Writer's Block

I got back on the stand up comedy horse last night with a gig at Funny Bones Comedy at the Tom Foolery in Bromley . Although I applaud all efforts to promote live comedy, I've performed recently in a number of venues that are inappropriate spaces for stand up. The Tom Foolery, although well named, comes under this particular category. Performing near the entrance of the venue when you have to compete against punters coming and going is not ideal. Neither is setting up a gig at the same time as a Literary Death Match event taking place elsewhere in the pub. Based on their website, Literary Death Match seems to be a lot more fun than me rattling off some self-depreciating jokes for the umpteenth time. It generally feels like a comedy night has invaded a pub rather than being a separate entity. The people who are in the audience are not comedy patrons but pub customers who happen to be present while some comedians are speaking. None of this is particularly helpful. It wasn't quite...

I've been inspired to revisit this blog after a ridiculously long absence. I was asked to do a gig at a performance arts evening at my old comprehensive, Charles Darwin School, in honour of the retiring headmaster Rob Higgins. I didn't always have the best time at school but I enjoyed going back and had a great show along with my comedy colleague and occasional friend James McPhun . Prior to the gig when trying to think of stories to retell, it struck me that there wasn't much I could actually remember from my school days. My dad told me that he had a similar problem with his memory in his youth and had taken to writing a diary. The upshot of this is that I'm going to try and write more. I want to have some sort of account of my life to refer to and look back on the future. Hopefully I'll have enough to say to write a couple of blogs a week. On Wednesday night, I went to see Jimmy Eat World at The Forum, playing their albums "Clarity" and "Bleed Ameri...

There may be some spoilers in this post, blah blah who really cares. I went to see Kick-Ass last night. I didn't know an awful lot about the film other than that it was a comic book adaptation centering around a geeky teenager, Dave Lizewski, who attempts (in the true Batman/Iron Man spirit) to become a superhero, the eponymous Kick-Ass. It's very good fun, but incredibly dark in places. For example, an Armenian lunatic kills himself by jumping off a skyscraper dressed as a superhero and Lizewski's mother dies of a brain aneurism, both in the early minutes of the film. It's also far more violent than I had anticipated, probably worse than the Dark Knight and movies of that ilk in terms of blood and gore. Lizewski's first attempt at dispensing justice on the streets of New York City ends with him being stabbed by muggers and hit by a car. This sets the tone for the film, with Lizewski by and large dealing with the brutal realities of attempting to tackle the violent ...

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 ...