Writer's Block

There was a comedy heavy start to this week, as I went to see the Comedy Central Funniest Student Final at the Comedy Store on Monday before gigging at Party Piece in Stoke Newington on Tuesday. I went to the former partly to support Ian Smith and partly because I've never been to the Comedy Store before. It's an iconic venue and you get some sense for the history of the place and its role in shaping stand up comedy in this country. It must be amazing to play there. It was a really good night with some strong acts, compered with a sense of mischief by Patrick Monahan and headlined by the excellent Jarred Christmas, another master of crowd control. Ian had a stormer of a gig and was unlucky not to win it. I imagine he'll be disappointed but as a confident performer and an intelligent writer, he's got a big future in stand up. Ian finished second with Rhys Jones (who had great stage presence but his material was lacking) in third. Joe Wells was the winner and he had an im...

I've been meaning to watch 90s Comedian on DVD for absolutely ages and have only just gotten round to it. Stewart Lee's 2005 show was highly acclaimed by critics and Steve Bennett of Chortle.co.uk recently considered it to be the most memorable performance he'd seen in the last ten years. I'm not sure whether it warrants such strong praise, although I am admittedly witnessing the show outside of its original context. 90s Comedian is basically Lee's response to the furore that arose when Christian Voice launched mass protests against the musical Jerry Springer: The Opera, which he co-wrote. Lee establishes this situation (which led to four years of work no longer being financial viable) by employing repetition and the same languid pace of delivery that have become the hallmarks of his style. A highlight of the first section of the show is Lee's vivid description of undergoing an endoscopy which drifts brilliantly into a discussion about Joe Pasquale and gag theft...

The 44th day of the year and only at my thirteenth post. I'm clearly going to have to churn out a lot more drivel. Or do the sensible thing and write about topics I want to as and when they arise. It's been a busy week with a lot of travelling. I've mainly been to London in the pursuit of jobs and in the name of research on that front. It's a demoralizing experience, but there was some progress this week in terms of getting preliminary interviews and that sort of thing. I decided to shave off my beard in preparation, as a concession towards presentation and the discriminatory attitudes some employers still have towards facial hair. Clean shaven for the first time in six months, there's no longer anything to hide my collection of chins. I now feel that I look far worse. I'll be discussing the issue of my weight in another blog. On Tuesday, I visited my Granddad in hospital. His health has deteriorated quickly since the start of the year. I've only been twice ...

'Andy Murray got fucked!' is Billy Connolly's opening comment on the final night of his run at the Hammersmith Apollo, in reference to his compatriot's defeat in the Australian Open final earlier on in the day. Subtlety has never been the forte of the legendary 67 year old Glaswegian and this sets the tone for the opening half hour of the show, as he lays into the hypocracy of politicians and likens Gordon Brown to the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz. 'FUCKING LEAD!' is the message to the Prime Minister, before suggesting the audience march on Parliament. Abrasive stuff, but amounting to little more than an old man swearing. Even if Connolly's foul mouthed tirades are more entertaining then most. The show gets better from this point however as he mocks some of more absurd stories from recent years, including the ludicrousness of using eco-friendly oil in fighter planes and spending millions to stop submarines from hitting each other when, Connolly theori...

An eventful weekend. I went to the Goat Tavern in Green Park on Saturday to perform my Laughing Horse New Act of the Year heat. I was unhappy with the conditions of the gig, namely that Laughing Horse had oversold a relatively small upstairs room and so the acts were asked to stay downstairs until they were required to perform. It's unacceptable to me to not allow the acts to watch the gig, as this allows them to gauge the audience and see what has and hasn't worked for the other performers on the bill. I snuck in to watch the second half anyway and thought I had a good gig, hitting the large majority of punchlines. My performances are improving and on balance I thought I deserved to go through. The factors beyond my control that I mentioned a couple of blogs ago worked against me though and unfortunately it wasn't to be. On Sunday, I watched Manchester United play Arsenal, one of the fiercest rivalries in football (at the least in the Premier League era starting in the ear...