I Hate Myself

I said something on stage last night that I hate myself for. And I'm not repeating it here, because that would be bad. It wasn't meant to sound the way it sounded either. Bah.

Anyway, the gig was in Leicester at the Ship Of Fools, which is neither in a ship, nor peopled by Fools. There were however only six people in the audience, which meant that there was technically one act per audience member. It's a shame because normally the club is well peopled and is usually very good fun to do. Did my set, just for the sake of it really, but came away feeling like it was a bit of a wasted journey.

Never mind.

Random Tappings On A Dirty Keyboard

Before I say anything else, Armando Iannucci is an incredibly funny man.

Anyway, I just got back from London, where urchins cleaned my chimney, and gigs got cancelled all over the place. Again. The Troy went ahead on Wednesday night, to all of two whole people. But to be fair, it was pretty much worth doing. They were quite insistent that they wanted to have some fun comedy moments, and although we were all somewhat reluctant to go ahead, we did it for them. I didn't do anything new, other than trying a story about my diabetes test for the second time. I'll give it one more outing before I decide if it's a keeper. The storm story seems to have moulded itself into a proper bit now, so I should try and book some more gigs, especially ones where I'll get more time to do lots more.

So, now, go and listen to old episodes of Charm Offensive, or watch The Armando Iannucci Shows, or Gash.

Under New Management

I've had two decidedly different gigs at The Hatchet in Bristol in the past fortnight. Both times, I was very well received, one I enjoyed, one I did not. At all. Last week, I was the penultimate act and I had a very clear idea that I wanted to get through some certain bits of material. The opportunity didn't really arise. Instead I had to deal with some persistent interruptions, which though not malicious, meant that it was hard to get through anything too lengthy. So, instead of doing what I wanted, I ended up acting in a mock frustrated manner. This was the right approach and meant I got a lot of laughs, but it was ultimately, actually, frustrating, because of what I couldn't do.

And this weekend gone, I was on second. Again the place was full, but this time, there were no verbose elements in the crowd. So it gave me the chance to take my time with a few new ideas, and then tell my storm story, which is a nice chunky bit with a lot of teeth in it. I really enjoy performing it, and it's been well liked by audiences since I've had the confidence to sell it to them. One new idea I tried started nicely, and ended flat, which didn't surprise me. Then I told a story about a diabetes test I've just had, something that literally only occurred to me before I went on stage, and that got a very big laugh.

Anyway, I'm in London as I type this, ready to do a gig at The Troy tonight.