Chortle, Bournemouth and The Resident Shark: A Comedy Update

I've had three gigs in recent weeks, not a great number but I'm allegedly taking time out to focus on finishing my degree. The first was the London heat of the Chortle Student Comedy Award 2009 at UCL. The Chortle crowds are always really nice and I was expecting an enjoyable evening. I was nervous beforehand because I felt the need to deliver a completely different set to my last appearance in the competition. I very rarely do completely new sets because it's generally against comedy protocol, it's better to gradually mix new material in with the old until you've got something that can stand on its own. My nervousness was apparent onstage unfortunately, but I think I was decent enough and now have something to work with in the next batch of gigs. Anyway, you can judge for yourself here.


Next came The Comedy Circus, a cabaret event of sorts in aid of Comic Relief at the Bournemouth Pier Theatre. They managed to get more than a hundred people in on a night where Russell Brand was performing up the road at the Bournemouth International Centre and the council had actually blocked part of the entrance to the pier due to some sort of rallying event. Not bad going at all. The Pier Theatre is one of those brilliantly old fashioned venues and I had a lot of fun. Even if the lights are positioned on the stage in such a way that you can't see the audience at all and it fucks with your mind. I did 15 minutes for the first time in a while and it went pretty well, although a couple of the new bits fell flat. Still, it was encouraging by and large and lots of money was raised for charity, so well done to all involved and thanks to Grace and her team for inviting me down.


Finally on Thursday, I was at the weird and wonderful Comedy Lake in Archway, run by Alistair Greaves. It's a bizzare gig, but a brilliant one, probably the only comedy show in the capital that has a resident shark as an integral part of proceedings. And incorporates a man making a cauliflower and yoghurt sandwich on an ironing board. In truth, probably not the best surroundings for my negative and miserable material and I struggled a bit. But I can still heartily recommend Comedy Lake, undoubtedly the best underwater themed comedy night set in a Manchester United supporter's club (there was a cartoon on the wall of a Manchester United fan wiping their posterior with a Liverpool shirt. Oh to have been a fly on the wall there earlier today) in all of London town.

That's all I have to report on the comedy front for now. Except to say that Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle starts at 10pm on Monday on BBC2 and everyone should watch it because the man is brilliant.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I'll See You In My Dreams

 Today is the first day of the 2024/25 English football season. It will be the first season that begins without my Dad, who died four months ago on 9 th April at the age of 76. My Dad and I have shared football together for as long as I can remember. I fell in love with football largely because of Eric Cantona, who I remember thinking was the coolest man alive. I dimly remember him returning to action after being suspended for his infamous kung fu kick on a Crystal Palace fan, scoring an equaliser against Liverpool and swinging around the stanchion behind the goal at Old Trafford. All of this subsequently led to me wanting to follow Manchester United. I am surprised in retrospect that this man from Houghton-le-Spring who spent most Saturdays in his youth at Roker Park to watch Sunderland AFC didn’t object more vehemently to this. Perhaps he saw it as a decent excuse to watch higher quality players than he was used to. Dad always wanted to watch good teams playing good football. ...
Read more

February In Film

  The Fabelmans The film follows Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), a young aspiring filmmaker dedicated to his craft who must negotiate the challenges posed by familial strife. Any resemblance to a real director is I presume entirely coincidental. One of my issues with the family early on is that they’re almost insufferably twee and not a great deal of interest seems to happen. The film’s central familial conflict feels somewhat implausible and is centred around Sammy’s mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams). I have enjoyed Williams’ work in the past but found her overwrought, hysterical performance here rather offputting.   Thank goodness then that Uncle Boris (Hirsch) arrives to drop a grenade into proceedings, explaining his own history with film and the arts and underlining Sammy’s forthcoming dilemma. He decides to get to work on his highest scale production to date, a war epic. These are the most joyous shots in the movie, teeming with invention especially in the deploym...
Read more

June In Film

  The Little Mermaid I have not seen the original Little Mermaid for something like 25 years. This probably aided my general enjoyment of yet another Disney remake, as I imagine that more diehard fans of the original would find more to fault here than I did. Having said that, some of the alterations worked for me such as the decision to give Prince Eric more backstory and a new song. Halle Bailey is perfectly cast as Ariel (regardless of what the internet’s worst arseholes will have you believe) and the quality of her singing is a match for the original. The highlight of the entire film is probably the moment when the crescendo of “Part Of Your World” hits, the waves crash against the shore and you’re fleetingly reminded of when Disney could still stir the soul. There’s an enjoyable performance too from Melissa McCartney as Ursula who brings a certain amount of fun to one of the House of Mouse’s greatest pantomime villains. Unfortunately, what these films lose in the transiti...
Read more