Aug 17 (Day 15) Smashed it.

MASSIVE day. Seriously, my biggest day of stuff here yet. Smashed FOUR shows which included 10 acts altogether, was in the audience for a show filmed for the BBC, chatted and had a drink with some cool people, told some jokes for BBC3 and was given a badge!

I started with a show called "Dicking a Great Big Hole" by Jodie Dick. A different type of show in which Dick plays a scatterbrained comedian on the phone to her manager Bren who has failed to show up to manage the performance. There were only about 7 people in the crowd and I don't think it was everyone's cup of tea but I got a lot from it. I could see shades of Jennifer Saunders in Dick's performance and I personally found her to be very funny. 

Next up was a sweet little show called "You For Coffee?" (I was told to say it quickly and with a Scottish accent and it sounds like "You! Fuck off eh!") which had two stand-ups do about a 20 minute set each. The first guy was very likable and had some funny things but some stuff didn't have a point or a punchline, it felt padded out and he resorted to party tricks which weren't great so it didn't all work. The second performer was the winner of something called BBC Upstaged, named Elise Harris. Her material was funny, honest and had the room laughing straight away with her persona of forced enthusiasm. She had some really funny stuff going on. She brought a ukelele on stage with her but didn't really use it much which seemed a shame because the song she did near the end was good.

After this I went to a BBC showcase called BBC Comedy Presents - Early & Late. This was being filmed for the Tele and it was both long and had some really big names, one of which is a personal favourite (Kristen Schaal from "Flight of the Conchords" and "Bob's Burgers") so it was an awesome surprise. I had already seen Ahir Shah perform and they also had a guy I saw yesterday, Adam Belbin perform along with a couple of others whose names have escaped me (a Welsh guy and an English woman with a guitar...that helps doesn't it?). All were really, really good. 

When I left the BBC theatre I found this interesting stand they have set up which is a recording booth called "Funny in Fifteen Seconds" in which you record yourself telling a gag in front of a camera. AWESOME. Now, before you say "WANKER", this is probably not the kind of thing I would normally do in Australia because everyone would call me a wanker. But I'm not in Melbs right now, so its none of your concern. Anyway, I had two gags I liked from my hefty arsenal of "A" material so I selected two of my personal favourites and did them both. All I'm saying is I will remember you when I have been discovered by the BBC.

Earlier in the day I met a performer from a duo called the Silky Pair who gave me a flyer for their show "Jealous People", which started immediately after the BBC Show, so I went down to see that too. This was a good sketch show in a terrible room but the two girls pulled it all off despite the awkwardness. This had some really great stuff in it, both girls are great performers. My favourite sketch was one that parodied those very British property shows and their very British presenters (like "Escape to the Country"). Good stuff. Also, they gave me a badge.

A cracking day.

Daily Show Count: 4
Total Show Count: 29