Pressing Matters.


I spent most of the day writing and sending out press releases for my Brighton Fringe show.

I’m pleased to say I got everything done that I wanted to. It's satisfying to set yourself a task and then complete it. Part of the problem with having no outside help is your attention is split. You're constantly changing hats, in a metaphorical sense; one minute you’re the writer and then the next you’re the producer. The minute after that you’re the technician and then you’re the performer. That’s four minutes’ worth of show prep and I’m not prepared to do it. It’s also makes for a clunky paragraph.

The next step will be to prepare for next Thursday’s preview at Hitchin Mostly Comedy. I intend to sprinkle a few new bits into last month’s Soho Theatre set, bringing the running time up to about forty minutes. I don’t want to cross that time limit; if anything, I may do less. I’m very aware that I’ll be a physical barrier between the audience and the two acts they've come to see: Phil Nichol and Barry From Watford. They may also not be in the mindset for work-in-progress, so I would like to keep my performance reasonably tight. I have another preview two days later, where the atmosphere will be more conducive to taking risks.

I’m doing a five-minute spot at an open mic gig this Wednesday. I’d like to try something untested, but I’ll see how I feel. I’d like a confidence boost before next week’s gigs and I won’t get this by doing something that may fall flat. Every gig is a mind game at the moment. I’m like a boxer training for the big fight; I'm less a featherweight, more a paperweight.

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