Dog update: Poppi seems to have moved on to the mood swing section of her period, she keeps snapping at Stu for no apparent reason. He can be annoying mind.
Friday night was my 20th gig. I performed a 12 minute set at Dave Macbeth's gig, the Laughter Surgery, Gosforth civic Hall.
I drank about ten million red bulls before the gig and a few double vodkas, this wasn't the best idea I've ever had, I'm pretty sure I had a couple of palpations to add the immense adrenaline already surging through my veins. What is the best thing to drink before you go on stage? Too much wine and you become nonchalant and forgetful; too much caffeine and you vibrate across the room. I'm going to stick with the old lime and soda from now on, I'm a cheap date.
Simon Buglass was the guest MC. Macbeth MC'd Simon's MCing which was weird and seemingly confused and angered the audience a bit. I shared the stage with Simon Donald doing his character Barry Twyford, I've seen his act loads of times and it still makes me nearly vomit laughing, for me the highlight of his act was when he broke out of character and showed the V's at an innocent elderly barmaid who had just offered him some nuts.
Also on the bill; Lee Kyle (my 9th best friend although he doesn't know it) with more flag idiocy and the headline act Susan Murray.
The room was filled with a lot of regulars who were chatty and lively, but there to laugh. My esteemed comedy colleague and new found marra Graham Oakes did me the favour of recording my set so I'll tube bits of it for your viewing pleasure.
The venue was splendid complete with sparkly lights on the stage back drop and fancy dressing rooms…which I danced around in a bit. The energy from the room felt different from the gig the night before, being on an actual stage I felt detached from the crowd, cold almost, The gig at As you like it was full, probably about 150 in the audience yet it felt intimate, sharing the same floor, with the Laura Ashley style interior making it feel homey, I felt relaxed.
After my 19th gig at 'As you like it' being so successful, I decided to use the same material with a few tweaks here and there. I'd say the first 5 minutes of my material was a hit but then it seemed to fizzle. It just goes to show what makes some people roll in the aisles makes others just roll their eyes. I think I react to the audience if their energy is high and they're enjoying it I get more out of my jokes, enjoyment and laughter are infectious. I still received some big laughs and so I'm honing in on what’s most popular overall out of my material and developing that.
One of my work wives Emma Seagrave-Hindmarch described my telephone voice as ‘a Geordie Drew Barrymore’. My act has been compared a few times to Sarah Millican, there’s nothing wrong with this comparison, in fact it’s a bit of a compliment considering she’s brilliant and successful millionaire. At first however, I thought this was merely a lazy comparison in a sexist industry, sure we are both from shields and have vaginas but ha’way our material is well different! Admittedly though after playing back footage from previous gigs I can hear it’s not my voice.. As I pointed out in Friday’s blog ‘out of character’ my act has changed dramatically over the past 5 gigs. I think it’s fair to say that my original onstage character’s voice is a heightened version of my own, Drew’s and Sarah’s. So, I've critiqued myself and changed the way in which I deliver my material.
Apparently it can take some acts years to find their 'comedy voice' I guess I'm just learning my first words.
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