Festival - 24th August 2013

24nd August 2013  Pleasance Court Yard 

22nd show in the run (3rd last)

Length I hour 3 minutes.

Before Show

Today is the last Saturday of the Fringe. The previous two Saturdays have provided sold out houses of entirely innapropriate audiences. Tonight is sold out but what kind of sold out?  Sold out comedy literate folks or sold out lad central? Which is it to be? Part of me doesn’t care anymore. Part of me feels the festival is over but another part of me knows that I owe my audiences a good job on the last few nights and that who knows who could still be in the audience? It is with a mixture of relaxation and anxiety at my relaxation that I walk to my venue. A meet a friend who tells me I look tired. I don’t feel tired but I notice I am walking slouched and all low energy.  When he tells me I am looking tired, I try to look untired. “You still look tired he tells me.” Backstage now, I think about the start of the show, but that is all I can think of. I listen to the audience come in, the sound up for it but chilled. There is no air of Stag-Do tonight. I remind myself that this is my space and I should own the stage. I do the off stage announcement. I have some fun with it . The audience seem warm.

During Show

I attempt to make my delivery slightly more persuasive in that particular tone of somebody trying to convince you it’s not their fault when it clearly is. 

The audience are really on board from the off, literally from the first joke, they are there.  They are on my wavelength. We have an understanding. It reminds you how good things can be when you have an audience that shares your sense of humour. They make me feel like a comic genius, like every line is comic gold. There is a shared believe between me and the audience that this is going to be a good gig. I like a good start, it relaxes me and gives the audience faith but this start is almost too good. It can’t really build from here. It is already at max. In a way it can only go downhill. I feel far more pressure than say a gig that starts averagely. With an audience already this on board, they will forgive mistakes. I may therefore get complacent and let more minor faults slip in. Eventually the attritional  effect of the accumlated minor faults will start to erode confidence and the gig will go down hill. Even if ends on a high but not as big a high as the start then it will be a disappointment. This is not so much an audience as a precious vase that I am carrying across a highly polished floor. This is such a good audience and such a good show that I can only really screw it up from here. 

There is a big laugh and partial wince on the Tracy Emin line, sometimes from the same audience members. They are a good audience but with a slightly sensitive streak. But this I like. I can tell that they are the audience who enjoy being slightly pushed beyond their taste barrier and that their occasional queaseyness will add to the add to the energy. 

“National Lottery” material  takes it higher. Some late comers come in during “Scratchcards” and sit at the back, I am in midflow and choose not to break off to acknowledge the newcomers. I am sort of past the point of no return on the build up the punchline so I have to go for it, on the other hand the distraction at a key moment in the set undoubtedly dents the punchline but I can’t see any alternative. “Amanda Knox” boosts the gig further. I really slow this routine down tonight as though I am weighing up the pros and cons in my head, this is really effective. I let the audience run ahead of me here. I am very much enjoying “Risk in Manly” now, ever since I worked out an onstage voice for Ian. I deliberately keep this routine loose but at the start I screw up the timing and it gets little at the start, I really feel out the room here and by the end they are back on board but it serves as a warning against sloppiness. I am never taking my foot off the gas here. I know that by this stage in the festival my energy levels are depleted. I keep running through a checklist of dos and don’ts in my head to keep me on track. I can feel myself slouching and pull myself straight.  I am not always making eye contact with the back and have to remind myself to do that. 

I enjoy taking water breaks more than I ever have. Just taking a moment to break off from talking and have a drink and enjoying the time I am taking. Not feeling obliged to do anything for a few seconds, it almost becomes a feature tonight. 

Going into “vicious circle of debt”, everything is tickety-boo but somehow this routines doesn’t quite land. I think it is a pacing issue. This is problematic because the next section “Understanding Addiction” is a slower story part that needs the energy of “Vicious Circle of debt” to carry it. Tonight I am going in without that energy. Is this where it all starts to slip away? Is the precious vase is about to shatter on the parquet floor? I am suddenly aware that I need a big laugh at this point. There is isn’t one here. So somehow I contrive to make the Bob Geldolf section into a big laugh and somehow I do it, I sort of will it to happen.  We are back on track. Surprisingly the Dentist material, which is invariably plain sailing, struggles tonight. I think I am messing up the delivery but I am too jaded by the festival to fully observe what exactly is happening now. This should carry the energy into “Dad Embarrssment”  but again I am going into a slower bit with little momentum but this section comes alive again and to be honest it is on course from here on in. A slight dip at “Feel the Fear” but after that from “Tipping Point” the thing just builds right through “Probability” and “Nate Silver” lands almost note perfect. I miss out the line “Unless Nate Silver is prepared to submit his work to the approval of 50 random strangers in a room then there is no merit to what he does” but apart from it the whole thing lands. I get to the end and there is a momentary pause like they are not going to applause and then they do. 

There are cheers and whistles and sustained applause better than any show this fringe run. 

After Show

The best show of the run in terms of audience response. I will have to check the video to see how my performance stands up. I feel happy but exhausted at the end of it. The show seemed to go quickly and over ran. A friend told me I looked tired during the performance. 

Edinburgh Festival - 22 August 2013

22nd August 2013  Pleasance Court Yard 

20th show in the run

Length I hour

Before Show

I was blown away by Paul Currie’s show, which I watched last night. I am amazed his show did not get nominated for the Edinburgh Award. He is a phenomonal performer and it really inspired me. I have his example in my mind as I prepared for the show today. 

I have a lazy day before my show and am well fed and rested and thus I feel more tired than if I had been active. This feeling of lethargy combined with Paul Currie’s example spurs me on to try and up my performance. 

I am also aware that yesterday was a good show and that with the comedy gods this counts for nothing. I have to start all over again, 

During Show 

I take to the stage in a very measured and stately way almost like I am a ghost coming on to the stage. 

The audience don’t really go for the opening but I just stare them down and hold my nerve and keep the timing and they start to come along. There is one middle aged guy with a beard who is well into it and some other guy at the back who I can't see because of the lights. They are sort of islands of laughter and I attempt to build a bridgehead between them and then spread the love to the rest of the audience. They start infecting pools of laughter around them. I need to get these pools to join up. This will become a constant battle all through the gig. 

“Bookies shop” struggles but I give Ian an accent in the “Risk is Manly” section for the first time and it transforms the routine. The show really lifts here and shows the potential this gig could have. I battle through “Possessed by Demons” but things come good in the “Mirapex Section” 

In general I have to battle for every routine but the audience are still there if I do something worthy but they are not going to give me this gig on a plate. Perhaps on anther day I would have thanked my lucky stars but after yesterdays gig - which was a good one- i feel disappointment. The result is that I am forced to stay vigilant and focused throughout the gig but the high levels of concentration start taking their toll now. 

The festival is advanced now. However much I may feel energetic, energy levels are depleting. Little mistakes are creeping in. I make a mistake I have never made before. For a moment I involuntary say my internal dialogue out loud. Terry Alderton does this to great effect but then he is doing it on purpose. I just babble out “... perhaps switch position of routine with previous...” In the middle of another routine. It makes no sense and I don’t even reference it. I wonder if the audience notice? I wonder of they know what is going on? Find it bizzare or what? 

I worry that the audience may not be there for me now. I may have fought to a dead stop but as I go into “Nate Silver” the energy picks up and it is a strong end. The ending works well and this is always a good sign of my ability to control an audience, if they suddenly rise up at this point then I have managed to keep them on board. Today they are on board. A strong end but after yesterdays gig where I felt I licked it, I am disappointed that I couldn’t repeat it. 

After Show

I realized today how I should have been performing “Risk is Manly” all along, which is to do it an accent and thus highlight the ridiculous of the opinion, rather than assuming that audiences will be on my wavelength and immediately comprehend that I don’t actually believe it.  Equally I changed “Vicious Circle of Debt” so that I now described an obviously very specific experience as if it were a shared one. These adds gives the routine more of an attitude as I am avoiding responsibility for my own actions by claiming “we all do it”. This phenomonon also occurs in real life. In both instances there is a shifting of responsibility from myself to others, in one case overt and in the other covert. 

Of course both routines  should have been done this way from the start but it is good I am finally getting routines straightend out as the Edinburgh Festival comes to a close.  

Having watched the replay of the tape today, this was the best performance of the run. My entrance to the stage was interesting because I kind of glided out of the curtain. It was a very unceremoneous but effective entrance.  My disappointment that I felt immediately after the gig has evaporated and I feel a great pride. The best performance of the run and possibly the best hour I have ever done. 

Timing was also good and It was obvious I was determined to do it my way. Interesting the performance looked effortless because it didn’t feel that way at the time. I was really working it and it felt a battle where I fought for every laugh and punchline etc. At the time yesterday’s gig felt the stronger but this is the one I am more proud of now.

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.