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Standup Comedy


iamthedoctor

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No worries, man - was great to meet both of you! And I echo Onyx2's sentiments that it was a really fun evening for free. Will try and get down there again some time soon.

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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.

Edited by SpursRiot2012
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21 hours ago, SpursRiot2012 said:

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

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. 

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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.

Edited by SpursRiot2012
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  • 6 months later...
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Saw Dave Gorman at Southend's fantastic Cliffs Pavilion last night. Just a brilliant show, I'm sold on anything his name is attached to. 

I particularly enjoyed the 

giraffe joke.

 

Got tickets for James Acaster and Tim Minchin in the same venue next year. I really like the Cliffs, I've been coming here since I was a child. It has a great attraction to comics for reasons I can't fathom: I've seen Billy Connolly, Jackie Mason, Jimmy Carr, Dara O'Briain, Omid Djalili and dozens more there over the years. Great venue. 

The_Cliffs_Pavilion_-_geograph.org.uk_-_

 

 

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3 hours ago, wordsfromlee said:

I really need to get tickets for James Acaster next year. His 4 shows on Netflix are an absolute masterpiece in stand up comedy.

They're staggeringly good. I've watched it twice through, it's incredible craft. 

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  • 1 month later...

Im a huge stand up fan I love it so much it cheers me up everytime I'm having a bad day with my mental health so what stand ups do we all like and follow 

I am in love with jim jefferies I only discovered him this year and have watched his specials like 10 maybe more times absolutely fucking incredible and he is touring in the new year with a new show.

Russell Brand, Ricky gervais, joe lycett, Kevin bridges are all up there on my top list of stand ups 

 

So what are you all into if any and does it have the same effect to you as it does ne with my depression and bi polar 

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I feel like Jim Jefferies' success has really made him fall off pretty hard. Haven't really enjoyed his recent work and his podcast is boring.

I noticed a Donald Glover stand-up up show on Netflix the other day so I watched that. Looks like it's a good few years old now but I'm not sure what year exactly it's from. Any way - it was really solid. Lots of good laughs. He really is a talented bastard..

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1 hour ago, Chest Rockwell said:

I noticed a Donald Glover stand-up up show on Netflix. He really is a talented bastard.

I really think the sky is the limit with him. He’s a proper all rounder. I appreciate he’s doing well for himself but I think we’re on the cusp of him becoming fucking huge. 

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