Day One, Show One

Well before I got to my own solo show of course I had the comedy manifesto to run. We weren't rammed but we were pretty full, most seats taken (last year we ended up turning 30 away some days, but we were fuller today than we were on day one last year so hopefully set for a good run in that sense). I remembered from last year having real trouble getting the panelists to shut up and keep the show down to an hour. So I went in hard on them and didn't allow too much messing about and of course we ended up under-running. Not that that it's a problem to fill an extra fifteen minutes when you've got five comedians onstage but must remember tomorrow to be nicer to them and let them run about more, etc.

Then I ran over and did a little guest spot at "Comedy In A Cave" -(4.45pm, Rowan Caves 1, free) with guest acts run by the very funny Gareth Morinan. That was a lot of fun though quite weird largely because (a) it's a real cave - complete with dripping ceiling and muddy floor which annoyingly got all over my jeans from the mic cord and (b) the front row was fully comprised of young children (some maybe as young as 10...). Eventually I put the mic in the stand to keep it away from me and told the children if the venue became a nuclear bunker (it did look like one) that we would eat them first to stay alive. Then I got on with my actually quite clean set deliberately using lots of bad language because whatever grown-ups might say kids know it IS cool to swear.

Finally my show. This initially freaked me out a bit. We have had the debate about whether burlesque and stripping are the same thing, we could argue it all day. And I had been warned (admittedly long after I had accepted the space and filled in my brochure entry) that the venue usually hosts burlesque. I had however been reassured that it was all very tasteful and definitely didn't have a reputation as a seedy place. Certainly the interior is beautifully decorated and appears all new. What no-one had thought to mention was that outside there was a massive poster of a naked female silhouette waving some feathers and two huge and unfriendly bouncers making it seem like the sort of place Spearmint Rhino would decline to run as "not classy enough". Sure enough as soon as I started flyering outside I was asked how much I took off. Argh. So I went elsewhere. So I now have a venue I can't actually flyer outside... Head-wall-head-wall-head-wall-...

My efforts are further hindered by the fact that the colour contrast on my flyers is way too strong - too much red in the mix so it makes me look like I have a terrible red all-over facial rash of some sort which could well be a symptom of swine flu. Or plague.

In spite of this somehow about 20-25 brave and lovely souls somehow heard about the show and managed to fight their way past the bouncers to get in and watch the show. And the show itself I was really happy with, just got to find a way of getting audience in without feathers. And indeed getting in the kind of audience who don't really want feathers.

Off shortly to do the midnight show and I have heard a rumour David has convinced Alan Francis and Luke Toulson to do spots for us. If so it'll definitely be a great night.