The Roarty Blog: August 2008

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August 2008

August 29, 2008

Last night at the Meadow Bar

So last night was my best performance so far.

Quite a few friends in the crowd but I got good laughs beyond them including the comedians in the audience. Vladimir McTavish (Paul Sneddon) gave me really good feedback and was very appreciative of what I was trying to do; he saw me two to three months ago and I think I have been through two sets of material since.

Jojo Sutherland compered the night and I thought she was absolutely brilliant….. what was a very small audience initially could have been very quiet but she got them onside and laughing instantly. I love watching the compere – it is such an important aspect of a comedy night, and its really important, I reckon, to pay attention to the information they dig out of the audience – location, job, name….. any mention of those in your act makes the audience think you care that bit more I reckon.

Marcus Ryan was brilliant also – he only came in for the second half so didn’t get the chance to see my mastery of the stage ;-) but I really liked his set. One to look out for.

The whole bill was as follows:

Mike Cassidy
Niall Hamish McNeil
Me
Marcus Ryan
Vladimir McTavish

All for free. Which is pretty impressive. Thanks to Alex Petty of Laughing Horse Comedy for running the night and allowing me the opportunity to perform. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to play at more shows as I think I did well.

Gig Number 7 done. I have material which I am happy with, I can make it tighter, funnier, and snappier but the core is worth the investment I reckon.

Ok, enough for now. I need to go and get some stuff done.

NEWS NOT LONG IN:

The Scottish Comedian of the Year 2008 competition kicked off last night in Helensburgh and the review of it has been posted: Keir McAllister and Obie in first and second place respectively.

Tags: Free+Edinburgh+Fringe+Festival, Edinburgh, Fringe, Alex+Petty, Laughing+Horse, Meadow+Bar, Jojo+Sutherland, Vladimir+McTavish, Paul+Sneddon, Mike+Cassidy, Niall+Hamish+McNeil, Marcus+Ryan, Scottish+Comedian+of+the+Year, Scottish, Comedy, 2008, Keir+McAllister, Obie

Posted at 10:18 in Comedy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 27, 2008

Scottish Comedian of the Year, 2008

I’ll try and tidy up the information and post it here for your review. I ain’t competing but I will be watching.

UPDATE:

Mr Anderson’s done a rudimentary table and posted it on one of his many websites.

Tags: Scottish+Comedian+of+the+Year, 2008, Alan+Anderson, Scottish, Comedian, Competition

Posted at 12:42 in Comedy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Facebook profile

Tags: Profile, Details, Email+Address, Telephone+Number

Posted at 09:31 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 26, 2008

Thank you for the Click Through

As you may have noticed, I have added Google adverts to the page…… this is going to be a massive revenue stream for me! Well, I have $0.05 in the bank now….. if it keeps up like this then I’ll be able to retire in 2508…. maybe later.

Anyway, if you see something that interests you, click on through. If not, don’t.

That’s all for now.

Tags: Google, Adsense, Adverts, Retirement

Posted at 13:42 in Geek | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

So You Think You're Funny Final, 2008

Quite a good write-up of the Final, especially the description of Rhona Cameron:

What awful irony. At a new act competition you half-expect crippling nerves, a few gags to fall flat, or an act really struggling to make any connection with a kind but unamused audience.

At the final of the 21st So You Think You’re Funny competition, none of the fresh-faced rookies months into their careers came even close to dying. But compere Rhona Cameron had a truly awful gig. At first, the 16-year stand-up veteran was simply weak, rambling away with observations without punchlines and ill-advisedly talking to the front row, with nothing to say back to them.

Gradually, this became almost painfully embarrassing, the audience doing the collective equivalent of kicking their feet, staring at the floor awkwardly and coughing nervously, in the hope the misery would end. Sympathies were on her side – it was a million times tougher for her than us, after all – but none of her aimless material could provoke more than an isolated chuckle.

Thankfully, the moribund energy did not spill out into the competitors’ sets, and they all got a warm reaction from a crowd happy for any respite from Cameron’s clumsy compering.

That the room still responded freshly and honestly to each act as they came on was a testament to their attitude – god bless Rhona but she was, for some unknown reason, awful.

I liked Daniel Simonsen but I preferred Seann Walsh. I should have a more insightful, carefully detailed, reasoned argument for that statement but I don’t. I would like to see them both again. The same can be said of Sara Pascoe, I really thought she was excellent. Daniel Sloss and John Gavin were great and can be thoroughly pleased with their performances, in my opinion, but I think the best three were ‘podiumed.’

Of the others, I enjoyed Gearoid Farrelly and Josh Widdicombe’s performances the best. Again, in my opinion, Josh Widdicombe had the best line of the night – barring Johnny Vegas – about a ‘gamble for Blue.’

Earlier that night, I had been to see Jerry Sadowitz. I couldn’t repeat any of that performance without offending so I won’t….. but I have to say he was absolutely brilliant.

My next performance is at the Meadow Bar as part of the Laughing Horse Free Edinburgh Fringe Festival on Thursday 28^th, hopefully see you there.