Gig no: 35. Where? Doggystyle @ Dogstar, Brixton
Why? This lovely guy called Danny King saw a clip of me and offered me my FIRST 15 MINUTES.
Who Held My Hand? I had to sell 20 tickets to earn this. I managed 6. My husband, my RADA mate Luby, Blogger mate Ian and two of his friends. I realise that’s 5. I bought another one out of guilt. Everyone else I know FAILED TO COME.
What happened? I f*cking stormed it. Wish I’d filmed it. If you’d like to see what my husband managed to capture, here it is: Click here to see my husband film his SHOE.
I divorced him.
I was SO excited about this gig. 15 minutes is a big friggin deal to someone who regularly begs for 5. This is an opportunity to relax, test not only my material but my ability to hold an audience through an mini arc of funny.
Ross Smith, who I’ve seen at Comedy Virgins, is MC’ing and is brilliant. I’m headlining the first half and healthily nervous. I’m using tried and tested material with my new Mr Men stuff in the middle. The upstairs room at Dogstar is HUGE with a big old raised stage at one end. It immediately feels right. It has authority. It’s also FULL. The others comics have been way more successful than me at selling tickets. Danny King hasn’t bollocked me for not managing it. (I realise this is effectively making comedians pay to perform and that it is really the promoter’s job to fill the room but he has a plan and big ideas. Every comedy night has a way of doing it and this is his. I want to do 15 minutes. I accept the deal. Another rung on the ladder. Let’s face it I’ll be back to 5s and 10s next week.)
I won’t bore you with every detail of my success this night but I was REALLY F*CKING GOOD. And I’m saying this coz most of the time I’m not. I’m at home on a stage with a big audience and can work this better than a small basement with 12 people. Obviously, good comedians can work those rooms too but give me SOMETHING.
Best line of the set was about the limitations of Mr Tickle as a sexual partner: “If he had 8 foot cock” brought the house down. I am very proud of using the Little Misses to discuss my failure at feminism. That bit needs more work (my husband said later) but it was new material and they let me get away with it.
Why did it go so well? My material was tight. Ross Smith said this to me afterwards, there was no flab. But mostly, I was in control of my stuff and in charge of what was going on and the audience trusted me. Big lesson. How d’you bottle that??
I get a good few audience members coming up afterwards to say lovely things. One guys says quite loudly “I’ve seen you before, you were better this time.” Brilliant. At least it’s the right way round. My RADA mate, Luby, says I’ve finally found what I should do with my life. This makes me feel great and suicidal in equal measure.
What I Have Learned:
- Pretending to be on top of it isn’t the same as actually being on top of it.
- People find Mr Men funny.
- Mr Men ARE funny.
- I AM FUNNY.
- At least funnier than LAST TIME.
Lizzie Hopley 