8th gig done – and it went well. Plenty of issues to review but in general it went well.
Was quite worked up about it last night – didn’t feel happy about doing it until just before I went on. Felt like the material was sand and I would have to work to stay up on top of it…. the crowd looked quite young and I was scared about whether they would know who Margaret Thatcher was – never mind any of the details of her life. As it was, I reckon their knowledge was patchy but I think I took them on a partial journey……
So, note to self, material needs some work…. try and put more jokes in, try and build the pace. All achievable. The major plus from last night though was my responding to heckling – I did really well and there was quite a bit of it; there was one guy who was really quite funny who had been encouraged to take part by the compere Rick Molland and he wasn’t for giving up…….
I said something like ‘I remember my first erotic experience’ and he shouts out ‘that was last night’ to which I responded ‘no, that was my first erotic experience with you.’ Happy with that – it got a big cheer – I thought I could move on but Heckler Boy responded ‘and you loved it,’ which I hit back with ‘you were just a vessel to me.’ Bigger laugh. Stopped him in his tracks. He tried again later on but I just said something about a lack of time.
That wasn’t all the ‘feedback’ that happened during the show but I don’t remember too much about the others….. what I do know is that the vessel comment didn’t feel to be a conscious thought before I spoke it. I responded without feeling the thought form…… interesting.
Ok, the set was:
- South Side branch of the Margaret Thatcher Commemoration Society
- Olympics fireworks
- £3m
- Not enough troops
- Bennys
- Dementia
- Post-dementia suggestions
The other performers on the night were
- Rick Molland (compere)
- Billy Kirkwood
- Me
- Austin Low
- Paul Pirie
Rick compered well but it turned out that the people with me didn’t help him much – you know who you are! He kept going though and tried valiantly to lift the room. It didn’t quite take off until after me, I would say, Austin Low raised it and Paul Pirie blew the room away – more of that later.
Billy Kirkwood found the room variable, I think. Some very good material – stuff I had seen the night before in Kilmarnock heat of SCOTY – which worked well, fell a little flat. Billy has a good level of energy though and I could see him reviewing his material and reworking it as he went. There was a break then and then I came on after the break…… I’ve spoken about it above but I reckon I went from 60% to 75/80% at peaks….. I didn’t sustain that though.
Austin Low came on after me and maintained a really good level of energy and delivered clever, quality, material very well. The room went with him and it was a joy to watch. I wondered how Paul Pirie would follow Austin, never having seen Paul perform. The answer: absolutely awesomely. Paul’s routine was witty, inventive, interactive, manic, focused, hilarious, brilliant. I could go on but I won’t. He rarely used the microphone – preferring force of will and personality over amplification. I don’t want to dissect the performance any more in case I damage it. All I can say is that it was brilliant. I am now an official member of the Paul Pirie fanclub.
Out of all of the material heard last night, however, the best line came from a very deadpan audience member who was asked a) if he enjoyed his work and b) if he worked offshore – he had mentioned oil rigs. He looked at the compere and said ‘Naw’ to the first question and ‘I don’t even get the fun of a boat.’
Absolute Beginners next. Will post then.
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