Brighton Fringe - Show in the rain

There's nothing more glamorous than standing in the rain for an hour outside a pub giving people soggy bits of paper with the words, "Musical comedy at 2.30," on repeat.

There's nothing more satisfying to be setting up your show an hour later only to find there's a queue snaking down the staircase waiting to come in. 

And so it was that Anna and I performed to a full house on a wet Saturday afternoon with a crowd so warm and friendly you'd happily take them all home for cookies afterwards if you could. Our theatrics went into overdrive and our "crew" became tighter and tighter as the hour wore on. "Airport" finally found an audience comfortable enough to recognise and laugh about the primary effect of global terror being minor inconvenience before boarding a plane and the Brightonians related readily to "gentrifried" chicken. We concluded with a rousing rendition of "West End" (there really is a club out there called Revenge) and the bucket rustled nicely rather than jangled.

A few hours later we had a great ten minute spot at the Laughing Horse pick of the fringe show alongside a bunch of other thoroughly talented acts. Flyers were duly taken in tandem with nice comments as the assembled departed. This was only topped by confirmation we've been booked for an actual tents and everything festival this summer!

Saturday at Brighton Fringe

Last year's Brighton Fringe consisted of two Sunday lunchtime split shows with Andy Onions. This year we upped the ante somewhat by not only booking 4 Saturdays for First World Problems 2018 but also taking on a heap of guest spots. Already £200 in the hole (assuming we ignore the £21.50 daily returns for Anna and I every time) we definitely wrote this one off to getting good experience and fine-tuning for Edinburgh rather than any actual financial return.

The first order of the day was to head to the Family Picnic Stage for 1pm (pictured) to do a short spot to promote our full show later that afternoon. Lined up alongside a school choir, a man wearing a furry octopus and a pantomime dame it was the first time in the life of this act that we could have been accused of being the most adult thing on the bill. Well aware we were probably going to secure no bums on seats from this later due to the average age being seven, we just had fun. "This one's about coffee! Which you can't drink! But it does involve lots of shouting!" Anna pandered spectacularly to the horde of tiny people at the front with multiple high fives and once we hit the second chorus we had a sizeable audience shouting along. A children's version of FWP is most definitely on the cards for 2019.

Our show at The Temple starts at 2.30pm. Not ideal on blazing hot Saturdays where everyone wants to sit outside and bask in the the rays with a beer or cocktail. Still, despite doing almost no flyering thanks to our primary school outing we had a nice little audience for the show who'd seen us in the program. The new show involves "recognising" multiple members of our crew throughout the hour and getting them to play along with the introductions to whatever problem/song is coming up next. This worked well alongside our more narrative driven links that probably make TOWIE appear well scripted but when you present as East London's Premier Rapper of First World Problems and his Lead Backup Dancer it's already so surreal you have to go big or go home.

Afterwards, feedback was good with plenty of positive remarks on the between song blither and audience participation. More to do though, not least remembering the bucket speech props and the whistle for Airport (thanks local hiking shop for having one in stock.)

After a few drinks with friends we were back in the room for the 6.15pm pick of the fringe show with Laughing Horse. Filled to capacity and with LJ Da Funk on MC duties we squeezed our way onto the postage stamp sized stage and delivered a couple of tracks to an audience that certainly had its fans but also a good number who looked slightly puzzled we weren't standing with a mic telling jokes for ten minutes. 

It's experiences like this that we actually need more than anything. What works in its own fifty minute context does not necessarily work when you're clock watching and have about ten seconds in which many people will make their mind up about you. We're rewriting our delivery for this spot next week (same time, same place). Could be great, could be a car crash, that's what it's all about right?

FWP in Wales

When people mention the words "comedy festival" they usually first think of the Edinburgh Fringe. For those in the know they may also think of Bath, Brighton and even Camden.

What they are unlikely to think of is a small town in South Wales best known for having an unusual name and close proximity to some good countryside. However, who knows, in years to come maybe the words "Fringe Festival" and "Merthyr Tydfil" will become totally synonymous.

Merthyr (as all the locals tend to shorten it to) is an ex-mining town with fiercely proud (and generally quite fierce full stop) locals, more pubs that you might expect and one extremely active comedian-turned-promoter, Drew Taylor. Not for Drew the idea of starting small and growing year on year, instead the first ever festival of its kind in the town stretched across seven venues - albeit for a single Saturday.

We arrived a couple of days in advance and did our bit on the first night by drinking with the handful of locals we found in our venue, The Brunswick. Tales of all kinds followed and we somewhat inevitably saw out the night in the local nightspot, The Vulcan Bar. It's been a while since I've seen so many incredibly inebriated teenagers stumble about to music that included a dance remix of Stand By Me and a DJ who merrily shouted over pretty much every track. Craft ale was out. Cans of Carling for £2 were in.

And in the case of many of the attendees, back out again shortly after that.

The following night we watched the opening event at the local labour club. The acts were good and it was handy I was able to flyer the assembled in-the-know locals. Could we possibly pack out our modest little pub space?

The answer to that, as you may have guessed from the photo, was no. Despite flyering the town centre market for two hours beforehand we peaked at six people - all of which were either pub regulars or related to Lisa, our bubbly landlady. We performed like we were at Wembley regardless and took a better bucket at the end than Bear Jokes usually does. 

As a practice-run to the larger festivals it was invaluable too. There's nothing like trying to keep a verging on paralytic local who keeps making "jokes" about Syria in the flow whilst balancing this against the needs of someone's thirteen year old son. Anna J's dance routines stepped up another level and were bigger and bolder than ever whilst the new songs slotted in comfortably with the tracks which to us now feel like old standards.

Post-show we dropped our stuff off back to our very nice B&B before watching Andy Onions work his Powerpointless gold to a family of four and the now even more disinhibited local. Following that it was over to the back room of a pizza restaurant to see Aaron Simmonds and then Adele Cliff before finishing up at the closing show at the Redhouse Theatre to see Norman Lovett, Simon Donald and Barbara Nice.

Was our trip a roaring success by regular standards? Probably not. But when you've spent three days in good company seeing through a decent preview and not been choked by the toxic air of Waltham Forest it's been well worth it.

The Freedom Fridge @ The Rose and Crown

Andy Onions always looks to put on a good show and so with a bank holiday spring in our step Anna and I headed to deepest darkest Kentish Town to try out a new song and our new somewhat theatrical links between tracks. If you haven't been before, the Freedom Fridge is based in an unassuming little cellar under a pub now embellished with a massive lit up sign that says "Me" on the back wall. Which is nicely in keeping with the vibe of stand-up.

Act-wise there were plenty of newcomers feeling their way through their first five minutes plus some experienced hands topping and tailing the sets. David Tsonos did some sterling work around cats and Dave Green had a good chair story. Onions himself presented a section of his rebooted Powerpointless with extra lemmings and someone did a rap about Whatsapp groups. We came to the stage in the second half fairly relaxed to an audience that was clearly keener on the occasional laugh and a polite round of applause at the end.

Following an in depth chat about being a Facebook legend with a random member of the audience, Clicking Like hit the spot as it usually does and we were into a link about house parties that worked well enough. New track, Gentrifried, then got its first airing and I forgot one and half lines in total. A new record for me given every time I've debuted a track before I've usually lost half of them before I even get to the chorus. The reaction was varied, people a little more self conscious about having to actually sing rather than shout or make noises but at its core it worked well and probably needs a couple of minor tweaks before next time. There's no rap in it. Possible signs of a change in direction post-Edinburgh this year.

Come half ten the show was over and it was up to the bar for a chat and a pint before the long and winding Uber home. Merthyr Tydfil in two week's time. We're looking forward to it.

Bear Jokes with John Pendal

John Pendal has performed at Bear Jokes for several years now and has carved himself out a very likeable niche mixing warm humour with tales from the more exotic side of life. A former “Mr Leather” title winner, his kitchen sink delivery of kink gained a family twist in his preview at Bear Jokes with the audience even invited to participate with post-it note contributions on their nearest and dearest’s most irritating eccentricities.

At sixty minutes long with few preview-related bumps the audience enjoyed it immensely, having already smiled their way through the ten minute spots in the first half. Lenny Sherman ably concluding proceedings at that end while I opened with Tales of the Unexpected and Tinny Drums linked by way of a post-Lidl bus journey.

The narrative for the 2018 show is slowly but surely taking shape. The freestyle improvised mid-set rap odyssey is, however, still some way off from Anna and I even taking it near an open mic. One month to our first festival of the year and counting...Wales you do not know what you’re letting yourself in for.

Festival Flyer and Poster Printing

With just over a month to the first outing of the 2018 FWP show in Merthyr Tydfil my attention has turned to the mind melting task of getting people to actually come. For anyone who has performed or intends to perform at an arts festival the amount you pay for such things is bewilderingly variable. 

Assuming you have designed your poster/flyer (minimum essentials in my opinion) printing these can cost over £100 if you go in slightly unaware. I recommend the following based on a short or long run. I’ll go with these suppliers for one date in Merthyr and 24 nights in Edinburgh (where I’ll be printing 5,000 flyers instead of 1,000)  as they’re always the best value. 

It’s unlikely you’ll need 1,000 flyers for a single date show (as FWP has in Hastings, Merthyr and Guildford) but to maximise value I’m using one flyer for two shows (Merthyr on one side and Hastings on the other) where I can. These shows will only need 500 each. You may see mileage in having a back to your flyer for more info but in my opinion this is only necessary if you have a ream of high profile reviews to quote or a really complex narrative to deliver. Even the Edinburgh show has FWP on one side and Clash of the Tight Tens on the other. 2-4-1 outweighing the need for me to print a pointless map (I’m flyering outside the venue and people have google maps anyway).

POSTERS
You need 10 posters (A3)  max. Even in Edinburgh. Put five up in the venue and use the rest to refresh them should they get damaged. Fly posting is illegal. Paid for postering is way too much for a relative unknown. Excessive posters = excessive ego.
Pay £7 with Swiftprint on EBay.

FLYERS
Order in advance from Helloprint.co.uk. £18 for 1,000 double sided on thick 250gsm card. £25 for 5,000.

Marketing for Edinburgh is just £32...plus £300 to be in the official program and app 🙀

Bear Jokes at The Leyton Star

It's no great secret that Bear Jokes has had a few lean months of late. Numbers of real audience stayed firmly in the single figures and the donations bucket rattled in a concerning way.

However, this all changed this evening when 8pm rolled around and every seat in the comedy broom cupboard I call home was taken. At last, a significant number of people in the bar had listened to my promo-patter and believed it. There was also a good showing for the first of this year's acts previewing their Edinburgh show, Jon Long.

The first half went well. Anna and I opened with our Edinburgh 2018 remixed intro track and then bounded our way through Meal Deal and Airport. Between the two there was an actual semi-rehearsed segue involving an audience member which came off nicely. Given the lack of spots in London over 10 minutes I guess we'll be rehearsing our links one at a time for now.

Adam Coumas then came on with a slick ten involving baby gender cakes, Sam Mitchell did similarly well with new material, Maddie Campion talked about sex with ghosts and Nig Lovell had enough ink on his hand to fulfil an ancient prophecy but couldn't read it so ably freestyled around the themes he's planned to try out.

The second half rolled around with some of the acts heading home to beat the snow-hampered public transport and new audience members arriving. This included a somewhat vocal and more than somewhat inebriated man. From the off it was obvious that he might cause some disruption to the show but, being a preview, I figured Jon would appreciate some heckler exercise and sat back as I watched the musical troubadour include, pacify and and at one point tell off then hug the voice at the back of the room. Did it detract or add to the show? Possibly it detracted but it's the kind of thing previews are made for and despite the interruptions Jon pulled off a engaging fifty minutes with an equal split of storytelling and song.

Show complete I rattled the bucket and actual folding objects put in an appearance. A shuffle is always better than a rattle. Another of these in a couple of weeks and my tax return might not look quite so embarrassing.

John Pendal previews on March 15th