Peter Sissons

I think Bath is my nemesis. It tricks me into believing I can do comedy, lures me into its confines, then throws up some annoying obstacles. Like tonight, when I was the only comedian as far as the eye could see, surrounded by pianists, acoustic guitarists, and drunkards who thought the musicians were iPods, and kept making requests. Not the most conducive atmosphere for comedy.

The audience, understandably, really weren't interested in listening to the spoken word, so I made the odd decision to ask a pianist on stage to accompany me. The resultant musical backing track certainly got their attention, and they were listening as I meandered slowly through some material. Seeing as how comedy timing is all about rhythm, being lulled into a much slower tempo by the music really screwed things up, and in retrospect, though it was a fun experiment, it may have been embarrassing for everyone except me.

Gleeless

Annoyed as I am that I've had a string of gigs cancelled on me, it doesn't mean I didn't have a good, fun gig in Melton Mowbray. The long journey up into Leicestershire was made all the more entertaining as it was accompanied by the dulcet directing tones of Charlotte Green, she of Radio Four and GPS satellite systems. And she was suckered onto my windscreen. In a manner of speaking. What I'm saying is, I had a GPS system in the car, courtesy of my fellow comedian.

Anyway. The gig. Only ten people in, but they were all really in the mood. It was very relaxed and informal, and I spent most of my time chatting to them about our geeky shared interests, including Star Wars, Hitchhikers and Quantum Leap - which generated my first and best ever Sam Beckitt impression. What little material I slipped in went okay, but they wanted chit chat more, so I had a chance to freestyle with some ideas within the written bits. My favourite was the creation of RoboJesus, which made me laugh far too much, and will never be aired again.

I know they all enjoyed it, because everyone at the gig then went to the pub for a drink and a chat. Which was nice too.

Rhythm & Blue

Sometimes, you find yourself on stage, usually in Bath it has to be said, not quite sure what you're doing there. There's all these bewildered looking faces, stoically staring back at you, as you artlessly and gracelessly stumble from joke to joke. It's odd. These are the same jokes you've heard garner laughs many times before, yet, for some reason, all they're garnering this time is, shall we say, apathy. I don't even think them heckling, or verbally berating me would have been worse, in fact, it would have been preferable.

Welcome to the moment when you have no rhythm. I have absolutely no idea how to explain what I mean. Maybe it's best known as timing. Maybe it has another name, but that feeling that nothing is flowing, that the jokes just don't feel like jokes this time. I don't know. Something, just, well, missing. Maybe it was simply a reflection of the fact I wasn't in the mood for it, so why should an audience be in the mood for me?

Green Eggs And Melksham

I had the pleasure of performing in Melksham's inaugural stand up comedy gig this week, at the behest of Mr Paul Tregaskis. It'd been a few days since I had gigged, so I didn't feel razor sharp. At least I've used that time constructively, rebuilding my website and starting work on a sitcom.

But anyway, the gig. Started well with some ad libs, then moved into my material, which got about as much as it deserved I think. Nothing amazing, nothing awful. Now I have a ball-droppingly big gig to look forward to at the Glee in Cardiff. Gulp.