You probably know because I do mention it a lot that I have started running a monthly comedy night called Early Risers Comedy Club. It' aimed at parents or anyone that appreciates a strict end time of 9:45pm. It started in January and it's been going ok, some have been amazing, the pirate one was my favourite so far. The comedy musical duo Jollyboat headlined and they did a fab job.
Catherine Burgis was also on that one, and she is a genius. I'll be honest last months was not great the acts were good, but you get what you pay for with a £12 mic and my Mcing was not the best. But it was bad enough for me to really want to make the next one better. I promised the crowd to get a better sound system, and I got in a guest Mc to give myself a bit of a break.
I was really excited and confident about this months, I was confident in the acts and MC, we had been listed in a echo article, I'd advertised a few places online, acts had invited people to support them, I knew people were going to turn up. The show starts at 8, timings are very tight to end at 9:45 so we have to start on time. Each month we do a theme this month was summer holidays so I had in my car, buckets and spades, a wind break, a rubber ring and a giant hammock on a frame that I had to unscrew into 3 pieces to fit it in the car. I also had, as I do every time the giant paper mashe gro-clock for the goodbye song. So I arrived at the venue at 6:45pm to set up, only to see a sign on the door saying the bistro is closes at 4pm for all of August. I don't want to completely slate the venue because they have been good to us, but they could have let us know!
I went into mad Hannah mode, the building was still open, but just closing, I pleaded for them to let us us the foyer or anywhere, they said "No." Even when I said "but we have a comedian coming from THE SOUTH" our headline act came all the way from Gilford to do this night! I was not going to cancel, so I started running like a mad woman into every cafe asking to use the space. The downpoor and my lack of coat made me look even more crazy. One cafe said they would if they hadn't got live music on, another said they have the football on. I met up with Tom the guest MC, he had a more calm laid back approach to me, he suggested a restaurant called Grilla (not Gorilla as I thought.) We went in, they phoned the manager and he said yes! whoop whoop the night was saved.
Luckily Tom had brought his sound equipment so he set up while I stayed at the old venue and re-directed people. I got on social media and made a sign for the door. The real lesson is always carry a pencil, paper, blue tac and a plastic wallet with you. I didn't need that stuff for this particular night but luckily it was just in the bag from a previous month.
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| Steph Pictches = Legend |
Jess and Martin a lovely couple that I've only known a few months, turned up to help out as they do every month now, Martin makes the posters, videos the night, and this month provided lighting....and he told me that my top was on inside out. Jess sells the tickets and has previously been the have a go hero doing 3 minutes of comedy for the first time ever. I stayed till 8 and then rushed off to see a beautiful room full of people ready to see comedy. Tom did an fantastic job of crowd work, and the 5 acts were genuinely all brilliant, in their own unique ways. The audience were wonderful. It was hard not to run over and we had to cut some bits short, but we did it. I loved doing the competition, this months question was "where the most unusual place you've been on holiday?" The winners were a couple who honeymooned in Chernobyl!
The unsung hero of the night was Daniel Jones. He stayed in and did all the washing up and put the kids to bed, so that I could go out and live the dream.
The night has given me a taste for what the night could be, I made a nice profit too which I will be investing in a new microphone. I'm now so excited for next time, hopefully we'll be in that venue again. We have SAM AVERY headlining. The guy who does sell out tours! 11th Sept. Hope to see you there.
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