Friday 12 August 2016

Bear Jokes Friday

Today was another busy day at the fringe. After waving off Richard in his taxi I headed down to Sportsters for "Comedy Shorts" run by Tom Short of "Short and Girlies" at The Southsider. A relentless showcase of five minute spots, I opened the show and from the range of performances that followed I was most impressed by a tight five from a girl who was only on her second gig. Quite how this came to be at the fringe is a bit of a mystery but I presume she was local. 

Exit flyering the forty or so people I then headed to The Southsider via the institution that is a bakers specialising in an infamous macaroni-cheese pie. Avoiding said item I enjoyed a very decent pasty before getting to the venue and finding the "one day delivery" room separator had not in fact arrived in one day. Braving the rain I stood under the outreach of a shop front and managed to give out about twenty flyers and Wee Blue Book in thirty minutes. The locals already hate us.

Mirthquake's numbers were up with 21 people in the room, of which at least 17 had a good time. At the end of the show one woman told us we were the funniest thing she'd seen at the fringe. The 4 young girls who resembled extras from Made In Chelsea, however, pretty much blanked us on exit and donated a combined total of 20p to the bucket. Proof if needed that trickle down is a dead theory of wealth distribution because the wealthy are often humourless entitled arseholes. 

After a festival-esque feast of instant mashed potato and canned meatballs back at the flat we returned to our venue for the first of two Bear Jokes specials. Given I got the nights less than a week ago and therefore had nothing but the flyers I'd got printed for promotion it went pretty well with a solid eight or so real audience in the room plus a gaggle of comedians. Some sets went better than others but Mirthquake's own James Harris pulled it out the bag to revive the somewhat flagging onlookers with a determinedly energetic mid-bill set involving plenty of crowd work. Thanks to special guests Yuriko Kotani and Jon Long for getting involved too.  

From there it was down to the Banshee Labyrinth for a show based on people's worst dates with games mixed in to give it some edge. My own stories stood up pretty well against those I heard and one got retold by someone I'd spoken to to great interest. POF is not your friend people. POF is not your friend.

Post-show it was time for a few beers and conversation with the guy behind the kids' show AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH DINOSAURS!, a very drunk guy with the chemical symbols for serotonin and dopamine tattooed on his arm and a sixties styled girl who's putting together Wigan's first arts festival. You don't get that in Shoreditch. Except perhaps the tattoo man.

By half midnight it was time for the walk home and a macaroni pie. Yes, it had to happen eventually. Verdict: not as terrible as it could have been.

Another show at Sporsters added today for August 14th.

Shows Performed: 3 (19)
Bums on seats at Mirthquake: 21 (136)
Money in the Mirthquake bucket: £26.20 (£173.52)
Steps walked according to my pedometer: 9,098 (181,676) 
CDs Remaining: 89

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