Thursday 30 November 2017

Jolly Rogers at The George Vaults, Rochester



This evening I hopped on the train, meal deal in hand, to Rochester for Jolly Rogers at The George Vaults. My last visit has been a good one and I was looking forward to returning - particularly as the promoter had told me I was his wife's favourite act. Forget your reviews, this is what really counts when it comes to repeat bookings!

The first half was comfortable and charming. Fiona Ridgewell and Kieran Pool both being familiar faces mixing up old and new material. By the halfway point the room had filled nicely and I put on my visor and limbered up for a 4 song set.

Meal Deal got the ball rolling and Shuffle and Stop worked well with its debut electro reworking. Clicking Like seemed particularly topical with its reference to sharing social media posts from the far right and the newly reworked Two Shots wrapped things up nicely. 

Performing in what looks like a crypt thankfully didn't result in dying on stage and I look forward to returning in 2018, hopefully at a time when I don't have leg it to the train afterwards to get in at a decent time.

Monday 20 November 2017

Bear Jokes at The Leyton Star

Last week Bear Jokes was back in action in Leyton with a line-up of familiar faces and an audience consisting of the acts themselves, three local housemates and a quietly mysterious man at the back. Given the broom cupboard proportions of the room this still felt quite busy so it was on with show and Anna and I opening with Meal Deal. 

It's been commented before that this track is pretty minimal compared to earlier offerings but ,in comedy terms at least, less-is-more seems to be particularly appropriate. Much as I enjoy covering my tracks in thumping basslines and retro synths it's clear that once in a while the audience like it stripped back with the focus fully on the lyrics. Tonight was no exception and we were all chanting within two refrains of the chorus hook.

Following us Ian Miller ran through his tried and tested best, Alice Frick returned from a three year hiatus since performing at one of my nights and Gatis Kandis cross examined the audience in the way only he can. We closed the first half with a stomping rendition of Airport - some danced, others just look completely overwhelmed by the rave vibes colliding with Scooter's back catalogue.

In the second half Sadia Azmat and Jonny Gillam both did well and Yuriko Kotani rounded things off with some brand spanking new material. Thumbs up all round.

In other news, I'm pleased to announce that 2018's First World Problems show is now confirmed for Brighton Fringe for four Saturdays over May and June at The Temple bar at 2.30pm. We're currently working on it being a full-on hip hop show parody so bring your bizzle to the izzle and we'll see you....fo' shizzle....

Sunday 5 November 2017

First World Problems on iTunes

It's been a long time coming but having remixed, revived and rebooted the recordings of all my tracks the debut album is finally "in the can" and makes its debut on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Tidal etc al from Monday 6th November (that's tomorrow chronology fans).

I'm not expecting Andy Quirk's Got First World Problems to storm the chart (though, in a fit of optimistic egomania, I did throw in an extra tenner to ensure it is actually chart eligible) but as another step on the enormous ladder to some kind of recognition beyond the comedy community it's very much worthwhile. I'm very proud of it. If you have any of the services mentioned please do check it out and let me know what you think. If you don't subscribe, here's it is on Soundcloud.

Elsewhere this week I hosted Bear Jokes with another very fine line-up. "Meal Deal" went down well at the start and satisfyingly a number of people doubled up in laughter part-way through. John Paul-Mcque travelled down from Darlington with his bag of wind to amuse the assembled with his headline set and a bunch of tourists from Germany left a fiver each in the bucket even though they could only stay for the first half. The Leyton Star's room is a cosy little space and one I'm glad to have found. The mugging-depicting wallpaper being just one of the hipster highlights.

Next Saturday Anna and I find ourselves back in South Kensington for Go West Comedy with a set we hope to record for the Musical Comedy Awards. If you're looking for something to do that night I'd thoroughly recommend it.