Gig 2: The Buff Club, 25th Nov 2010

My second gig, again courtesy of Pop-Up Comedy. By this point, I’d reorganised my material from the first gig and changed the delivery of some of the lines. I also had to drop some of my opening jokes about being my first gig, since they were only relevant the first time. Tonight was a strange affair, with an audience numbering…two. Two paying punters, nine or ten comedians, a barman, and maybe four or five people who had come along to support their friend/partner.

That said, it was a great night – I got the chance to do my new set in full and uninterrupted, and got a laugh rate I was happy with. I changed my second joke at the last minute to one about a story in the paper that day – VisitScotland had put out a press release saying how great for shops Glasgow is, naming twenty such as Versace, Gucci, etc. But as the Evening Times noted, almost all of them had shut or relocated. Some of them had even been shut for five years. So I mentioned this and added “VisitScotland have since put out a new press release saying: Come to Glasgow, it’s near Braehead” – I’ve used that three times now and it always gets a laugh, although I realise it’s relevance is probably finite. The front page of the paper is DEFINITELY finite, I’m not sure how much more folding/unfolding it can take before it starts to disintegrate…

A fun night, headlined by Ancient Annie – she was one of the first comedians I saw and spoke to on the circuit, and it was great to see her go through to the final of the Scottish Comedian of the Year. Her set always gets a good reaction, and tonight she did it without a mic – it died right before her set, but the intimate nature of the gig meant we all heard her just fine.

A good night, and a very enjoyable second gig.

Gig 1: The Halt Bar 2nd Nov 2010

My first ever gig, for which I’d spent the previous three weeks writing and learning some material. Kind of. I’d written it, anyway, and thought I’d learn (and time) it closer to the day. The week previous I won tickets to see Alice Cooper on Halloween, and meet him after the show, so my weekend before the gig was taken up somewhat by an 800-mile round trip to London, with little sleep, on crowded trains (standing room only on the way down, thanks for that Virgin).

The day of the gig, I practised my set over and over aloud, working out how much (or rather, how little) of my six-page routine I could do in five minutes. I got the basics down, wrote myself a ‘cheat sheet’ of reminders, and copied it onto my hand in time-honoured tradition.

I was placed second in the second half, by which point the audience numbered forty or so, and followed Malky, the promoter and co-ordinator of Pop-Up Comedy. Now, given the nature of his material and style, the other comedians were cheering the stock jokes he’d been doing for a few shows now and hurling occasional abuse. A lassie came in at this point, thought it was the norm to shout at the guy onstage, and so as soon as I started she joined in. And kept fucking going. I made the point that I was new early on, that started her off, and then there was no stopping her. I’m told one of the other comedians on the circuit (not performing that night) had a quiet word and told her to “give him a chance”. Naw. I’d written half a dozen heckler putdowns, but hadn’t learned them since the New Act Night is introduced by the compere saying “It’s a new act night, so heckle me but not them.” She missed that part. I used the one I could remember, and just reacted naturally for the rest – a fair few comedians have since said I handled it well, which was nice of them.

Anyway, I got through what I could remember, having taken advice on the Scottish Comedy Forum to film my first spot, firstly as adrenaline would mean I forgot most of how it went, and secondly as a reference to refine and hone my material. Which I’ve since done. For posterity, though, here is the video of my first EVER stand-up comedy spot, compered by Chris Henry, filmed by Matthew Cowan at The Halt Bar in Glasgow, with thanks to Pop-Up Comedy for the spot.

My first foray into the world of the blog.

Hello, come in and sit down, put your feet up. Can I get you anything, a tea or coffee maybe? Make yourself at home while I put the kettle on.

I’m Jordan, and I recently started doing stand-up comedy. I had my fourth gig last night, and am quite enjoying myself. Anyway, I thought I’d start a blog and write about how it’s going, in case anyone anywhere is even vaguely interested. So far, I’ve performed my five minute set at The Halt Bar and The Buff Club, been gonged off after 1m05s at the Scottish Comedian of the Year Gong Show, and played to an indifferent crowd in the infamous Victoria Bar. Videos of my first and latest sets exist, but I’ll link to those in due course.

For now, I’m off to find out if people ‘friend’ you on here, or ‘follow’ you, or if there’s any way to work out if anyone is actually reading anything I write. In the meantime, feel free to say hello and offer any helpful hints or tips you think of – this is a new world for me.

Jordan.