Tonight I did a short
walk-in spot at the open mic gig Touching Cloth on Folgate Street, though by
the time I went on, I was so tired, I’d lost faith in what I’d gone there to
talk about.
I went armed with a new five minutes, which, when it came to it, I did for the most part; though the room had lost interest by the time I took the stage. I got laughs out of dissecting what wasn’t working, as often seems to be the case, but this can be frustrating as the more you rely on this, you start to feel you haven’t enough good quality material in the first place.
I’m being hard on myself, to be fair. Open mic gigs are tough, however well they’re run (and this one’s run splendidly). There’s just so many people on, and an audience can only take so much information. You end up with a distorted reading of what lines worked and what didn’t. At least I managed to for the most part get across the genesis what I’d written, and remain true to the ethos of the gig, which is all about trying new stuff out. I’d much rather do material I haven’t tried before and have it falter, than keep recycling the same ten or twenty minutes in bijou chunks. That serves no purpose when you need to write a show. I also wasn’t officially booked to do a gig tonight, so I’m now a little ahead on the game. I’m also now the proud owner of a new toilet brush, which I bought as a prop for the set. I’m glad no-one searched my bag on the tube, as it might have looked a little ominous. I don’t want a reputation for the wrong type of cleanliness.
I went armed with a new five minutes, which, when it came to it, I did for the most part; though the room had lost interest by the time I took the stage. I got laughs out of dissecting what wasn’t working, as often seems to be the case, but this can be frustrating as the more you rely on this, you start to feel you haven’t enough good quality material in the first place.
I’m being hard on myself, to be fair. Open mic gigs are tough, however well they’re run (and this one’s run splendidly). There’s just so many people on, and an audience can only take so much information. You end up with a distorted reading of what lines worked and what didn’t. At least I managed to for the most part get across the genesis what I’d written, and remain true to the ethos of the gig, which is all about trying new stuff out. I’d much rather do material I haven’t tried before and have it falter, than keep recycling the same ten or twenty minutes in bijou chunks. That serves no purpose when you need to write a show. I also wasn’t officially booked to do a gig tonight, so I’m now a little ahead on the game. I’m also now the proud owner of a new toilet brush, which I bought as a prop for the set. I’m glad no-one searched my bag on the tube, as it might have looked a little ominous. I don’t want a reputation for the wrong type of cleanliness.