My second gig...

...was amazing!

Don't worry, as I hit the circuit Im not going to report on how every one of my gigs go, but this one is a major turning point considering how bad my last one went; let me take you on a journey...

I had emailed the promoter of Yours Comedy which is a comedy night held at Salford student union at the weekend, but didn't hear anything back for a few days and so assumed I was not on the bill. On the monday, Red (Red Redmond, my comedy buddy) and I went to see Beat the Frog (BtF) at the Frog and Bucket which is a comedy club in manchester, famous for harbouring such serial comedians as Peter Kay, Johnny Vegas, Alan Carr etc... and has a fantastic, electric energy.

BtF was compared by the gloriously fabulous Jonathan Mayor whom I had a brief chance to chat with and is so genuinely charming, I can't wait to hit the circuit for the chance to be on a bill with him. We watching the two eight minute spots who were very good and the competition started. For anyone who doesn't know, BtF is a friendly(ish) gong show, comedians and comediennes try to be consistently funny for five minutes, if they manage five minutes without being gonged off (three random members of the audience are given score cards, if all three cards are raised, the acts are gonged) which is a lot harder than it sounds (and it doesn't sound easy, does it.)

We stayed for the first half, in which we saw three acts. The first was dissapointing, he was a guy who 'had tourrettes' (I have quoted it because I'm not 100% convinced he genuinnely has tourrettes, and a number of sources have evidence to support my doubts) which isn't a bad thing, except that his comedy didn't really hold water besides the random outbursts of swearing which to me seemed contrived (hence my doubts.) Even this along is fine, because BtF is a place for new acts to hone their skills as I hope to do at some point, yes it was mainly the 'ticks' which were getting the laughs and some of his jokes I'm sure I'd heard before but the worst was yet to come. Towards the end of the five minutes so spent about thirty seconds saying "I can't believe this, I have genuinely forgot my act" and then being silent for a bit, then saying it again. Now at first everyone said "Aaaawwww" and after about ten or so seconds, assuming he was just going to leave the stage having made people laugh and ran out of steam, the audience started to applaud. The cheeky sod stayed on the stage because he'd remembered his material! A few minutes later the music played signalling five minutes and he had supposedly 'Beat the Frog', which in fact, he didn't.

Anyway, It was a bit of a turn around but I'm not bitter (I probably would be if I was in the comp) because if he thinks his material is good and it made people laugh, he will keep doing it; if it keeps working, then good, but I can't help thinking at some point he will get a crowd who thought the same thing as I do and a few other people at the back of the room. I won't dwell on that but the evening had left me feeling anxious about performing stand-up considering that the act after him has been on the circuit a while and even compared a few shows, and she got gonged off within a few minutes (which isn't a reflection on her, she is actually funny, well she would have to be to compare right?) If people are gonging off good acts and keeping on people who admit to forgetting their material in the middle of their set, what hope was there for me?

Due to massive failures by the transport of Manchester it took me about two hours to get home (long story) but when I got home on the Monday, I checked my emails and what should I find? I'd been given an open spot for the day after! Christ I was shitting myself.

In fact, Red had read (har har) the line up for Tuesdays comedy night before I had, so he literally knew I was on before I did. I spent about four hours priming my material and had got a collection which genuinely made me laugh every time I read through it, but after seeing BtF I was so nervous I was having coffee farts all evening. Red came round to my halls to check through my stuff and just stop me from going insane, which was massive help to me, I doubt it would have gone as well without his support. The time came to go there and wait for the show to begin, which it inevitably did. the compare arrived, as did all the other acts for the stage that night and I was second on (I wasn't told, which added a bit of comedy to me doing mincing dash to the stage from the back of the room) then the fun began.

It was amazing! I remember much more of it this time, I remember there being a lot more improv than I intended but I only carried on with it because the audience loved it! The room was alive with energy and I was just encouraged to push my material to its limits, in the end I didn't even get halfway through my material before I had to finish on a strong gag and give someone else a chance, but the applause and laughter were genuine and to my ears it was thunderous and divine. I didn't want to leave the stage! At the rate I was going, I probably could have stretched my material over twenty minutes and beyond.

thinking back, there were definitely moments which I used improv because I had forgotten the link to the next joke, and there were a couple of moments were I stood on stage thinking, but I became quickly aware that I was losing the energy of the room and as soon as I got that, my material came flooding back. I also did a terrible thing, at the start of my act where I improv to get into my material I ended up picking on an audience member, and It was quite a bitchy thing that I said which I feel bad about. Even if everyone laughed and loved it, I'd hate to think that the person I hit with a comeback left the gig feeling bad. I realised this throughout my act and offered a few consolidation gags to him, and apologised to him afterwards so I think its cool.

I just wanted to stay on the stage and perform to the audience, I wanted to get into what I'd started but there just wasn't any time. The next thing I'll do is tighten my act, cut what didn't hit the high notes and condense so that I get further down my set in ten minutes and be able to finish with a strong gag at the end before I leave.

The last time I did stand up, I felt like shit afterwards, I really did. This time, I cannot wait to get back on stage and make people laugh!