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July 2008
July 18, 2008
July 16, 2008
Daniel Kitson
Going to see Daniel Kitson at The Arches on Thursday. Can’t wait.
I want to be as good as Kitson! That’s my mission statement, I think.
July 14, 2008
Rob Kane and Bannockburn
Spoke to Rob Kane last night and he came up with an alternative version of the Bannockburn joke. Stunning in its simplicity:
- You meet an English guy on holiday, he’s a prick
- You get him to count to 20
- He says 1314 and you say ‘We f*cked you then’
Safe to say, that’s the joke distilled into its essence.
Always good to have people look at your stuff like that. Gave it a new lease of life and made me look at it kinda differently.
So it turns out I am not funny
Didn’t make it through to the semi-finals which is not a massive shock. The following five did make it through from the Glasgow Heats:
Ruth Cockburn;
Alan Sharp;
Jeff Brighton;
Sean Grant; and
Daniel Webster
To echo Alan Anderson’s comment on the Scottish Comedy Forum, ‘Well done to the five of you for getting through to the semis.’
Jeff is a real talent, a special talent, who did the same comedy course as me – I hope he gets to the final as I am sure he has a real chance; he is a complete natural.
Of the other four, I thought they all did well over the weekend of SYTYF but, for me, Daniel Webster is the closest thing to ‘greatness’. Sean Grant has incredibly good delivery and strong material but Daniel Webster has something different…. I would pay to see him do five minutes.
My positive from the SYTYF experience has to be the fact that I am included in the group of ‘… about 20 new comedians who if they put in the effort can progress on to being good competent comedians.’ ( Alan Anderson ).
Let me assure you Mr Anderson, I will be more than competent.
Fifth Gig
Still struggling to find the right five minutes to settle on but I tried Bannockburn again last night, with a twist; based it around an interaction with an english chap I met on holiday, a cockney to be precise.
The cockney accent thing went well and will probably stay, to some extent. I’d decided to do that just before going on stage so that was quite a brave/stupid thing to do. I didn’t hold the accent all the way through so that let it down.
I like the joke but it doesn’t get the response it could and I need to find a way to make it work. I am genuinely surprised that Scottish audiences don’t know that the battle of Bannockburn was in 1314 though…. which means you have to work a lot harder for the laugh than you thought you would have to…. I guess it would be different in Stirling ;-)
I tried a bit of audience interaction and had my thunder stolen by an old guy heckler….. asked him if he and his wife were teachers….. and he points to his drink and says ‘Whyte & Mackay,’ I tried to come up with something but chose to give him his moment….. which was better than saying something rubbish and angry. Janey Godley dealt with him very well later on so I felt like she’d done my job for me.
Next gig is Dublin…. going to try and do some Dublin based material but we’ll see how the planning for that goes!
Tip of the hat to comedy course colleague Kenny ‘Jack McKenzie’ Gow who did really well for his second performance.
July 11, 2008
Upcoming gigs
Ivory – 13th July
Battle of the Axe ( Dublin ) – 29th July
Absolute Beginners ( Embra ) – 8th September
Waiting on SYTYF
The rumours have started: the phonecalls are being made to tell people if they have made it through or not.
I say rumours but they aren’t really rumours, I’ve heard directly from two people that have been contacted – one positive, one not – and I am now nervous.
Being truthful, I’d love to get through. Being honest with myself, I don’t know if I will. Being truthful and honest, I know I have a lot to learn and it maybe just came a little bit early. We’ll see.
Seeing as he has no internet presence that I am aware of, I will take this time to congratulate Mr Jeff Brighton – a rising comedy star – who will be in the semi-finals. If you get a chance to see him at all then do. He is very good indeed. Very good.
I’m away to be nervous now.
If I don’t get through then I am definitely buying an iPhone 3G tomorrow!
July 10, 2008
Mr Weir
Mr Weir suggests that Starbucks stores may indeed have some logo stuff they would be willing to give me…. might be as straightforward as that.
There are t-shirts for sale on eBay but they are being sold from America so they might take quite some time to show up; I want the logo in a big enough format that somebody at the back of a room could see the detail….. I might take my camera out and get the picture blown up.
Nobody ever said Comedy would be easy.
July 09, 2008
Starbucks Logo
Does anyone know where I can get a poster with the current Starbucks logo on it?
July 07, 2008
International Comedian
I’ve heard back from Battle of the Axe in Dublin and I’ll be performing there on the 29th July. 7 minutes.
Looking forward to it already.
Upcoming Gigs
- Four Play @ The Merchant City FestivalSeptember, 2009
