Gibbons

I went to a gig in Angel last night at The Compass on Chapel Market. The gig was called The Giggling Gibbon. For the record it was my 56th gig… but hey, who’s counting? Oh yeah, that is right, loads of us are.

I had three supporters with me, my ex boss, his date and Becki Sprog. The room above the pub was empty when Becki and I arrived, but by the time show started it was fairly full up and they seemed like a nice crowd.

Just to take a slight tangent for a moment, I have been reading a fair bit of comedy blog chat, not here, but scattered about the place in pal’s blogs and comment streams. There has been a fair amount said on the subject of finding the right approach to comedy and what drives us to keep going and what we amateur comedians really want to achieve.

I don’t generally contribute to this debate. I’m not big on theorising and maybe I even took the mickey out of Norm when he first coined such phrases as “High Energy Stillness”. I may have raised an eyebrow or two when every other week he seems to have a new system and a new comedy 'this is the one' approach. I joke about it and it isn't my way, but I love Norm for it really.

The thing is - we are all going about this in our own ways and whatever way that may be, we all need to give ourselves a pat on the back for doing something a little out of the ordinary. We are doing something the majority of people swear they never could do. Surely that has to stand for something in its own right. I take my hat off to Norm for being up and scratching his head for new material at 6 am. That is incredible dedication. There is only one 6 o’clock in my day and it is when I’m finishing work and heading to the pub.

Believe it or not, it has not escaped my notice, after 33 years, that I am not the most industrious or focussed of souls. At least I have enough self awareness to admit that. I remember pulling all nighters at Uni, trying to get essays finished fuelled only on ProPlus and lucozade sweets, because I hadn’t fancied doing the work sooner. I am the queen of deadline extensions and procrastination techniques. I like nothing more than a little snooze with the kitties and there is always something better to do than washing up or worse still - straining my brain for funny ideas to actually write down and turn into material.

So, I might not have much to add to a conversation on the best way to build a set or how many new jokes to add in at a time. I might not report every gig I do and go into detail about the bits that worked or not. My current set about my relationships with my brother and the set before that, known as seven things, basically grew out of last minute pre-gig panic and were developed more or less through repeated performance and trial and error. And there we have it: we all have to approach the problem from the angle that works best for us and give each other some credit for having stuck with this messed up old world we call open mic comedy for the last year and a half or so…

Anyway, I’m sure I had a valid point to make, but I’ll get nowhere trying to argue that bimbling along gets you to the same places as hard graft does, so lets leave it with the mutual group hug for hanging on in there, whatever the approach and get back to the gig. …

I had a rubbish day at work yesterday, pretty much everything and everyone was getting on my nerves. Before people go up in arms about the public domain and job security, it was just one of those days. Whatever previous posts have said, I’ve been trying to buckle down a bit over the last week, but I just had a horror of a day yesterday. By the end of it when Becki said that her mate had cancelled their plans for the evening, I snapped at the chance of dragging her along to my gig and I snapped at the chance of us having a few beers and a moan before hand.

This was the time when I probably should have been swatting up on my material and getting my head in a good place to perform, but I wasn’t in the mood for that, so Becki and I supped Guinness and had a bitch and a laugh together before the gig began.

I was the last up of four acts that formed the first half of the show and I enjoyed the first three acts, but have to admit at the back of my mind was – “hmmm, a proper read through would have been really good. Am I going to remember my stuff?” there was a daft quiz with audience participation right before my turn, prolonging my agony and by then I was just sat there thinking ‘oh God, I need to pee and I can’t sneak out now'.

When my name was called and I got to the performance area (no stage as such), I did my usual faffing around – where to put the mic stand, where to leave my pint, taking my time about it and the audience seemed to go along with it and see the funny side. It was a good start and things continued well as the audience came along with me and warmed to me throughout my seven minute spot…

At one point, I did completely forget my next line and had to turn to Becki, who has seen the set countless times for a prompt. Thank God she was there, but even that little kerfuffle seemed to keep the audience laughing and I picked it up and carried on to what felt like a really strong finish. I just love when comedy goes like that and you feel that mutual warmth in the room and everyone has clearly had a smashing time.

I don’t generally big myself up, but last night made me so proud of myself, I feel 'ickle tears well up when I think about it. During the interval, the promoter said he really liked the set and hoped I’d come back soon, another lady tapped me on the shoulder just to tell me how much she enjoyed my stuff and, last, but not least, one woman said to me – “thank you for making a shit week, so much better.” How sweet is that? Little does she know, that she in turn has made my week better too.

So...Have I got a two-year strategy in place as to how I’ll get my strongest possible twenty minute set? No.

Does that make me too lazy to ever make a living from comedy? Maybe.

Do I love the buzz when it goes really well, a room full of people get behind you, laughing in all the right places and some, then strangers feel the need to come and thank you after? Yes I do get a buzz from that and that is one of the best reasons I can think of as to why I do comedy and why I hope I’ll be doing comedy for a while longer yet, even if it does involve a bit of effort every now and again or God forbid I never make a fortune from it...