Yellow Comedy at Reason Cafe, Watford

This evening was special for two particular reasons. The first being that this show marked my first paid headline spot and the second being that it was to be the first time I used my "box of frustration" as part of the set. 

The cafe bookshop was busy enough when I arrived and decamped with my girlfriend to a nearby pub that was doing it's best tribute act to a Lloyds' Bar with a hefty dose of RnB music, cheap eats and excruciatingly slow bar service. Having waited five minutes for someone to pick leaves off a mint plant and mash them into some ice I returned with drinks and a short wait before the deformed fish and oven chips arrived. Food is food though so once fed I headed over to the cafe and watched the first half.

It was the first time I'd seen many of the acts and the crowd seemed to like them well enough. Lew Fitz closed the first half with a storming ten minutes featuring plenty of smart ad-libs alongside the material. A coffee later and we were into the second half.

Opening with my intro track I soon identified I had about a two metres square to operate in and shuffled, waved and jumped about with as much energy as the space could contain. The box of frustration then came out and we played pass the parcel with it - the final recipient pulling out the next record in my chart each time. As a way to keep the audience fully involved and ensure I had someone to speak to each time it worked pretty well. It was somewhat fitting that it ended up with my dad when it came to talking about nightclubs and then the proprietor when I needed to discuss the perils of ordering coffee.

As far as audience reaction went I'd say they were fully on board for the twenty minutes and an invitation to return sometime soon has been made. The Brighton show is only marginally longer than this as it's a split with Andy Onions' so it's full speed ahead with that now. 

I'm still without a venue for my solo show in Edinburgh (I'm assured Tight Tens will definitely be a fixture though) so if you're looking to share an hour or can help in any way now is the time to be a hero.

...song news...

It's been a slow few months when it comes to writing to new material but I'm back on it with a track about DIY. I downloaded the Apple Store version of Garageband for a fiver which appears to be a huge advancement on the version I've been using so far so expect some new drum sounds along with a beeps, buzzes, squelches and hums...