SpursRiot2012

Hulu and Netflix PASSED on Brooklyn 99? That's crazy. I don't understand why they'd do that. It's such a great show, and it *did* get good ratings in the younger demos so that seems like an opportunity missed for those two. Apparently, Brooklyn 99 was originally with NBC but they sold it to Fox.

6 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

Damming with faint praise! 

Let's be more specific: quality overall was very good. Start and end acts were great and the highlight was Valerio, a really tight set (notice I didn't respond to his request for Garys). 

The younger ladies were great with good personas, the older ladies... not so much. They had OK material but not enough stage craft to make it work. 

John Sharp was interesting, and I can see it going somewhere but he needs a ruddy good spanner on him to tighten that set up. 

I can't make it every week (I get in at midnight on a school night) but I'll definitely be back. 

2

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, Tina (the older lady with the cat dress) has a decent 5, but she wanted the chance to do 10 and, well, she doesn't really have much for 10. The other older lady was actually a friend of Neil Ben (the guy who'd worked on BBC cartoons and stuff) and was only there as an audience member but she happened to mention she was wanting to do comedy, said she had 5, so I squeezed her on.

Interesting that you say that about John Sharp. He's been around for years and years and his act has basically always been the same. Although he usually does more puns.

Also, sorry about the 10% leaflet thing. It was really a first week thing, but I would have been more than happy to sort you and Carbomb out with one, it's just that my cousin (who is the assistant manager there) wasn't working, though she was supposed to be, and the 10% thing has to go through her as they have to do something special with the tills when the bar staff get those. Next time, I'll buy you both a drink!

6 hours ago, Chest Rockwell said:

How's the MC? I heard he's dreamy 😍

I'm shit. But that's half the point of running this night  - to get better. Also, I overbooked last night so did very little actual material.

2 hours ago, Chest Rockwell said:

How was the take and the audience compared to week one?

Down. I would say we had about 20-25 in the room. Although, similarly to last week, especially in the first half, the room filled out more as the night went on. I think we start too early. I think 8pm start would be better both in terms of getting an audience in but also for the comedians, some of whom are having to travel direct from work - and since I tell them they need to get there for around 6:40pm to sign in so I can sort out the running order, that makes it even worse.

Although, over the two shows, we've now rasied nearly £100 for the charity, so I'm happy with that and the comedians themselves seem to like the room (we are one of the very few non-bringer shows at that level and I'm really adament that I don't want our night to turn into a bringer night, and comedians at this level love non-bringer nights!) and enjoy the space - though the audience last night was much more low energy than we had week one. I expect going forward until we shut down over August to have between 20-30 in the room each night. From September, I'm "reformatting" a bit and with those changes, hopefully we will be able to attract a much bigger audience. I really thought our last two acts were very good, and a comedian called Valerio Miconi in the first half was very good, too. Funny thing with him was that he'd messaged me to say he wouldn't arrive until 7, so I scheduled him to go on second to last in the first half. But then I wasn't sure if he'd arrived or not when it came time for his set so I asked, "Do we have any Italians in tonight?" He put his hand up - ok! he's here! - and I say "In which case, welcome your next act..." But I fucked up his surname as I didn't have my running order sheet on my person at that moment so introduced him Valerio Macaroni or something equally embarrassing for me. I had to apologise to him about that!

I also need to learn to be a bit stricter. For example, one comedian, I told him his place on the running order and said, "tight five, yeah?" His response was, "Yeah, 5 to 7?" I just thought, fuck it, yeah, do 7 if you want. So of course he then did 10. And he isn't very good - that's coming from someone who also isn't very good, but I happen to know this particular comedian has been at it for years. Another thing was, one of the acts brought a mate who mentioned to me in passing that they were also a comedian. So I, trying to be nice, asked if she'd like some time. So she did five minutes and just wasn't very good. Just stuff like that that maybe I need to be less laid back and a bit more rigid about especially timings but also not accommodating walk-ins when I didn't advertise any walk-in spots.

There are also still issues with the venue. The first week, as I mentioned I think, the venue hadn't done a bunch of stuff they'd said they'd do prior to us arriving. So, after the show last week, I left certain things out (after checking with the manager) so that it would be easier for us to set-up this week (especially as I was working yesterday so my girlfriend was there by herself early, doing what she coiuld to set up), and of course someone has torn down our banner and chucked it in a corner (which isn't so bad as our banner is quite rugged, but the charity's banner was attached to ours and isn't cut out for being treated like that), mixed up all our wires with their wires, fucked with the PA system - just lots of little shit I was hoping week two we wouldn't have to deal with, which then leaves me stressed and has us starting later than I wanted us to start, therefore meaning we finish later than we are meant to, too. Not only that, but I gave the venue 3-400 flyers. They had them out all over the place last week, this week? Not a single one. So I need to get onto the venue and have a bit of a word with them about sort of buying into the night a bit more - drill it in that they're not just doing me a favour by letting me use the room, I am actually getting them alcohol sales they otherwise wouldn't have had.

In other news - because I think I discussed a lot of this in this thread - I got my mitigating circumstances request response back today from uni. I had asked for an extension from May 1st to May 28th. They gave me an extension to June 29th which is really fucking awesome.

Talking to a guy at work today about stuff we are currently watching. I mentioned Seinfeld. He has never heard of Seinfeld. No idea what it is. He is 21 so I get it but it floored me a little.

Loving those qualifications guys. "It was a good night...given that it's free!"

Why have they cancelled it? I had thought it was a popular show. I like it a lot. Netflix should for sure pick it up.

Thanks so much for coming. You, too, @Carbomb
 

Episodes.

I remember when this first came out and I watched the first or second episode of it and kind of wrote it off.

It's now on Netflix and I've been watching it and it isn't bad at all. Matt LeBlanc plays an awesome oblivious dickhead.

Bill Burr is an excellent comedian. Obviously its just that you don't like his style or stage persona. Luckily, there are loads of comedians with specials to choose from with a completely different way of performing material than Burr, some of whom you've mentioned. However, he's much better than Leary. Much, much better.

27 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

Is that £10 for the headliner pretty standard for the level they're/you're performing at? I'm not surprised promoters are getting shafted, I imagine it's similar to wrestling where if a performer feels they're above a certain standard of promotion they'll pretty much do what they like. 

Obviously it's shitty behaviour and you want them to treat it as professional as you are taking it but it's a tough ask when you haven't got the caveat of a big pay day to hold over them. That £10 probably doesn't cover much after travel. 

Most "open mics" don't do a bucket collection type deal, at least in my experience. Those are where you go to do things like work out material and you can have your notebook on stage with you and what have you. There are a few, good, established comedy nights/groups that attract real audiences but who also host new material nights where it's expected that the set might not be polished, or the comedian might need their notebook or whatever. Our night is at the level of an open mic, but I very much feel that a night's vibe is made by how we as the promoters and the comedians treat it. It becomes a "proper" night if we make it feel like a proper night. Now, yes, you're right that that £10 probably isn't doing a lot for her (although you could see it as £10 for 20 minutes work and we're also an early show which gives comedians the chance to do double shots and go close somewhere else that's finishing up at 10 or 11pm), but even at her level - and she's fairly experienced - stage time is still very important. And if we - both promoters and comedians - work together, we can turn that free admission, bucket-at-end night into a decent, ticketed event. But if comedians treat the night like it's just any other open mic, new material, new act night then the audience - real people, not comedians or their mates - ends up getting driven away and it becomes, as I mentioned earlier, 10 comedians, notebooks out, watching each other doing 5-10 minutes that they're trying to hone so they can they go and do better at a "proper" comedy night. I've seen it happen. There were a number of nights - one near Covent Garden, two in Dalston - that, at the start, had a real audience. And they could have built on that. But even the MC (who was also the promoter!) at those nights treated it like, hey, this is just a bit of free comedy I'm doing to get stage time. And the audience didn't take long to figure out that this probably isn't worth the effort to come and see. So the nights - all three - dwindled and died. I'm doing this night, yes, to get better on stage but I also would like to build something real up there. 

This particular act is - I believe - doing comedy full-time, as her job. So, she needs to go somewhere to work on her bits. And I'm totally OK with that. But I didn't book that and if she'd told me she wanted to come and do that, she wouldn't have been closing the show. A few little things compounded to leave a bad taste in my mouth with her - the workshopping, the turning up at the interval, the asking me in a fucking stage whisper if it's OK to plug her comedy night at the end of her set, giving out to the audience (in that passive-aggressive way many comedians at this level do) that they weren't laughing at particular bits - which is indeed shocking since she's literally standing there telling them, "this bit doesn't really have an ending." What, a punchline? Yeah, it's a wonder they're not laughing. I mean, that might be a preference thing from me. But I just hate that, "oh, that one didn't work" or "it's a thinker!" Move on! It's weird to say since you are in fact talking to the audience, but there *is* an element of not breaking the "fourth wall" to standup, I feel. If your joke didn't land, well, it didn't land. I don't think you need to comment on the fact it didn't land, just move the fuck on to the next thing. And especially don't, as I say, complain that your bit with no punchline didn't get a laugh when you've told the audience up front that it has no punchline. It's kind of missing an essential element of the joke, isn't it?

If anyone from on here comes to one of the shows, make sure to come upstairs and see me before you get a drink as I can give you a flyer that'll get you 10% off. It's not much, but given London prices, it's not bad either. Those are limited - I think I gave out about 10 or 15 yesterday.

So, it's upstairs at the White Hart in Stoke Newington. 69 Stoke Newington High St, Stoke Newington, N16 8EL.

Facebook event page for next week's show is here: 

5 minutes ago, Onyx2 said:

How much is the entry fee Spurs? 

It's free. We do a bucket collection at the end of the night, so it's sort of pay what you think the night was worth, but nobody is obligated to pay anything. Although it would be nice if someone is coming to see the show to buy a drink and maybe in some sort of sly way make sure the bar staff know that they wouldn't be there, buying that drink, if not for us! We are also now going to be lending continued support to Noah's Ark Children's Hospice where 10% of anything raised goes to them every week. It might not be much, but it's something. 

24 minutes ago, Dead Mike said:

Glad it went well fella. Very bad form from the closer, especially if it was pre-agreed that it was a strict 20 & she was getting paid. That said, at my last show the compere (who runs a very successful & established night in Manchester) said that they still have to politely remind their headliners that the gig isn't an excuse to try out new stuff & they want the club set they'd do at any of the big weekend gigs.

Onwards & upwards though! 

Absolutely. To be honest, right after the show, I was so tired and everything, I was sort of feeling a little down, like maybe I didn't want to do this every week. This morning, I can't wait for next week's show. Hopefully we can get some flyering done ahead of next week's show, which we weren't able to do for the opening night - which makes the fact that we got so many in even more impressive, I think.

24 minutes ago, gmoney said:

What are you paying them, if you don't mind me asking? 

It's a bucket split. We, as promoters, take half. Then we've got a percentage deal worked out where, for example, the headliner gets 20% (so, last night our headliner made about a tenner for half an hours work). For the first week, we are also donating 30% of our proceeds to Noah's Ark Children's Hospice, and many of the acts - apart from the headliner - have also offered to give up their bucket money for the charity, so that's nice.

1 hour ago, Wrasslin said:

Given who you had headlining it's hardly surprising she did something self indulgent . . .

What makes you say that? I've seen her act a few times - that is, doing an actual set, not workshopping material - and she was always pretty decent.

Actually had more than one person get up with their notebook. I don't mind people trying bits of new material, but I did make a point of saying early on that this was not a new material night nor a "proper" open mic, since it's always pre-booked comics who I've vetted (for the most part, there was an act last night who did 10 minutes smashing up citrus fruits who I hadn't seen before, so...) as so many of those nights degenerate into about 10 comedians with notebooks watching each other do five minutes they're trying to hone to do somewhere else they consider "proper." Well, I'm trying to turn this thing into a "proper" night, myself, so having the closer come up and do half an hour of unfinished material left a bad taste in my mouth.

16 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

Good luck for tonight @SpursRiot2012. Gutted I can't make it but keep us posted and I'll try to get to another one. 

Thanks dude.

I think it went quite well. The venue really stressed me out as upon arrival I found they hadn't done a bunch of stuff they said they would do in advance of us getting there. So I spent all the way to show time - which ended up being about 15 mins late - running around like a headless chicken. I was disheartened at first as it seemed like only the comedians and a few of my mates turned up but each time I got up to introduce a new act, the room had more people in it. By the end, it was standing room only - only we only had around 35 actual seats so...

The closer annoyed me a bit. I had booked her to do 20 to close the show as I know she's a good comic and I wanted to end strong. But she had other ideas. She essentially just workshopped her 1 hour Edinburgh show, trying bits where she had yet to find the punchline and stuff like that. She also went over her time by 10 fucking minutes! Despite me obviously indicating that she needed to wrap up. Oh and right when she reached the stage after I brought her up, she leans over and asks me quite loudly if she can plug her own Tuesday night comedy show at the end of her set. I said yes. I could hardly say no at that point, not that I would said no anyway, but I just found it a bit of a shitty thing to do in that way.

The whole thing was exhausting. And I've got to do it all again next week!

12 hours ago, Chris B said:

@SpursRiot2012 I used to MC pretty regularly. One of the things I liked most is that everyone else was concentrating on their own material, so 'topical' was a nice way to do new material each time.

If they're of any use at all, here are two of the most useful things I found to remember:

1 - Don't get in your own way. You're just there to get the crowd warmed up and used to laughing out loud. You don't need to do stuff before intervals/at the end, other than a quick quip or two. You're the fluffer, not the bukkake target.

2 - You're the only one that's guaranteed to leave to applause. Even if a joke fails, you can go straight to '...well, anyway, give a big round of applause to...' and you get to leave to clapping. You get to bail in a way nobody else does. It rocks.

 

Good advice, Chris. Thanks. Especially number two. Definitely, a good thing for me to keep in mind! I've got a bit about Donald Trump's Russian ties that I want to try out, too, so that's pretty topical - though perhaps a bit too US-centric.

I've also just realised that, adding together all the acts I've booked for tomorrow, assuming they all run exactly to their time, plus assuming the show starts dead on 7 and the interval ends dead on 8, the show actually only runs about an hour and a half. That's not including any time I do at the beginning, on the interval/post-interval and at the end (and, as you suggest, I'm not planning to do much on the interval/post-interval and the end will be me mainly plugging a charity) so now slightly worried about underrunning. Probably worrying about nothing though.

I thought FIFA 18 was atrocious, to be honest. Granted, I was playing on PC and am used to playing football games on console but it just seemed...I don't know, like they'd stopped putting any effort in at all beyond FUT.

1 hour ago, mim731 said:

Have you looked at the sports desks for the tabloids? I know it's not super ideal, but I had a mate who got loads of casual shifts on the desk at the Daily Star ( I think, was a while back) there because a lot of it shift work, shortly after he graduated, especially over the weekends. Might be worth a look.

Might be an idea. I shall look into this - although my darned principles might get in the way of working for a place like the Star. Not really sure how I'd go about doing it - maybe just email the sports editor or something.

19 minutes ago, The Maestro said:

Best of luck to you Spurs2012. If you do the rounds around the UK let us know if you're in Leicester and I'm sure me and the good Lady Maestro would be game.

You're running a night or do you mean you're doing spots and would do some if we ran a show up there?

We've got our flyers, posters, mic, micstand, banners (with graphics provided by the  excellent @Monkee), lighting sorted, social media promotion done, real life promotion in progress. Our first show is this Thursday for which we have all our comedians booked.

I am going to be MCing every week and frankly I'm shitting it. When I was doing the open mic circuit a while back, I got to the point where I had a decent 5 minute set that would work with pretty much any audience. But then after a confidence shattering couple of gigs in a row, I stopped doing comedy entirely until I decided to run this night in Stoke Newington. I've never MCd before and won't have a chance even to do a five spot somewhere before the first show on Thursday in order to at least get somewhat comfortable on stage again. I have booked myself on a number of shows going forward but nothing before my first show that I'm promoting. I did an MC workshop with a guy named Alfie Noakes (quite well known on the open mic scene, runs the We Are Funny Project and has MCd probably around 900 nights) which helped somewhat but I'm still shitting it. The room seats 40 (70 with standing) and I am optimistically expecting about 30-40 the first night. I'm sure I will get better every week and MCing every week means I'm doing probably about 20 minutes on stage every week, and at my level stage time is all important, so there are benefits to this. But man, I might have to take half a Valium to calm me before I start!

Not sure the exact point of this post other than to say that a) I'm shitting it and b) come to my show!

We also couldn't have picked a worse time to start a comedy night. A World Cup coming up. Edinburgh in August. Not to mention that in summer people generally don't want to be in a darkened room on a sunny evening. We're basically starting up towards the end of the comedy "season". I think after July (assuming the night goes well enough that it keeps going), we will either shut down until September or go bi weekly or maybe monthly due to the Edinburgh festival.

Well, it's a moot point now as the writing job decided I'd be "more suited to a journalism role than a PR role" and retracted their offer. I'll just go pull a journalism staff job out of the dying embers of the paid-for journalism industry, shall I?

I'm not going to accept my MD's offer either, though. I will just do my masters this year and work part time, either here or, ideally, somewhere I enjoy.

After spending probably more than a year trying to find the right vaping setup for me as a way to quit smoking and having spent lots of cash on vape pens and related paraphernalia that just always ended up not working out for me, I bit the bullet today and went to a branch of Vaporized in Wood Green.

The difference with having an expert there ask me a whole bunch of questions about my smoking so they could recommend everything from the right type of vape pen for me, the right type of coils, nicotine levels etc is amazing. I cannot recommend enough that if you're considering switching from smoking to vaping, go see an expert at one of these stores. Doesn't have to be Vaporized, just someone who knows exactly what they're talking about and who will offer you the right solution for you personally. Since going there earlier today and getting a new vape pen, the right coils, the right liquids and the right nicotine level - all guided by the staff member there - I haven't craved a ciggerette at all. I'm so bloody happy with this.

EDIT: It's now over 24 hours since I got my vape sorted from that branch and I haven't had a single cigarette. I knew vaping would work for me, it just took getting it right.

Here's a first world problem for the UKFF hive mind to help me with.

So, you guys know the sales job I've been back and forth to other the last two years where I kept trying to quit but instead got pay rises and less days I had to work? Well, I quit in September to concentrate on my degree but they asked me to come back over March and April part time as they needed the staff.

Anyway today the boss had a meeting with me where he said over the next three months he'd like to transition me into a management role. It would still require making sales calls 2 or 3 days a week but by the end of the year my salary will start with a 4. Now let us be clear: I hate this job and I have an offer to go work at a PR firm and write for them but for significantly less than I'm earning even now. However I wouldn't wake up in the morning dreading my job. With the PR job I'd actually wake up most days looking forward to work and there are lots of opportunities for progression. I've also just done a three year journalism degree and been accepted to do a really prestigious digital journalism masters from September which I'd have to at least defer for a year if I say yes to the sales MD.

But can I - a 30 year old man hoping to start a family in the next few years - really justify turning down the opportunity to start making 40k this year and even more going forward?
 

I just do not know what to do.