The Freedom Fridge @ Kentish Town Rose and Crown

With a new song ready for airing, I headed to North London and a night at The Rose and Crown in Kentish Town. After a lengthy walk wondering why I'd decided to hop off at Upper Holloway instead of Gospel Oak I found a collection of new and familiar faces in the pub's basement.

Since my last visit, this little underground bunker has acquired a huge lit up sign shaped to say "Me" but otherwise it's the same slightly spooky cellar. The usual host, Andy Onions, was off elsewhere previewing his Edinburgh show so it was left to Philip Alexander to take the reigns and guide us through a line-up busting 15 acts over the next two and a bit hours.

I wasn't alone in testing out material for an Edinburgh show. Every other act in the first half appeared to be heading up there. One four minute car crash of casual misogyny crescendoing in a rape-joke aside, the rest of the acts were pretty decent. As the interval approached I readied myself to open the second half.

Now when people say they suffer for their art I tend to think of it in terms of financial strain or physical exhaustion. In my case this evening, however, my suffering came in the form of an ill-judge clapping motion and an unfortunately placed lump of metal protruding from the wall on the left hand side. I spring forward, I felt a prang and I sprang back - the arm of my t-shirt finding itself firmly hooked to said object and the area just under my armpit grazed and bleeding.

But I'm not one to let a little stabbing interrupt my flow and I detached myself and carried on into my new track. Modern Man features foot stamping to represent hammering and without warning my body decided this meant I should pay homage to the Ministry of Silly Walks throughout. The crowd, reassuringly, got it and we were all stamping about within a few seconds. The Radiohead related joke in the middle was recognisable to enough of the audience to be worthy of topping off the breakdown and afterwards one of the acts called me "very talented" so I'd call that a pretty successful ten minutes. 

Modern Man

Famous First Words @ The Gunners, Finsbury Park

Last night I returned to the open mic I co-founded a couple of years ago and jumped ship from last September due to other commitments. Since then Dylan Dodds has done a good job keeping it going with various initiatives. At some point I will definitely go along to witness "Jazz Comedy" where he accompanies acts on a drum kit. Last night, however, was a standard show and I was on MC duties.

It's been a while since I've been to a show mainly made up of five spots. A mixture of new acts, new arrivals to the city and a handful of old hands made up the bill. 11 comedians. 1 poet. A big stage, a large room and the acts plus 2 well-wishers and an old-boy local propping up the bar. We were ready to begin.

It's never easy performing to a room made up largely of acts but it's a learning experience if nothing else. By the fifth act, "how much time have I got left", had become the running joke of those on stage. For a city so obsessed with squeezing every minute out of the day, winning over a slightly reluctant room for five minutes really does slow down time. Come half time it was time for drinks and a chat.

The second half carried on much the same as the first, enhanced by the local getting increasingly drunk and becoming an active participant in every set. It gave the show an edge, not least because most of what he contributed was totally incomprehensible. Still, he seemed to like my songs and made it all the way to the end.

Post-show it was time for a walk back to the tube with an act discussing the slightly masochistic nature of the average stand-up. Famous First Words remains a curious right of passage for new performers and long may it continue!

Edinburgh Preview @ Pub on the Park

When two of your acts drop out simultaneously the day before your show it can be a cause for concern. Not in this case though as I had some great acts in reserve to take the first half of Bear Jokes through to my Edinburgh preview in the second half. With a newly refurbished room and a brand new disco light we were all set.

Gary Sansome opened with some good crowd work with the minimal numbers (mainly a fellow Scotsman armed with two pints and a packet of Discos) which kicked things off nicely. He was followed by Daphna Baram talking all things Jewish then Nick Purves chatting away to the front row. Stella Graham wrapped things up with her usual sarcastic wit and we dived into the break as some new arrivals took up their seats.

With what looked like an actual crowd now in place it was my turn to run up and take the stage for forty minutes of chat, rap and daft dance moves. One maverick chose to DJ the Box of Frustration (a box with 7" singles labelled with chart positions 1-7 accompanied by a topic of conversation/song) and picked chart position 2 instead of number 6 so West End got an early airing. Thankfully, this didn't radically effect the flow and was actually useful in terms of practice handling such a move. 

Towards the end the drinks had been flowing freely as well as the laughs and "Yeah, FUCK the craft fair!" was belted out by a particularly high spirited individual when the final note had concluded the track.

So a good first run of the whole set and a promising start. My voice held out thanks to less shouting and more water and the new drums sound great. I could do with a couple more shows of this length to really refine it though. Offers anyone?!

Brighton Fringe

Enthused by the reception to our first show at the Brighton Fringe a few weeks ago Andy Onions and I returned for two more this past weekend. We figured that being on at midday was going to present challenges, particularly when the sun was out, but we got our flyering faces on and set out to convince random wanderers and early drinkers alike that what they really wanted to do was sit in a dark room and be entertained by two people they'd never heard of.

And it worked. Granted, the attendance didn't exactly lead to a standing room only scenario but at both shows we had people streaming in with minutes to go before the lights went down and the volume went up. Saturday's audience were quieter than their Sunday counterparts but within both ranks there were out and out zealots applauding and laughing at everything and bringing others on board the whole time. Not bad at all considering one group admitted they'd seen us in the program and come, "because you're on really early and nothing else is happening."

Andy's sets were tight and full of the kind of raucous nonsense he's famed for in comedy circles. Be sure to see Powerpointless at The Banshee Labyrinth come Edinburgh Festival. As for me, passing the box was a winner on the whole and people enjoyed pulling out the 7" singles and discussing their worst nights out, last things they'd bought or their experiences travelling abroad. Our youngest audience member, who I'd estimate to be 13 pulled one out and excitedly declared with pride she knew exactly what it was, "Hey, it's one of those things from the old days...a floppy disk!" I didn't have the heart to correct her.

Aside from being good fun, the shows were great in terms of building up my confidence for my debut solo show in Ed. I'm also finally learning how to control my voice so it doesn't fall into a croak by the third song. Drink plenty of water. Suck Soothers. Avoid shouting. 

Show this Thursday
Should you be in the London Fields vicinity, I'm previewing my full show at Pub on the Park this Thursday. Complete with updated backing tracks (new Soundcloud recordings here) and the Box of Frustration. Show starts at 8. I'm taking the second half from 9. See the Facebook Event for more info.

Brighton Preview @ The Leyton Star

This evening's show was a simple affair knocked together to ensure Andy Onions, Matt Duwell, James Harris and myself had a chance to run through what we're taking to Brighton this month and next. My usual room of choice had been seconded by a choir group so we were in the big one with an optimistic number of chairs. Come 8pm we were ready and there were enough people in place to tell us if we were funny or not so the show commenced.

Matt introduced the evening's entertainment and soon enough I was on with my intro track. The first row (hiding behind the usual front row of empty chairs) look slightly confused but joined in enthusiastically with the call and response. 

Pass the Box ensued (where my first world problems travel around the audience in the form of customised seven inch singles sitting in a box) and formed the links between the four tracks I had prepared. Response was pretty good throughout, though I lost track on Crisis of Conscience after catching Onions dancing around at the back. Must work on being less distracted.

I headed to the chairs as Onions got the assembled to turn theirs towards the TV screen on the left to begin 22.5 minutes of his show Powerpointless. Loud, brash and technologically impressive I won't give away too much but should you be in Brighton or Edinburgh for their respective festivals I'd very much recommend it. The game show music he uses is particularly good - and I think this in no way because I wrote it...

After an extended break it was Matt and James' turn and James started things off with his quietly confident, modestly eccentric, style. Older material blended with new and the audience, though tiring by this point, enjoyed it immensely. It was down to Matt to round things off and his take on pessimism provided an entertaining counterpoint to what had gone before. Come 10.30 everyone was knackered and it was time to go home.

This evening was also notable for an email I received a few hours earlier. "Andy Quirk's Got First World Problems" is confirmed for Edinburgh! For those of you who like to put things in diaries I'll be at Black Market (Room 2), 35 Market Street, Edinburgh (Venue 399) from the 5th to 26th August at 6.25pm.

Monkey Business at The Camden Eye

As I approach the Camden Eye, Promoter Martin is pacing around outside. "We've sold two tickets tonight," he says and we discuss the perils of the comedy night promoter. 

Come 8pm, however, the real audience has swelled to...four and there are ten acts on so it looks busy enough - even if the paying punters' decision to all sit in the near side corner presents the conundrum of if to perform to the front or angle constantly forty-five degrees right.

The first half is a mixed bag but quality prevails. Gatis Kandis proves himself yet again to be the comedians' comedian with his song about cows and Maggie Kowalski shows what a solid year of gigging can do for your delivery.

Admittedly I missed half of it as I was on next and plugging my phone in. As my sets go it was alright. The intro rap caught the necessary attention and the two couples that comprised the non-comics seemed to share the participation workload with one pair taking on the hissy noise in Tinny Drums with gusto whilst the other two got their clap on for a dusting down of Selfie Stick.

Bar the odd shuffle back to the centre stage, I probably did largely perform in profile to the comics to catch the eye of those not mentally rehearsing their lines or enduring the umpteenth time they've heard my beef about mobile phone accessories.

Come the second half the crowd were more tired but still willing. There were some great sets to raise the energy though, in particular from Peter Latham and Steve McLean. 10.20 rolled around and it was all over and a lengthy trip on the overground awaited.

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...