Freed(em)on.

I exorcised a few demons tonight. 

I took part in the first heat of So You Think Your Funny, which was a surprisingly enjoyable experience. This wasn't the source of the demon exorcising, incidentally; I'll get to that.
Competing in a comedy competition is something I never thought I'd do; SYTYF in particular. I remember attending a semi-final with Glyn and our fellow cast member Calogero Tumminello, when we took our play the Balloon Debate to Edinburgh in 2008, and us all remarking as we sat in the audience how the idea of being part of an event with that name was terrifying. It sounded like a taunt. To make it worse, the applicants performed between two free-standing screens bearing the So You Think Your Funny legend; those five accusitory words boreing into them from both sides. It may as well have been called 'PROVE YOURSELF'. 

Tonight, seven years later, I stood between those free-standing screens myself. I didn't see that coming. Back in 2008, the thought of performing stand-up hadn't entered into my head, least of all solo. Right now, it's still a fledgling experience, with me being only eight months into it. Why not confound my own expectations by giving SYTYF a go, at the only time I might be eligible to do it?

(...I'll get to the exorcism in a minute.) 

Everything about tonight was lovely, just to confound my expectations. The organisers were friendly, low-key and put us at our ease. The fact that we weren't competing directly (the panel decide who goes through at a later date after seeing every participant) made things easier. I was reasonably happy with how my set went. We shall see. It was good to give it a go, if only to counter what Past David once said. 

After the gig finished, I walked along the South Bank, past the London Eye, then crossed Jubilee Bridge towards Embankment. I took in the skyline on my way. As I came down the steps on the north side of the bridge, I was confronted with the Playhouse Theatre: the scene of my less-than-joyful West End debut experience. I found myself tracing the route I took to the tube after each show. I was desperately unhappy back then, mainly due to illness. I was suffering from a full-blown bout of labyrinthitis, which made the job a near-impossibility. I also had the threat of two unsuited understudy tracks hanging over my head, which could lead to me being called on at any minute, with no notice, when I wasn't well enough to do it. I'd breath a sigh of relief as I stepped onto the escalator after the show, knowing all the while that my nightmare scenario could happen the next day. 

As I walked down the escalator this evening , I let out a different sigh of relief. It was good to be there in entirely different circumstances. Whatever comes of tonight's heat is irrelevant. I'm finding my niche. Being an actor / musician never satisfied me like being a comedian* does. I'm doing things on my own terms, and not trying to fit into someone else's crudely-drawn requirements. I'm grateful for the opportunity working at The Playhouse gave me, and it was a wonderful thing to do, but I'd much rather be telling jokes; therein lies the exorcism and the release. 

(I'm not sure that even means anything.)

 *alleged.


Popular posts from this blog

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Image
Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...
Read more

Stevenage: A (Tiny) River Runs Through it.

If ever a river was mis-sold, it’s the Roaring Meg in Stevenage. I just walked past it on my way to the retail park that has taken its name. They’re similarly uninspiring. The river is less of a roar and more of a dribble; cystitis sufferers produce greater flow. The retail park is soulless. What was once a thriving enterprise is nearly devoid of atmosphere, save an underlying essence of emptiness and despair. With a Toys R Us. When it was first built I was excited. Back then, the thought of a bowling alley, an ice rink, a Harvester and a Blockbuster Video within a small surface area was enticing. I celebrated many birthdays on site. There was an indoor cricket pitch there for a while where I once had a joint party with a friend. Why someone with an almost pathological fear of sport would agree to such a venture is beyond me, but I did it. Now, there’s very little at the Roaring Meg of note. The river would be a metaphor for the shopping ce...
Read more

Hoo-ray and up She Rises.

So much has happened since my last post in March that this blog risks sounding like an itinerary. The main news is that Hitchin Mostly Comedy will return in the summer at a new venue, the Queen Mother Theatre . The road to this decision was convoluted, though enough fell into place en route to leave me optimistic about this new start. The catalyst was a survey I ran via our mailing list a few months back, in which I asked, "If the club returned in the current climate, with tickets still around £15 (and with similar line-ups), would you still attend?"; the response to which, in simple terms, was a resounding yes. Nearly 250 mailing list subscribers responded in a single week, with around a hundred also taking the option to leave some feedback. And only two people were abusive, which counts as a win when you consider they posted their comments online anonymously. Imagine how many more insults we would have received if the comedy club was a woman. Particularly if she was Diane ...
Read more