Mach Fest: Day 1
Having not really had the time over the weekend, I thought I'd go back and do a day by day review of the Machynlleth Comedy Festival. Birmingham New Street to Aberystwyth was probably my least favourite train journey of all time, passengers crammed like sardines into four carriages. I appreciate that I was contributing to an increased level of demand on the service but do have to take issue with every other passenger in rural Wales wanting to bring on a sodding bike. I must commend Arriva Wales for their dilligent ticket checks, anyway. I always feel like I've got value for money if I know that I would have been penalised if I didn't have a ticket.
Having dropped my stuff off in Aberystwyth I made my way back to the delightful town of Machynlleth and headed to the Owain Glyndwr Centre for my first show of the day, Stuart Goldsmith's "Compared To What". Goldsmith is the host of "The Comedian's Comedian" podcast, in which he interviews other comedians about their writing and performing process. He's an engaging host who succeeds in getting his interviewees to open up and he brings many of those qualities to his stand-up. I thought that this was his best show to date, as he talked engagingly about the process of moving out of the big city and into the countryside with his partner and newborn child. Anyone who finds themselves at a crossroads in life or looking back wistfully at their youth will be able to relate.
Daniel Cook's work in progress show in the adjacent room was next up. The show is clearly in the early stages with a 40 minute run time, but he's a likeable stage presence who reminded me to a certain extent of James Acaster and Joe Lycett. It's loosely themed around the notion of following your dreams and dreams coming true, with Cook promising to scratch off a scratchcard in every show during his Edinburgh run. The highlight was probably an intriguing anecdote about Brian Eno wanting to retrieve a watch he had found.
The showcase at the Mach Arena (the pun belatedly dawning on everyone, including me) rounded off the night. Some of stand-ups big hitters were on the bill. Kumar. Long. Acaster. Stainbank. I went on second and the moment I stepped on stage, I thought doing my first gig in three months in front of an audience of 400 people in a leisure centre in north Wales might have been a bad idea. Listening back, I can hear the rust of my performance. I thought it was a credible but not outstanding set. I am naturally hard on myself but still find it difficult to assess to what extent I was good and to what extent the crowd were generous. I ended by attempting to goad the audience into buying tickets with reference to my poor sales figures. Did it work?* Well, you'll have to read on to day 2.
* No.
Having dropped my stuff off in Aberystwyth I made my way back to the delightful town of Machynlleth and headed to the Owain Glyndwr Centre for my first show of the day, Stuart Goldsmith's "Compared To What". Goldsmith is the host of "The Comedian's Comedian" podcast, in which he interviews other comedians about their writing and performing process. He's an engaging host who succeeds in getting his interviewees to open up and he brings many of those qualities to his stand-up. I thought that this was his best show to date, as he talked engagingly about the process of moving out of the big city and into the countryside with his partner and newborn child. Anyone who finds themselves at a crossroads in life or looking back wistfully at their youth will be able to relate.
Daniel Cook's work in progress show in the adjacent room was next up. The show is clearly in the early stages with a 40 minute run time, but he's a likeable stage presence who reminded me to a certain extent of James Acaster and Joe Lycett. It's loosely themed around the notion of following your dreams and dreams coming true, with Cook promising to scratch off a scratchcard in every show during his Edinburgh run. The highlight was probably an intriguing anecdote about Brian Eno wanting to retrieve a watch he had found.
The showcase at the Mach Arena (the pun belatedly dawning on everyone, including me) rounded off the night. Some of stand-ups big hitters were on the bill. Kumar. Long. Acaster. Stainbank. I went on second and the moment I stepped on stage, I thought doing my first gig in three months in front of an audience of 400 people in a leisure centre in north Wales might have been a bad idea. Listening back, I can hear the rust of my performance. I thought it was a credible but not outstanding set. I am naturally hard on myself but still find it difficult to assess to what extent I was good and to what extent the crowd were generous. I ended by attempting to goad the audience into buying tickets with reference to my poor sales figures. Did it work?* Well, you'll have to read on to day 2.
* No.
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