Last minute gig – with added audience

I had a gig last night in front of a pretty large audience, which has been a rarity since returning from the Fringe.

I was a last-minute addition to the line-up in Dartford and there must’ve been 50-60 people.  It was the first night it had ran and I’ve often found that sometimes in new venues, people there haven’t been to comedy gigs before so don’t really know how to act at least at the start of the night. There were several drunk people in the corner at the back of the bar, if they weren’t heckling or talking throughout the acts then they were going outside – which actually improved the gig when they did but unfortunately they kept coming back in again.

They were a friendly crowd, but I knew it would be hard work and it was. I was opening the second half and didn’t do too badly at all. I had a fair amount to deal with:  the talking at the back, a malfunctioning microphone, people walking in and out of the room during my set, people outside the bar visible to everyone through the window, police sirens and the odd heckle, but I reckon I dealt with it all respectably. I managed to get some big laughs, even if they weren’t that consistent.

During my set when a member of the audience said he’d like to be able to roar like a lion, I encouraged him to roar. He did and it sounded like a pig being abused, for some inexplicable reason I thought it would be a good idea to respond to his poor attempt at animal impression and attempted to bark like a dog. I don’t know what made me do this, but it wasn’t very successful and I won’t be doing it again – on stage, anyway, what I do in my own time is my own business.

It’s been nice this week to get back into the swing of gigging again, even if the gigs have been mixed.

I am writing this from the house I pay rent for, it’s only a short bus ride away from where I’m house-sitting and I think I’ve earned a few hours away from the fleas.

 

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