The small flyers have finally arrived (A5) sadly they seem to have ushered in the age of the small audience too! 15 people today (Wednesday). Bring back the play bill/bed sheet affairs, without them we are doomed.
I hate a small crowd, some comics claim to love the ‘intimate’ setting but they are liars. To my mind a small audience is the biggest problem for a stand up. Hecklers, drunks, all good grist the the mill as far as I’m concerned, but 15 self conscious people for an hour is tough. It is nigh on impossible to build up any sort of pace or rhythm, jokes are exposed as just a set of words. The worst thing is it is nobodies fault. They get self consious and so do you. As a performer I find myself getting all Fozzy Bear just to keep the energy up. This must be ruthlessly stamped out by tomorrow.
However they were lovely people and the majority seemed chuffed with the show.
There were a group of teenage/early 20s girls in the front row, looking like they we’re really having fun. I was doing a bit of Maggie bashing, when one of the girls whispered something to her mate that I actually didn’t think possible to hear. I couldn’t believe my ears! She leaned over and asked, ”Who’s ‘Thatcher?”.
God knows why she had been laughing at the previous ten minutes when I had been ranting about Marx, Scargill, Orwell and Trotsky.
Now in fairness to the girl, she just didn’t know, and I don’t just want to be playing exclusively to old lefties at all. But my God, where on earth have you been for the last 20 years, and what on earth are you doing in a show about socilaist revolution and 70′s vinyl if you’ve never heard of Margaret Thatcher? Luckily, she did know who Hitler was unless she’s confusing him Jimmy Carr that is, which is obviously forgivable.
As for today (Thursday), we’re back on track, the audiences have returned and we had a respectable 30 odd in. Also, excellent news for Paul, his film Noir Shadow Puppet show has been given a 4 star review in The Skinny. Oh and it’s my Dad’s birthday, so all is well with the world.
