Henning, Hen-out, Hen Shake-it-all-about.


Tonight’s Mostly Comedy was one to be proud of.

First off, with Hattie Hayridge and Henning Wehn on the bill, we had an exceptional line-up. You’re off to a good start when you play host to familiar faces; more-often-than-not, an audience feels most comfortable when the people they're watching have form and a television presence; such is the nature of promoting comedy – but the atmosphere can go through the roof when those acts are on top form, like they were tonight.

It was probably the one date in Mostly Comedy’s 2016 diary that made us most tense, what with the difficult task of moving a sold-out audience en mass from Henning’s originally scheduled appearance last month. Ticket holders had four weeks to decide whether they’d like to stay with the April date or switch to the new one, before the event went on public sale. Thirty people did nothing before the deadline, which made us paranoid they hadn’t seen the message (well: the numerous messages, by email, social media and in the local press); those thirty tickets were quickly snapped up, meaning they wouldn’t have been able to attend if they'd turned up, expecting to be let in.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a problem in the end. Only two people made this mistake, who we managed to squeeze in. This was a relief, as I’d envisaged a riot, with us having to erect a Les Miserables-style barricade.

It was pleasing on a personal level too, as I tried out a snippet of new material that has promise, and made a second stab at something I’d only performed once before that had previously died on its arse. I’d suspected this was mostly to do with an older crowd who’d come specifically to see an older headliner (who shall remain nameless), and consequently weren’t prepared to listen to routines from an act they don’t know. It had a much better response tonight, which bodes well for when I tighten it up.

All in all, the gig was pretty slick. I took a moment to look around the room during Henning’s set, and felt a swell of pride what Mostly Comedy's become. It’s pretty incredible for something we’d set up largely by accident. As I’ve said before, we run a comedy club by mistake.

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