Bear Jokes presents Mirthquake at Pub on the Park

So last night was pretty unusual. This was the final Bear Jokes before Edinburgh and also the final preview of Mirthquake, sitting squarely in the second half of the night.

When the music went down and Ariane Sherine took up her MC duties the room was busy enough with friends, Meet Up regulars and an impressive number of randoms. Halfway through Hannah Rosen's set (pictured) though a very large number of staff from my school turned up and found themselves squashed into sofas and sitting on the floor. We were now officially busier than the rest of the pub (including a folk night in the basement bar) combined.

The crowd were rowdy, the bar maid who kept wandering in with food and shouting for the recipient more so, but the first half went well overall - with both Sam Whyte and Matt Hutson doing particularly well.

The second half started late due to queues at the bar but Nick Purves kicked off our hour with yet another tight set that people enjoyed, James Harris kept momentum and worked with the joyous rabble filling the room and then it was my turn. This must be what Wembley feels like. If Wembley were a 30 capacity room upstairs in a Hackney pub. 

My prediction of getting "the fear" in front of people I work with everyday, who by all accounts were steaming drunk for the most part, never materialised and I settled into an adapted routine that took in the tracks I knew they'd been listening to online. One Shot was raucous, Shuffle and Stop more so, Selfie Stick felt like I was playing the big hit off the album and West End wrapped things up nicely with a new twist - working in the audiences' worst nightclubs more securely than before. 

Soon enough it was over, all attendees had been thanked and I drank more than a few drinks with friends until way past sensible bedtime on a school night.

As an added twist, well known comedy blogger John Fleming wrote this article today - a very positive review but one with a warning about the perils of having your comedy too specific to a given area. Food for thought for many, though I'm glad to say I've foreseen such issues and the "day on the tube" narrative I've been using here is already tweaked for a broader audience in August. 

Who doesn't hate selfie sticks right?