Clash of the Tight-Tens / The Roadmap for the rest of 2016

Since my blog on the costs of Edinburgh Festival went semi-viral (usual readers of this blog: 80 / Current hits on that entry: 3,523) I've spoken to a lot of people about my time up there. It's also been a talking point at family gatherings. Even a taxi driver in Weymouth who I went to school with was talking to my mum about it last weekend when she recognised her in her cab. So what now?

There is a new song in production but it'll be a while before it's finished so for the while I'm cutting back the gigs to those I run, paid shows and opportunities outside of London. With a big South London cabaret and gigs in Cambridge and Liverpool booked in so far it seems like the right way to go. And I still have Bear Jokes and Tight-Tens, the latter of which I was running last Friday.

It was always going to be a tricky one as I hadn't been in London to do the usual level of promotion, many comedy fans had been to Edinburgh and had their fill for the while and students weren't yet back looking for a cheap night out. 

Still, there was an audience - including several MeetUp regulars and the acts were as great as ever. With smaller than usual numbers the energy in the room wasn't what it could have been but Sonia Aste and David McIver put in particularly upbeat performances to get the nervous smiles converting to laughs. My own set went down well too - with Andy Onions and Sonia actually dancing to both tracks. Afterwards I stayed on until the small hours with the MeetUp group, a move that made me almost miss my train to my brother's house warming the next day!

Alongside writing a new song I'm also writing music for an intro rap to both my nights when I MC and the embryonic stage of my full show for next year. The rule really is go big to get big laughs so the more full-on the better.

This Thursday Bear Jokes returns to Pub on the Park with Ariane Sherine closing the night. Should you come you'll be party to the debut live performance of our duet, "I'm Not Putting That In My Mouth" - sadly delayed from an Edinburgh debut due to Ariane's ill health at the time. The full event details can be see here.