Funny Folk Comedy Club at Goldsmiths University, 18th January
I've been falling back into my old bad habits with not updating this blog, I'll try and get back on track. Monday saw my first gig of the year at Goldsmiths University. It was a strong bill with George Ryegold, Gareth Morinan and Nina Conti with Ian Smith compering. Ian is in his final year at Goldsmiths and is struggling to balance the demands of his course with writing material for the gigs on a fortnightly basis. This showed to an extent, but he's a very talented act who I'm confident will go on to bigger and better things.
It was the first time I had seen George Ryegold (essentially a character performed byToby Williams) who by all accounts had a strong debut show at last year's Edinburgh Fringe. The act is that of a doctor turned stand up comedian who describes a variety of ailments in excruciating detail. He perhaps wasn't the best act to breathe life into a 60 odd crowd who were initially subdued, but his use of language was fantastic. Describing defecation as 'throttling a Mars bar' was especially inspired. Great stuff and I hope to see more from him.
Gareth Morinan was up next. Gareth's one of the shortest acts on the circuit and he uses this to strong comedic effect, as you'd expect. One of the highlights of his set is his use of illustrations, particularly his graph displaying death over time. He told me he's looking to phase out the drawings. I hope not as it gives his act a unique element.
I had a bit of an odd gig in truth and I wasn't entirely happy with it. In terms of performance, I was better than I normally am. I'm still grappling with stage fright and not looking so nervous on stage though, although my depressive on stage persona means it isn't such a problem. I received a moderate response from the crowd in the most part with a couple of sizable lulls. It wasn't entirely surprising since I had elected to do some new material that was a bit patchy, although my strongest material worked and I finished well.
Nina Conti headlined and utterly stormed it. She's a ventriloquist who performs with her puppet, Monkey, a brilliantly morose character. A few of the laughs come from the old fashioned silliness of a puppet saying something rude and pointing out he's got a hand up his arse. But there's also a wider examination of the tensions of a double act and of the psyche of ventriloquists (Monkey frequently refers to Nina as 'a schitzophrenic bitch'). Nina is capable of some really impressive performative feats (Monkey performing an aria in particular) and watching the two of them banter with an dreadlocked volunteer from the audience was a delight. A new character was later introduced, a puppet of Nina's grandmother that showed considerable potential. She's preparing material for a new Edinburgh show this year and on this evidence, it'll be brilliant.
It was the first time I had seen George Ryegold (essentially a character performed byToby Williams) who by all accounts had a strong debut show at last year's Edinburgh Fringe. The act is that of a doctor turned stand up comedian who describes a variety of ailments in excruciating detail. He perhaps wasn't the best act to breathe life into a 60 odd crowd who were initially subdued, but his use of language was fantastic. Describing defecation as 'throttling a Mars bar' was especially inspired. Great stuff and I hope to see more from him.
Gareth Morinan was up next. Gareth's one of the shortest acts on the circuit and he uses this to strong comedic effect, as you'd expect. One of the highlights of his set is his use of illustrations, particularly his graph displaying death over time. He told me he's looking to phase out the drawings. I hope not as it gives his act a unique element.
I had a bit of an odd gig in truth and I wasn't entirely happy with it. In terms of performance, I was better than I normally am. I'm still grappling with stage fright and not looking so nervous on stage though, although my depressive on stage persona means it isn't such a problem. I received a moderate response from the crowd in the most part with a couple of sizable lulls. It wasn't entirely surprising since I had elected to do some new material that was a bit patchy, although my strongest material worked and I finished well.
Nina Conti headlined and utterly stormed it. She's a ventriloquist who performs with her puppet, Monkey, a brilliantly morose character. A few of the laughs come from the old fashioned silliness of a puppet saying something rude and pointing out he's got a hand up his arse. But there's also a wider examination of the tensions of a double act and of the psyche of ventriloquists (Monkey frequently refers to Nina as 'a schitzophrenic bitch'). Nina is capable of some really impressive performative feats (Monkey performing an aria in particular) and watching the two of them banter with an dreadlocked volunteer from the audience was a delight. A new character was later introduced, a puppet of Nina's grandmother that showed considerable potential. She's preparing material for a new Edinburgh show this year and on this evidence, it'll be brilliant.
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