I did some stand-up for the first time in ages last night.
It was an open mic night at Baby Simple on Cowley Road organised by Evolution Comedy (you can find them on Facebook if you're so inclined). I know most of the other performers and the organiser from the comedy group I've been working with: The Guild of the Forbidden Helmet. It was a great venue, and a really nice atmosphere. Everything seemed to go really well.
I'm not sure how my set went. I think I'm unable to judge. It's like whenever I've been to see Saints and people ask me if it was a good game. I don't know. I never know. The quality of the match is completely irrelevant. If we win, it's a good game. If we lose, it's bad.
So that's how I feel about my stand-up. People seemed to laugh. I enjoyed it. I'll probably do it again. That seems positive. I have no idea if I was funny though. I've been living with that material for so long, it has lost all meaning.
I suppose if we continue the football metaphor, to lose would be to forget all my words and puke, and to win would be to be offered my own TV show on the spot. This must have been a draw.
It was filmed, so it will be interesting to see the results! I'll post the vid here (as long as I don't hate the way I look - and I almost certainly will).
Everyone else on the bill was great. A good variety of people and styles.
For any unaware friends reading, I'm sorry for not mentioning this earlier. I thought I'd give myself a first attempt without too many people there, in case I shat myself or got booed out of the building. Hopefully it will become a regular thing (the comedy, not soiling myself). In which case you can come to the next one!
Although I wasn't too nervous on the night, I have been feeling trepidatious about this for ages. And now it's over, I'm not sure how to feel. Oh well, I'm sure the familiar malaise of everyday life with return soon enough, smothering me like a blanket - reassuring and comforting. I'm a big fan of normalcy, normally.
***
Incidentally, Saints also drew last night. The first game for our new manager. We replaced a Dutchman no-one had heard of with another Dutchman no-one has heard of. It's going to be a struggle this year. No-one really knows who to blame (well okay: Rupert Lowe), so there's a kind of defeated atmosphere.
We have no money to improve or attract anyone, we play good football with young stars, we've got a great away record. But we're probably going to get relegated. We're going out not with a bang - not even with a whimper - but with a slight grimace and sad, doleful eyes.
Of course, I'm still confident we can do it! I love the Dutch!
Saints can stay up - and I can get my own TV show! I can use my TV money to bail out the club! I can be like Delia Smith! Just like her!
I could boil an egg.
ah brilliant! i'm really glad it went okay.
ReplyDeletea draw is an excellent start for a new manager. especially if a win is a tv deal!
i'm thinking perhaps you should shift your parameters slightly... otherwise, well, you're gonna have a lot of draws and if you only pick up 1 point every game you'll be playing in division 1 before long!
so perhaps getting a tv deal should be like winning the fa cup?
you remembered your lines and people laughed - that sounds like the only measure of success if you ask me.
(if winning the fa cup is getting a tv deal, what would be your champions league victory?)
I think you're right. Maybe the gigs should be considered on a sliding scale of draws. Tuesday night could have been a draw, after having three men sent off, and coming back from 3-0 down. A very good result!
ReplyDeleteI think the Champions League victory would probably be the Nobel Prize for Literature. But stand-ups don't usually win that. Except that famous year when Salman Rushdie was pipped at the post by Jasper Carrott.
i remember that day! that was one of the best things i've ever seen... jasper walking up with an expression of relief coupled with an attitude that said "at last you fuckers".
ReplyDeletethat dual-expression would've been enough for me, but seeing rushdie get angry after getting heckled at by that bloke with the beer belly and then diving into the third row and kung fu kicking him just made my day.
Good times, good times.
ReplyDeleteI remember the street parties afterwards. As far as I can recall, Rushdie's defeat cooled down the whole Satanic Verses fatwā furore for a while.
All the angry Muslim clerics put down their flaming torches, and just decided to watch a repeat of The Detectives.
hahahahahahah! :D
ReplyDelete