18th of February 4am Friday

A good day today. Both the radio show and the comedy world were nice to me. I missed that snoop with Owen I was supposed to have. Slept in by accident. However the radio show went really well. It’s “No Topic Night” on Thursday so people can call in about whatever they want and I talk to them about it. It’s a chance for me to piss about and of course do no preparation whatsoever. This means I can get down to the comedy club beforehand.

I finally managed to corner Toby Foster and have a really good in-depth conversation with him about comedy. After me badgering him about it we started to get into a discussion about funny words and sounds. He eventually (after much perstering from me) went into his theory about how you sort of sing your comedy to people. Like you’d perform poetry. “Da – du – da – du – da – du – da.. Ta – de – de – Da…” is funnier than “Da – Da – Da – Da – Da…”. It makes more sense when he explains it. I get where he’s coming from and once he’d explained it I can see how he reflects that theory in his act. I could almost hear him doing it when he was on stage. Really changing the pitch of his voice.

I think Toby is wary of sounding too pretentious about his act and himself. There’s no need, he’s not a pretentious person. I think he knows he’s capable of more and that’s why he rips into himself so much and doesn’t allow himself too much glory. He’d keep slagging his material off as he explained these things. I suppose that’s what’s likeable about him. His offstage lack of confidence is a counterbalance to his onstage persona.

As an addition to this, Toby told me not too look nervous if possible. Looking nervous is apparently not a good idea! I think I can manage that, I’m usually quite a confident looking person when I turn it on. He also suggested I don’t learn my material off by heart. He suggests I know my topics but don’t worry too much about how I phrase it. Now this is a big piece of advice and it’s more potentially significant to the way I’m preparing. My original plan was too learn the whole thing off by heart. So I could recite it like I can a Chris Morris sketch or a Blackadder episode (series 2 of course). However here’s what he said word for word:

“What’s funny to you in your bedroom might not work at that exact moment in front of the crowd. Read the crowd and respond to them. Phrase it how you think it’ll work there and then. It’s a conversation between you and the crowd. You don’t script conversations in real life”

F$ck! That’s obviously good advice.

I can’t ignore it because it makes sense. However I can’t totally change my strategy on the basis of his advice. He’s an experienced comic, I’m not. Now, here’s what makes the advice even more powerful. This time last week there was an open mic on whom I didn’t see but Jodie and Matt did. Here’s their review: “He just sounded like he was reading from a script there was no interaction with the crowd.”. This is a trap I remember thinking that I could easily fall into. Most of the things I do are prepared to a level I'd be ashamed to admit.

So, my plan now is to learn the script off by heart. It’s constantly changing at the moment but I should have a version I’m happy with by the end of tonight. Once it’s done and firmly engrained in my mind I’ll promise myself not to get too hung up about the exact wording of it on the night. I’ll busk it a bit. Only a bit. Oh fu@k I’m changing my mind as I write this..

Now here’s the stage time problem. Met a comedian last night who me and Wootus sort of harassed into giving us some stage time at his next gig or club or something. Here’s the conversation:

Wootus: “Hiya mate, listen Nick here’s after doing some open mic spots”

Comedian bloke with a bald head “Okay, is he funny, (to me) are you funny?”

Me: “Um..”

Wootus: “He’s fu-king hilarious”

Comedian “Right, lets see there’s some gigs coming up get my number off Toby give me a ring and we’ll get you booked in”

Me: “Okay. Um..”

This guy was very funny on stage. Despite the fact he did comedy songs. We’d originally heard that he did an open mic night. Doesn’t look like that’s the case. However I’ll ring him and we’ll see. I might have to get over this fear I’ve got of doing some stuff infront of a paying crowd. Toby’s all up for getting me on at The Lescar. Not sure about that. Open mic acts can die an awful grizzly death there. Really not sure about it. Obviously the same applies at other comedy clubs in the UK. I don’t quite think my first EVER gig should be infront of a paying crowd.

Okay, in other news Tom Binns has replied to my email. He’s hugely tweaked the set. It’s a bit embarrassing really. He’s a lot funnier than I am and I owe him a lot for the help he’s given me. Whenever he reads me his stuff I giggle like a girl and tell him it’s really good. Whenever I show him my stuff he improves it and is really helpful. Oh dear, I need to get onstage. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. I wish I’d got into this earlier. It’s a lot of fun.

I’m off to apply his re-writes to my set and then I’m going to have a nice long sleep.

NM