I did the first
of my two Bath Comedy Festival dates today, which I really enjoyed, despite a
slightly frenetic lead-up.
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| Live and in CHALK. |
My wife and I drove down this morning (she did the steering and I did the pedals), and while the journey
was pleasant, we arrived with only just enough time to park, drop our
things off at the hotel and get to the venue. The show before me came down at
4:00pm with mine set to start at 4:30pm, yet we only walked into to the
building at 3:45pm-sh. Consequently, I didn’t have much chance to look over my
notes before I began, which could have been fraught when most
of the material was new.
Thankfully, the
get-in was swift and unstressful (largely thanks to the excellent tech staff),
which was a relief, as you never know if there’s going to be an issue when
you go into a new space, particularly when running AV to an
unknown projector and desk.
Despite the rush,
I settled pretty quickly once I’d begun, particularly when I realised the audience were on-side. It could have been intimidating for them, as they were sat almost on top of me with little space for to hide, but the sea of smiling faces (well, a very bijou sea) made it clear
that they weren’t put off by being so close to my sweaty mug.
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| Today's show. |
What gave the
whole thing a kick was the fact most of the material was fresh. It felt great
to be doing something different, even if some of it was very, very new. The hour
zipped by, and what was promising was the old stuff was minimal. I’m under no
illusion that my Edinburgh show is finished, but there’s a sense of potential
in the air that’s very encouraging. The trick will be making the most of all my work-in-progress dates, without worrying if some of it fails; it’s
all part of the process. But what’s great is, nothing felt like it failed
tonight.
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| The sign as you exit my venue proves everyone's a critic. |