Writer's Block

I've done three gigs since I last blogged here. The day prior to the aforementioned Royal Holloway Comedy Night, James McPhun talked me into going along with him to one of the qualifying rounds for the Amused Moose Laugh Off 2010, despite the two of us continuing to hold grievances regarding new act competitions. 51 acts each doing a minute and a half is a recipe for a hellish evening but I ending up enjoying the night, partly because I had a really good gig. I hit all my punchlines and got one of the best reactions I've had in a while from the audience (who were of course almost all comics). The last qualifying round isn't until Easter Monday so I won't know until next week whether I've gotten through to a heat. Amused Moose say that the contest aims to find people with 'star potential' rather than the funniest stand ups. I don't really fit the criteria so I'm not expecting an email, but we shall see. The Royal Holloway gig with McPhun the following...

I went to see Avenue Q at the Gielgud Theatre in London's famous West End the other week. For the uninitiated, it's basically a Sesame Street style puppet show that presents adult themes in a children's television type of style. It sounds like quite a simplistic premise but it's executed really well and has some great songs in it. The highlights are the brilliantly awkward 'Everyone's A Little Bit Racist' and 'The Internet Is For Porn'. I had seen the show before at the back end of 2008 and the performance lacked a certain amount of energy the second time around. It's still a great show though and well worth seeing (it's about to move to the Wyndhams Theatre, booking until late September). I have to say though that watching a show where the main character is a 22 year old jobless graduate who 'can't pay the bills yet, cause I have no skills yet' has a frankly depressing amount of resonance. Last weekend saw another trip to Royal ...

There's a lot of stuff to catch up on. James McPhun and I headed up to the midlands on 8th March to gig at Reckless Moment, the new act/new material night held at Robbins Well in Leamington Spa. The plan was then to do the Court Jester Comedy Night in Hampstead on our return to London, but that was pulled due to a complete lack of audience. It's pretty soul destroying when that happens, particularly when you've been travelling all day but such is the life of a stand up on the bottom rungs of the ladder. Leamington Spa was James' hometown when he studied at Warwick University. Having visited, I'm pretty envious. With a considerable number of pubs and takeaways and generally a lot more stuff to do, the place seems like student heaven in comparison to Egham. Although I'm not difficult to please. Anywhere that sells Aspalls cider on tap is officially brilliant in my book. Also great is the Reckless Moment gig itself. The comedians perform in a little alcove downstai...

I returned home from Leamington Spa on Tuesday to be told that my Grandad had died at the age of 88. As I mentioned in Blog 13, he had been ill in hospital since the end of last year and had showed few signs of recovery. I found the Brighton hospital visit I discussed in that post difficult to deal with. I'm grateful for the fact that I was able to see and talk to him again when he was in a more coherent state after he had been moved to a hospital in his hometown of Haywards Heath in Sussex. This was indicative of his general condition, drifting in and out of periods of lucidity. Visits to Haywards Heath have been a huge part of family life for as long as I can remember. My grandad always took a considerable interest in what my sister and I were up to, taking delight in our academic successes and keen to know our opinions on all sorts of subjects. He was also incredibly generous in terms of providing financial support to us over the years. A well known and well liked figure in the ...

I have been neglecting this blog again, in spite of the fact that I have actually had some things to write about. Sorry. Anyway, my last gig was Emergency at the Victoria pub in Camden. It's run by the self-proclaimed finest young poet in the country, Bertram Trotar (who has an appealingly silly performance style). It was an odd one. The show started an hour late due to the fact there was only one paying punter in the room. Nine inebriated women sitting in the pub downstairs were encouraged to come and watch the show for free. Thus I was left with a small crowd, most of whom had not come out with the intention of watching stand up comedy. This didn't auger well and so it proved. The situation affected my performance. I had my worst gig in a while in terms of audience reaction, the lines that usually get the best reaction went down to nothing and my biggest laughs came from material that normally receives a more muted response. I'm increasingly learning that I should expect ...