Holidays.

John Scott's latest bulletin, as follows...

HERE IS THE NEWS.............................................
MACK 'EM LAUGH AT THE ROYALTY, SUNDERLAND WED DEC. 14.
COMPERE... SIMON DONALD OF VIZ MAGAZINE
HEADLINE ACT....MATT AND FARRON OF 1000 CITY JOBS MAGAZINE
SUPPORT... AL DAWES AND KEVIN SHEPPARD OF WHICH BRA MAGAZINE
 
THE EGYPT COTTAGE IS HAVING A WEE BREAK AND WILL RETURN ON THE THIRD MONDAY IN JANUARY.............PLUSPLUSPLUSPLUS........DONT FORGET THERE IS A CHRISTMAS COMEDY SPECIAL FEATURING GAV WEBSTER MATT REED AND JOHN SCOTT AT THE ROYALTY ON DEC>THE 28......PLUSPLUSPLUS ANOTHER AT THE MAGNESIA BANK IN NORTH SHIELDS FEATURING GAV WEBSTER AND JOHN SCOTT ON DEC>29

John also told me I could have another crack at the Royalty In February. And I'll informally try out any new stuff at the Egypt Cottage when it starts up again. So, unless anything else crops up, I'm on Holiday.

This is just as well as in real life I am supposed to be doing an MA and I've got 4 essays to finish by mid Jan. I think I'll also just relax the writing for now too. In the past I've tried to force myself to write in a mechanical way to get actual gags. Funny ideas I can do, and many of my favorite comics (eg, Eddie Izzard, Ross Noble) don't really write Jokes as such... But when you've only got 10 minutes on stage and no one's heard of you, you need actual punchlines to get laughs.

It's also true that some of my favorite comics do tell jokes.

"My first wife was so immature, get this, she would come into the bathroom while I was taking a bath, just storm in without knocking... and sink my boats."
Woody Allen.

"I wanted to do some DIY, hmm, yes, a bit of DIY, so I took out the step ladder, yeah? My step ladder, not my real ladder, I don't get on with my real ladder"
Harry Hill.

In the past I've tried to just copy the structure of jokes like these. It's an interesting excercise but I've not had any good results yet. My version of the woody Allen Joke came out as...

"Women are the weaker sex, you have to admit it. My wife can't even open jam jars. It's pathetic... we have to ask the guy upstairs to do it."

I'm still looking for another 'step ladder' but I haven't found it yet. Anyway, nothing I've come up with like this made it into the act - my best two 'gags' (Big Issue, Jabba) were totally spontaneous.

So, while I'm 'on holiday' I wont try to force it- I'll just make sure I ALWAYS have a notebook to hand and see what I've doodled in it by the end of Jan. And I'll be writing this blog too of course.

MY NEXT GIG:
END OF JAN, POSSIBLY NEW STUFF AT THE EGYPT.
FEB, ANOTHER GO AT THE ROYALTY, SUNDERLAND- WITH THE SAME SET AS LAST TIME, BUT SLIMMED DOWN AND TOUGHENED UP.