It was Thursday night and i was on my way down to Rugby to perform at the Holly Bush Inn, I was going over my material again in my head all the way there, happy that I had performed it twice so far with out any blips and just making sure that I was ready for what would be my first gig on my own. (The last 2 have all been arranged by Liam Jones and had included people that I have met on my course over the last 2 months.)
This was to be a charity gig in aid of the Warwickshire Air Ambulance, I say gig, it was a Charity NIGHT being held in aid of the Warwickshire Air Ambulance. This meant there was much more going on than just the comedy:

At the back of the pub was a Speed Pool tournament, a raffle and during the breaks in the comedy there was to be Virtual Horse Racing. The picture you see above is the "stage" area that we were to perform on with punters to be sat around the 2 round tables in front of the stage, so it was "cosy". This was situated at pretty much at the front door and right next to the only open bar in the place. So it was busy and noisy when the comedy night started.
The MC for the evening was Ewan Kershaw and he really attempted to get the crowd hushed and ready for comedy, even at one point taking a unsuspecting girl up to the stage because she was talking during his whole introduction. This wasn't helping my nerves.

First up was Jonathan Elston, I hadn't seen him before but I now know that he is the comic that offended the entire Phoenix with a "I don't care if your mum is dead comment". The room didn't really warm to him and he made a great job of getting a small "community" of people sat at the front that wanted to listen to the comedy. I forget who was up next, but his random rendition of the start to the Lion King as soon as he got on stage was something of beauty!

After the bar had fallen completely silent for the Virtual Racing during the break, it was Paul Baglin turn, and surprisingly, the atmosphere had appeared to change. There was more attention being paid to us and people were beginning to turn from the bar and watch. Paul did a great 10mins and then it was time for Steph Lane, who (being the only lady comic) immediately grabbed the attention of the "geezas" at the bar. She again had a great set and really did storm it.

After another break and amazing Virtual Horse Racing, it was the Villain hurdle, winner was Lord Voldermort... I think. It was time for me to get up on stage and perform. I feel that I went down rather well, however I completely forgot my material on my "diet stages", which left me at abit of a loss, however I managed to claw it back with some audience banter, especially with a woman who it would appear actually has the nickname "Cum Guzzling Slut".

Headline act was on after me, and please forgive me but I can't remember his last name, I think it was Lucus Hirst or Hurt, something like that. He did brilliantly and after 5mins of material just said "fuck it, I'm coming to talk to you lot" which really went down well.

So all in all the night went well. I also won a raffle prize with my 1 £1 ticket. 402 was called out, I went to collect my prize only for it to be announced on the PA system, that I had won "A FREE PERSONAL TRAINING SESSION" - That got a bigger laugh than the whole of my act. But hey hey, that's got potential as a great story at some point!

So anyhoo! Highlight this weekend. New Faces of Comedy. Broad Street Birmingham 9th May 2010. £5 on the door, doors open at 6.30pm. I'm doing new material so come on down if you liked the last stuff!