Gig 37. I am the Champions!

Whoo (and indeed) Hoo! I finally got out of my bad gigs rut with a corker. I went to 'Beat the Frog' a gong show at Manchester's Frog and Bucket comedy club, and only blummin' won.

I've had bad experiences at gong shows in the past, well twice at the Middlesborough one, but we'd been assured it was a good one. Unfortunately we didn't know if it was good in the 'they give you a chance and appreciate good comedy' sense, or in the more negative sense of good as in 'this'll teach you what a tough crowd really is'. Luckily, it turned out to be the former. They were a great crowd, giving every thing a fair chance, they even let people falter a bit, and they only got the gong if they kept on faltering.

That said, I think I can be justly proud of my superb* set. Even bits of filler and introduction were getting laughs, for example I talked about my shirt 'this is a genuine 70's shirt, my grandfather wore it in Torremolinos 1976.' I don't think this is a joke as such, just the set up for another bit, but it still got a decent laugh. Towards the end the crowd were oddly quiet, which would have freaked me out at the start - but they were still laughing in the right places. It seemed it was just that everyone was now actually listening to me properly.

Al had a brilliant gig as well and was the clear second place, in fact after his set I told him simply 'That was a masterclass.' (in a voice which was a lot more wanky than I realised at the time.)

But before I get too carried away, someone does win this every week - it's not the Perrier. (or whatever it's called now.) And a lot of Manchester comics do it regularly as a forum for new material. So maybe it's not that notable that Al and I can swan down and dominate it by doing our best stufff.

Still, I'm quite chuffed.

*Not my words, the opinion of the Beat the Frog website. Also, I was more surprised than anyone to see my face does that.

NEXT GIGS-
-MON 18TH, SCARBOUROUGH.
-TUES 19TH, LONG LIVE COMEDY, DOG AND PARROT- BACK AFTER THE CANCELLED SHOW LAST TIME.
-WED 20TH, THE ROYALTY, SUNDERLAND.