I never thought
I’d say this but chatting to Bobby Davro is such a calming influence.
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| Bobby Davro storming it at Hitchin Mostly Comedy (23.05.18) |
I shared the bill
with him tonight at Mostly Comedy, marking the first time I rolled out an
extended set of the material that will eventually become my new show, which I
had expected to be a little difficult, what with me being such a comparatively
unknown entity. While I was genuinely delighted when Bobby agreed to do the
gig, I didn’t know if I’d painted myself in a corner by adding him to same bill
as me, as I didn’t know if his crowd would be attuned to a younger act trying
out some sketchy work-in-progress.
The afternoon was
inevitably stressful as I watched the time I’d set aside to run my set
disappear into a vapour in favour of the endless admin that goes with setting
up the club. However hard you try to take it in your stride, there comes a
point where the day starts to proverbially bum you; you’re no longer steering,
you’re trying to gain control of the vehicle.
The landslide
began with me running for the bus with a suitcase full of equipment, to arrive
at the venue, sweaty and flustered. I then went to the bank to change up the
float to be stuck in a queue for the only cashier available,
behind a woman who seemed to be setting up a new mortgage. I stood there with
my shirt clinging to my body like a low-grade Mr Darcy clutching a handful of
tenners, feeling every bit a dick; imagine Gollum paying in the plunder of a
pawned-in ring and you’d have the mental image about right.
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| Me, "acting". |
I checked my
phone while waiting to spot a missed call from Davro. When I finally left the
bank, I called him back and within seconds he’d put me at my ease. He told me
he was looking forward to watching my set.
“Do bear in mind
I’m doing very new stuff”, was my caveat-filled response.
“Don’t worry
about that”, he replied, “so am I. We’re all frightened of change; we just need
to turn the fear into excitement.”
It was such a
lovely way of putting it that it reframed my mindset.
In the end, I
needn’t have worried, as people got on board with my half pretty quickly and
didn’t seem to mind that I was - as I put it - a Thames Barrier-like
breakwater between them and Bobby. Apart from a paralytic heckler (and I use
that term generously, as he wasn’t so much heckling me as making vowel sounds)
who was ultimately ejected (which was pretty entertaining) the punters
were definitely up for it. By the time Bobby came on they were practically
frothing at the mouth. His set was a masterclass in energy and all-round
entertainment from a consummate performer, and our chat around the
show was as lovely as it was fascinating, taking in anecdotes about everyone
from Neil Sedaka to Mickey Rooney. He was a joy and so honest and genuine with
it; a fair few less experienced performers could take a leaf out of his book.
