My talent for getting lost knows no bounds and was on scintillating form last night.
I was going to Harrow and had taken a picture of where the venue was on my rickety old phone. The place of the gig was very close to the nearest tube station, so I was confident I would easily find it.
But once again, it was proven that navigational confidence is my undoing. Going by the map, I was sure that I was in the right place, but there was no sign of the venue. So I had a closer look at the map and realised that I had gone to Harrow and Wealdstone, when I actually needed to be at Harrow-on-the-Hill.
I had no idea how far away I was from where I actually needed. After about 20 minutes of walking and then asking a bus driver for directions, I managed to find the venue.
Unfortunately, my set didn’t quite replicate my form of getting lost and it was a quite hard work. There must have been about 30 people in there, which is a very big crowd for a new act night in London. I got some decent laughs and was a long way from dying on my arse, but it all just felt a bit flat.
This was partly because of a group of what you’d expect lads to look like were at the back of the room. There were about ten of them sitting and loitering at the bar, and they refused to sit in the empty seats where the audience were when asked to by the MC/promoter. They weren’t hostile, but did look as if they hadn’t been to a comedy night before, so didn’t really know how to behave and it did create an air of awkwardness. It turned out that they were all there to support a friend, which explains such behaviour.
I did learn a vital lesson last night, that a burrito with extra chilli is not the best thing to eat for lunch on the day of a gig. It creates a chemical reaction with the significant adrenaline stand-up causes and brings consequences in the bowel region. Fortunately, I managed to control it for my time on stage.
Another positive was that I found a packet of beef Hula Hoops in the main pub that had been on a table in the middle of a mostly eaten buffet. With no-one showing any interest in the leftover food, some nifty hand work saw the Hula Hoops come into my possession.
In non-comedy news, I feel that I should comment on the Disney purchase of Star Wars, as I am someone who holds the galaxy far, far away close to my heart. I think this has the potential to be great, but could easily be horrific. If they get a good writer and director, then there is no reason why it wouldn’t be a welcome addition to the saga and be a vast improvement on the last three additions. A film written by Joss Whedon and Jane Goldman, with Matthew Vaughn directing would surely be a wonderful thing. Over to you, Kathleen Kennedy. No pressure or anything.