Saturday gone saw the first ever full room for my fringe show. A few days before, I wrote this about the first week of my run: Okay then,
My fringe run so far:
I'm in Stand 4, just after noon, it's a 40 seater.
Thursday: One fella in.
Was going to pull it but he had wanted to see my show in Newcastle last year but couldn't make it and he was only at the fringe for the day.
So I did it.
It was actually fine, even if it is a bit odd looking over after a punchline to see if one person liked it.
It was fine.
Except his name was Jeff.
And I kept calling him Phil.
And I said his name an extraordinary amount of times, I could feel it as I was doing it. Well, not his name...
I spent a lot of the rest of the day avoiding the gaze of people I half know and hid in first the train station and then the coach one.
Turned out that Jeff hadn't wanted to correct me in case it made it awkward.
Friday: 2 in.
They agreed to come another day. Went home to South Shields straight afterwards which was good but felt like I would have no crowd all month.
Felt sad.
Saturday: Up at 6am to get back in. Finally had a crowd (17) and, after a nervous couple of minutes, the show felt good and it was a relief to get a decent one in.
Felt like they liked it.
Did Comedy Club 4 Kids, it was good but I have no specific anecdotes.
Went to Mosque Kitchen like a fucking comedian would.
Went to Hal Branson's flat with him and Sammy Dobson and watched the only show I've bothered to see so far. Loads of people doing badly at King Gong on YouTube (Deano Bean, Tommy Dyson) and many clips of Colin Bunyan.
Popped out at 11 to do Gavin Webster's mixed bill show with him and Paul Thorne. It felt like 4am and there were some weird bastards in the crowd. I loved it.
Sunday: My show starts 5 minutes after Daniel Kitson's just down the corridor. Had 15-20 in and this was the first time where there was a lot in who had come in because they couldn't get in to his show. At least 5 of them had arms crossed as I came on.
Nothing for 5 minutes.
Was a struggle throughout, partially because I just wasn't that good.It ended better than it started and most got into it a bit, it was probably a nil-nil draw.
As I shook hands as they left, a man said "your flyerer was good" which is quite funny.
Went to Glasgow Stand to do the kids show, which might have been the best kids gig I've had. Show finished at 4, I stayed in Glasgow til 11. Partially cos Sammy was on there on the night and I had a podcast to record with her but also because I didn't want to be in Edinburgh.
Monday:25-30 in.
Felt like the best version of the show I've done. Walked round actually feeling happy afterwards. Might end up being the peak of the run, hopefully not but I actually enjoyed doing it and I'm usually the sort who assumes disaster is around the corner even if it's going well.
I'll mostly remember it as the day I got blisters.
Tuesday:20-25 in.
Good again really. The better anecdote would have been if it had been a struggle but it wasn't.
I felt loose and funny and the show was funny.
For the second day in a row, I didn't have time to do the ending but the place I ended at still felt like an ending.
Today:Don't know.
Could be good or shit.
Back on at noon. Live podcast is tonight, it's a bit out of town but will be fun even if the crowd is small.
The rest of the run?I should probably see some shows, planning on seeing if I can get in for Seymour Mace today.
That's a good start.
Maybe I should do more gigs while I'm up here?
I'm already fucking knackered but should probably still do a few more?
I imagine, going out on a limb, that the rest of my run will have some good bits and some bad bits.
