Stand Up at The Leyton Star

The Leyton Star is a great venue for many reasons, and not all relating to the fact it's down the road from my flat. By the time James Harris took to the stage to MC the cosy little upstairs room had a good number of genuine audience in and my new lamp meant that, unlike the previous month, you could actually see the faces of all the performers!

Due to some last minute cancellations the bill turned out way more alternative that usual with only James and Daniel Offen doing what might loosely be called conventional stand-up. Gatis Kandis opened with his usual offbeat manner, David McIver followed armed with an abacus as an awkward maths teacher and after Daniel I did my new track about airports and deafened both myself and the crowd with a whistle I was clearly blowing far too hard. Note to self for future.

After the break the room filled to capacity for Sasha Ellen's 2017 Edinburgh Preview. Drawing on tales of her childhood and life ever since, it was a good forty minutes of smile raising narrative, even if I could have done with a little less about the unfortunate end of her pet rabbit. Show complete, the collection bucket said it all with fivers from pretty much everyone in attendance. December 15th's return with Yuriko Kotani previewing her first ever full length show should be even bigger.