Bear Jokes at Pub on the Park

September can go one of two ways. As Tight-Tens proved, too early and you’ve got people reeling from the bank holiday and no students in town. Get it right though and everyone’s recovered and people are looking for something to do.

Bear Jokes headed towards the latter with a busy little room made up of medical students and a handful of actual fans of the acts. Opening with, ‘Selfie Stick’, the room was suitably warmed for the first half – a half featuring strong sets from many. This included a set of largely new material from Ben Pope, who hit many more times than he missed, and a darkly uplifting ten from Katherine Ferns.

The half closed with Ariane Sherine and I performing, “I’m Not Putting That In My Mouth”, for the first time. It’s quite a song and one where we might need to work on our on stage interplay to get the most out of it. I’m considering bringing an actual ladle the next time.

The second half was busy again with great reactions to a really strong string of performances from James Harris, Adam Jamal and Matt Smith. It was left to Ariane to close the show with a trio of naughty songs that kept the sofa spectators amused to the end.

After an erratic start to 2017 with low audience figures in danger of becoming the norm my flagship night appears to now be in rude health. Plenty of people signed up to the mailing list at the end and I’ve got a few ideas to fully utilise the newly introduced mascot (acquired in Edinburgh – see previous blogs) and give the night a few more quirks.

Tomorrow I’m meeting the bar manager of a pub closer to home to set up a monthly mid-week night featuring a full 45m show from an experienced act with 10m supports. The kitchen table empire continues to grow...